Gabino Iglesias

More than an autobiography following a strict chronological path and detailing all major events, this book focuses on the role of art in the U.S. poet laureate's life and her development as an artist.

Maryse Condé's new novel follws a lonely man, an obstetrician who adopts an orphaned baby girl and tries to find her family — it's an examination of loss and grief on a personal and national level.

Michael Eric Dyson's call to action is an invitation to reimagine law enforcement, education, workspaces and all other spaces in ways that eliminate racism, abuse, misogyny and xenophobia.

This isn't only a biography of Malcolm X; Les and Tamara Payne contextualize race in America prior to Malcolm's birth, and take a nuanced, unflinching look at his life, his death — and its aftermath.

The environmental activist and consumer advocate takes a brutally honest look at how mismanagement, chemical spills, mishandling of toxic waste, and even fake studies have damaged U.S. water systems.

Raven Leilani's new novel will make you cringe for all the right reasons. It's an intergenerational, interracial love story with a heart of noir and gallows humor, so honest it will make you squirm.

Betsy Bonner presents her sister with love, but also with honesty; she is the storyteller, but Atlantis Black is the story, the mystery, the victim, sometimes the perpetrator and always the question.

Journalist Eduardo Porter has written a book that cuts to the root of racism, tracing it from slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation — and bringing it to today — with unblinking honesty and facts.

As "traditional bonds disintegrate in the face of industrialization, urbanization, and secularization, brands and objects become a means to curate and project who we are," writes reporter Adam Minter.

Andre Perry's debut essay collection reads like a slightly fragmented memoir focused on the search for identity, the desire to write, and his constant sense of unease as a black man in Iowa City.