Unboxing of a Black Girl, The

(Hardback)

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Description

Written as a collection of vignettes and poetry, The Unboxing of a Black Girl is a creative nonfiction reflection on Black girlhood. The debut YA title, by award-winning author Angela Shant, is a love letter to Black girls set in New York City and serves as a personal and political critique of how the world raises Black girls. As Shant navigates the city through memory, she balances poetry with vignettes that explore the innocence and joy of childhood eroded by adultification. Through this book, she illuminates the places where Black girls are nurtured or exploited in stories and poems about personal and political boxes, love, loss, and sexual assault. Many entries are also studded with cultural footnotes designed to further understanding.

Reviews

"A vivid witness to the trials and truths of being young, Black, and female. The smart sister, the generous friend every young woman wants, Angela Shant shows how you can break away from constraints, become your own masterpiece, and find your own freedom."
--David Groff, author of Live in Suspense

"Shant dissects the intersectionality of growing up as a Black girl in New York City [...] [Her] influences, passions, frustrations, and landscape come together to pen lyrical poems with chaotic subjects and essential messages."
--Booklist

Author Bio

Angela Shant is an elementary education teacher by trade. She taught for ten years in her hometown of New York City where she received an MFA in creative writing from the City College of New York. Currently she's an education content editor and Literacy consultant in southern California. Her first two books and third on its way were released through West Margin Press.