Elizabeth Alexander

A deeply resonant New York Times Bestselling memoir for anyone who has loved and lost, from acclaimed poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Alexander. In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband. Channeling her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid price, Alexander tells a love story that is, itself, a story of loss. As she reflects on the beauty of her married life, the trauma resulting from her husband's death, and the solace found in caring for her two teenage sons, Alexander universalizes a very personal quest for meaning and acceptance in the wake of loss. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is at once an endlessly compelling memoir and a deeply felt meditation on the blessings of love, family, art, and community. It is also a lyrical celebration of a life well-lived and a paean to the priceless gift of human companionship. For those who have loved and lost, or for anyone who cares what matters most, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is required reading.

A Memoir

The Light of the World

A powerful meditation on the trauma of race-based violence and the potential of the rising generation of young adults, from Pulitzer-prize finalist, New York Times bestselling author and poet, and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Elizabeth Alexander. In the midst of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 and following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, one of the great literary voices of our time, Elizabeth Alexander, turned a mother's eye to her sons' and students' generation and wrote a celebrated and moving reflection on the psyche of young Black America. Originally published in the New Yorker, the essay brilliantly and lovingly observed the experiences, attitudes, and cultural expressions of the Trayvon Generation, who even as children could not be shielded from the brutality that has affected the lives of so many Black people. The Trayvon Generation expounds on the viral essay which spoke so resonantly to this historical moment, looking both to our past and our future with profound insight and heart, and interwoven with groundbreaking art by some of our most extraordinary Black artists. At this crucial time in American history when we reckon with who we are as a nation and how we move forward, Alexander's lyrical prose gives us perspective--informed by historical understanding, her lifelong devotion to education, and an intimate grasp of the visioning power of art. This book is essential reading, a breathtaking expression of both the tragedies and hopes of this era that is sure to be embraced by those who are leading the movement for change and anyone rising to meet the moment.

The Trayvon Generation

Gwendolyn Brooks

A selection of the influential African-American poet's works reflects her modernist style and includes numerous definitive World War II poems as well as pieces about the social and political upheavals of the 1960s.

The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks

Beyond the Hood

The Black Interior

The Venus Hottentot

Praise Song for the Day was commissioned for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. These inspiring words by award-winning poet Elizabeth Alexander celebrate all that has made America what it is today and challenge us—as individuals, as communities, as a nation—to continue working toward the dream of a better world for all. Together with spectacular illustrations by Caldecott Award–winning illustrator David Diaz, Praise Song for the Day reminds us that we are an ever-evolving nation fueled by hope, freedom, perseverance, and love.

Praise Song for the Day

A volume in the Poets on Poetry series, which collects critical works by contemporary poets, gathering together the articles, interviews, and book reviews by which they have articulated the poetics of a new generation. Elizabeth Alexander is considered one of the country's most gifted contemporary poets, and the publication of her essays in The Black Interior in 2004 established her as an astute critic and cultural commentator as well. Arnold Rampersad has called Alexander "one of the brightest stars in our literary sky . . . a superb, invaluable commentator on the American scene." In this new collection of her essays, reviews, and interviews, Alexander again focuses on African American artistic production, particularly poetry, and the cultural contexts in which it is created and experienced. The book's first section, "Black Arts 101," takes up the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sterling Brown, Lucille Clifton, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Rita Dove (among others); artist Romare Bearden; dancer Bill T. Jones; and dramatist August Wilson. A second section, "Black Feminist Thinking," provides engaging meditations ranging from "My Grandmother's Hair" and "A Very Short History of Black Women and Food" to essays on the legacies of Toni Cade, Audre Lorde, and June Jordan. The collection's final section, "Talking," includes interviews, a commencement address---"Black Graduation"---and the essay "Africa and the World." Elizabeth Alexander received a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She has published four books of poems: The Venus Hottentot (1990); Body of Life (1996); Antebellum Dream Book (2001); and, most recently, American Sublime (2005), which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Her play, Diva Studies, was produced at the Yale School of Drama. She is presently Professor of American and African American Studies at Yale University.

Essays, Reviews, and Interviews

Power and Possibility

Thomas E Donnelley Professor of African American Studies Elizabeth Alexander

A fourth collection of poems by the author recalls over a century of African American traditions, knitting together a blend of history, biography, personal experience, pop culture, and dreamscape.

Poems

American Sublime

The first career retrospective by the award-winning poet Elizabeth Alexander, including her poem delivered at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration We crave radiance in this austere world, light in the spiritual darkness. Learning is the one perfect religion, its path correct, narrow, certain, straight. --from "Allegiance" Over twenty years, Elizabeth Alexander has become one of America's most exciting and important poets, and her selection as the inaugural poet by President Obama confirmed her place as one of the indispensable voices of our time. Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 gathers twenty pages of new poetry, along with generous selections from her previous work. The result is the definitive volume to date by this American master.

New and Selected Poems 1990-2010

Crave Radiance

A Novel

Second Choice

Beth Berkowitz

Religious Studies and Rabbinics have overlapping yet distinct interests, subject matter, and methods. Religious Studies is committed to the study of religion writ large. It develops theories and methods intended to apply across religious traditions. Rabbinics, by contrast, is dedicated to a defined set of texts produced by the rabbinic movement of late antiquity. Religious Studies and Rabbinics represents the first sustained effort to create a conversation between these two academic fields. In one trajectory of argument, the book shows what is gained when each field sees how the other engages the same questions: When did the concept of "religion" arise? How should a scholar’s normative commitments interact with their scholarship? The book argues that if scholars from Religious Studies and Rabbinics do not realize they are addressing the same problems, they will not benefit from each other’s solutions. A second line of argument brings research methods, theoretical claims, and data associated with one field into contact with those of the other. When Religious Studies categories such as "ritual" or "the sacred" are applied to data from Rabbinics and, conversely, when text-reading strategies distinctive to Rabbinics are employed for texts from other traditions, both Religious Studies and Rabbinics enlarge their scope. The chapters range across such themes as ritual failure; rabbinic conceptions of scripture, ethics, food, time, and everyday life; problems of definition and normativity in the study of religion; J.Z. Smith’s writings; and the preaching of the African-American Christian evangelical social justice activist John Perkins. With chapters written by world-class theorists of Religious Studies and prominent text scholars of Rabbinics, the book provides a unique opportunity to expand the conceptual reach and scholarly audience of both Religious Studies and Jewish Studies.

A Conversation

Religious Studies and Rabbinics

Antebellum Dream Book

Christoph Heinrich

Greg Tate

Isolde Brielmaier

"Jordan Casteel: Returning the Gaze brings together nearly thirty paintings made between 2013 and 2018 by Jordan Casteel, including examples from Brothers, Visible Man, Nights in Harlem, and her subway Subway series. By transforming her photographs into larger-than-life portraits with subtle shifts in light, bold colors, and gestural brushwork, Casteel reveals individuals and atmospheres that often go unnoticed"--

Elizabeth Alexander

About

Books

Join the club