Library of Infinities is a platform for archiving the impact of books by authors of the afro-diaspora. Explore the Library below or add your own contribution through the Submit button.
Library of Infinities est une plateforme d'archivage de l'impact des livres d'auteurs de l'afro-diaspora. Explorez la bibliothèque ci-dessous ou ajoutez votre propre contribution en cliquant sur le bouton Soumettre.
Dear Philomena Mugabi Byenkya
X
Impact of Work
This is my debut novel and was a work of vulnerability, strength and purpose that addresses mental health, disabilities, sexuality, religion, gender and their intersections with blackness.
Contributor
Mugabi Byenkya
Kintu Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
X
Impact of Work
A Ugandan epic worthy of being a successor/Ugandan equivalent to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
Contributor
Mugabi Byenkya
Tropical Fish Doreen Baingana
X
Impact of Work
A powerful narrative on sexual assault told through three sisters which parallels the experience of far too many black femmes.
Contributor
Mugabi Byenkya
March Volumes 1-3 John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
X
Impact of Work
Powerful graphic novel that gives a behind the scenes look at the civil rights movement.
Contributor
Mugabi Byenkya
A Small Place Jamaica Kincaid
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Impact of Work
This book is so beautifully written + it does a wonderful job of illustrating the ways in which colonial contact is relieved/experienced in the everyday life/routine of a Caribbean tourism-based economy // it made me think of the ways in which my mother and father grew up in (ex) colonies and how my daily encounters with whiteness reiterate the violence of colonialism.
Contributor
nènè myriam konaté
I Have To Live Aisha Sasha John
X
Impact of Work
I just read this book last week in a moment when I was feeling overwhelmed/exhausted and I feel like it called me back into my body + put things into perspective // it was like before reading it I had briefly lost sight of how important my body is, of what I actually need to sustain me // it made me realize that all the things I was feeling overwhelmed by were transient + that even after these things passed I would have to live and it made me ask myself ~how~ I want to live.
Contributor
nènè myriam konaté
Homegoing Yaa Gyasi
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Impact of Work
This book made me think of the power of ancestry + the importance of intergenerational exchange(s) // I cried so much as I read this book because it felt like the author had reached inside me and hugged a part of me that I didn't even know existed // I didn't know how much I needed to read Homegoing until I read it, it made me think of my parents and what cosmic energy might have brought them together + of how memories of the transatlantic slave trade haunt our collective subconscious // but most importantly it made me think of the various modes of resistance adopted by my ancestors that made my very existence possible.
Contributor
nènè myriam konaté
Any Known Blood Lawrence Hilli
X
Impact of Work
It really helped reassure my black identity as a mixed race youth who was struggling with racial identity.
Contributor
Andre Fenton
The Hate You Give Angie Thomas
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Impact of Work
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a very good book right now. It's an honest book. The dialogue, pop culture references, and the honesty really makes me feel like I'm represented within the book. It has some heavy content, but it's an important read.
Contributor
Andre Fenton
The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X and Alex Haley
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Impact of Work
The Autobiography of Malcolm X really opened my eyes to oppression, and the normalization of white supremacy in society.
Contributor
Andre Fenton
Live From the Afrikan Resistance El Jones
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Impact of Work
El Jones' Live From The Afrikan Resistance needs to be in every black youth's life. El Jones's book influenced me with so much strength and resilience, and made me confident as a young black person.
Contributor
Andre Fenton
Kindred Octavia Butler
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Impact of Work
I'm a huge fan of Butler's work, especially her centralisation of strong, complex Black female leads. I've gained so much wisdom from her novels, in particular this one. Her work asks questions such as when it comes to survival, what are you willing to sacrifice? How will you honour the legacy of your family, and must you, even if you decide to follow your own path? Beautiful, beautiful book.
Contributor
Daysha
Seize temps noirs pour apprendre à dire kuei Philippe Néméh-Nombré
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Impact of Work
I am thrilled to write a few lines about Seize temps noirs pour apprendre à dire kuei. This publication by Philippe Néméh-Nombré is modest in size, but its reach into the collective imagination of those identifying as Afro-Francophone and living in Québec is exceptional. Textured, intimate, and poetic, Seize temps noirs pour apprendre à dire kuei situates the Black Atlantique slave trade and its socio-political effect in a constellation of once French colonies colliding and in resonance with the world. In doing so, the author generates a space for narratives shaped by tongues that are rarely woven into Anglo-Saxon historicity, especially in so-called Canada.
Contributor
Genevieve Wallen
The Broken Earth Trilogy N.K Jemisin
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Impact of Work
It was one of the first books I’ve ever read centred around a black protagonist that just felt familiar. Like honestly, a crazy book of black powerful protagonists doing crazy things there’s like murder, betrayal, marriage, pain, children, super powers, post apocalyptic world, the strains and hardship of family. It’s so good.
Contributor
Tamia
All God’s Children Need Walking ShoesMaya Angelou
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Impact of Work
One of Maya Angelou’s memoirs that chronicles her time in Ghana and her connections to Black diasporic political leaders and networks. Put to words many feelings of diasporic connection. Home and away as a fellow descendant of formerly enslaved peoples. Also inspiring to see how she made her way in a new space a great distance from home and comfort.
Contributor
Octavia Andrade-Dixon
Black Women and Self-Recoverybell hooks
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Impact of Work
One of my favourite books is "Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery" by bell hooks. I read it last summer and it has been very influential in my wellness journey. A quote in this book that I really like is: "Systems of domination exploit folks best when they deprive of us our capacity to experience our own agency and alter our ability to care and to love ourselves and others." She spends the better part of the book illustrating this quote with various examples, rooting her theory in everyday experiences. But she also provides practical tips for resistance, motivated by feminist, Christian, and Buddhist values of love and justice.
Contributor
Ojo Agi
Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe
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Impact of Work
One of my favourite books is “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe - a Nigerian author whose book was constantly mentioned throughout my youth by my late father. The book explored colonialism from a pre/post point-of-view while showcasing the Igbo society with a bird’s eye view. Throughout the novel, the author drops suspenseful hints of an impending invasion. I enjoyed it for the innovative way he incorporated the slow but calculated invasion of white (missionaries) settlers into the Igbo village from the beginning of the book to end. There are sensitive subjects which may make the book difficult to read. The novels’ story paints a picture which is relatable beyond the Igbo society; a window into similar experiences of indigenous cultures around the world. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the sunshine, and even in the trees, and filled the village with excitement.”
Contributor
Isabelle Ofume
The Blue ClerkDionne Brand
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Impact of Work
A favorite book I read this year was Dionne Brand's The Blue Clerk. I enjoyed it because it required a deep attentiveness from me as a reader in order to wrap my head around the non-linear universe of the poet and the clerk who watches over the poet's accumulated pages of writing. The book is a meditation on the act of writing itself and is such a fluid odyssey. I've never read anything quite like this: prose that really messes with my understanding of time while mixing philosophy, theory and poetry. Reading the verses in this book felt almost like looking into a kaleidoscope where you have to interpret complex patterns, colors, and metaphorical hues of blue. A quote that I gravitated to is "Poetry has that ability to reconstitute language; it uses time. It can make you see the xylem between the then and the after, or the now and the after. It has no obligation to the present. It is time.
Contributor
Anonymous
KindredOctavia Butler
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Impact of Work
One of my favourite books I read this year was Kindred by Octavia Butler. It changed my mind about a lot of things and keeps me asking questions several months after I’ve read it. What drew me into the book so deeply was the way it connected the past to the present. It follows the main character, Dana and her connection to the past through time travel to the plantation where her ancestors lived. The book left me with questions about history and how we use it intentionally, subconsciously, spitefully, lovingly and curiously to understand our present and how questions about the unknown torment us through this process. Some quotes I gravitated towards were “We’re in the middle of history. We surely can’t change it.” and “Some matching strangeness in us that may or may not have come from our being related.” and “As a sort of castaway myself, I was happy to escape into the fictional world of someone else’s trouble.”
Contributor
Anu Oluwa