New Book
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, the soaring and essential pieces presented in There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love give voice to the cleavages that have shaken and uprooted American lives in an era of unthinkable grief. This is an unprecedented, revolutionary time. Across the country, people are losing their loved ones, their livelihoods, their homes, and even their own lives to COVID-19. Despite the pandemic, countless protests erupted this summer over the recurring loss of Black lives. Shock and outrage reverberated. There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love captures and gives voice to all of these roiling sentiments that were unleashed in a profoundly affecting, revolutionary time. Beginning with a heart-rending poem by masterful poet Patricia Smith that grieves the murder of George Floyd, among others–the pieces in this anthology fan out from there, offering a kaleidoscopic and intimate view of the change we all underwent. Composed of searing letters, essays, poems, reflections, and screeds, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love highlights the work of some of our most powerful and treasured writers hail from across a range of backgrounds and from almost all fifty states. Between them, have brought home four Pulitzers, two National Book Awards, a fistful of Whitings, and numerous citations in best American poetry, short story, and essay compilations. They are noisy with beauty, and their pieces ring out. Galvanizing and lyrical, this is a deeply profound anthology of writing filled with pain and beauty, warmth and intimacy. A remarkable feat of empathy, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love offers solace in a time of swirling protest, change, and violence–reminding us of the human scale of the upheaval, and providing hope for a kinder future.
About the Authors:
Tracy K. Smith is the author of three acclaimed books of poetry, including most recently Life on Mars, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize, a New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a New Yorker, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A professor of creative writing at Princeton University, she lives in Princeton with her family.
John Freeman is the editor of Freeman’s, a literary annual of new writing, and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. His books include How to Read a Novelist and Dictionary of the Undoing, as well as Tales of Two Americas, an anthology about income inequality in America, and Tales of Two Planets, an anthology of new writing about inequality and the climate crisis globally. He is also the author of two poetry collections, Maps and The Park. His work is translated into more than twenty languages, and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The New York Times. The former editor of Granta, he teaches writing at New York University.
There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love by , read by Robin Miles, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Anthony Rey Perez, Kay Eluvian, Kyla Garcia, Kaleo Griffith, Greta Jung, Tanis Parenteau, Quiny Surasmith, Pej Vahdat
“These testimonials from professors, poets, novelists and activists are centered on last summer’s protests against the police killings of Black people, but they tie connective threads between many countries and their crises…Together this book is a maelstrom of grief, anger, fear and confusion, with glimmers of gratitude and hope: a comprehensive emotional document of a moment.” —Sebastian Modak, The New York Times
“Written from the inner chambers of the heart, resonating with the questions that keep us up at night, and offering the recognition and generosity…. This book is a promise, a solace, a sounding of our cries for justice and need for love. It’s nothing short of essential.” —Garnette Cadogan, Literary Hub
