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Don't Call Us Dead

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( 12,521 ratings, 1,805 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith is a powerful poetry collection that begins with a moving sequence imagining an afterlife for black men killed by police, where they find the safety and love denied to them in life. The poems delve into themes of desire, mortality, and the intense realities faced by those living with HIV. Smith's work confronts and challenges the harshness of American society while offering moments of joy and reflection.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Readers interested in contemporary poetry addressing race, social justice, identity, and LGBTQ+ themes will find this collection deeply resonant. It is suited for those looking for art that confronts societal issues with lyrical power and emotional depth.

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Begins with a sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion, violence, and grief are forgotten and replaced with safety, love, and longevity they deserved back here on earth. This book also looks at desire, mortality - the dangers experienced in skin and body and blood - and diagnosis of HIV positive.

The highly anticipated collection by Danez Smith- 'One of the year's essential books' NPR

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The highly anticipated collection by Danez Smith — 'One of the year's essential books' NPR

WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2018
A Finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry 2017
A Financial Times and Telegraph Book of the Year 2018

'Smith's poems are enriched to the point of volatility, but they pay out, often, in sudden joy' The New Yorker

Award-winning poet Danez Smith is a ground-breaking force, celebrated for deft lyrics, urgent subjects, and performative power. Don't Call Us Dead opens with a heartrending sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion, violence, and grief are forgotten and replaced with the safety, love and longevity they deserved here on earth. Smith turns then to desire, mortality — the dangers experienced in skin and body and blood — and an HIV-positive diagnosis.

'Some of us are killed / in pieces,' Smith writes, 'some of us all at once.' Don't Call Us Dead is an astonishing and ambitious collection, one that confronts, praises, and rebukes an America where every day is too often a funeral and not often enough a miracle.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

This book is poetry as fierce fire, filled with intelligence and fervour about black men, gay men, and life with HIV, with impeccable craft – Roxane Gay. It is tremendously moving and astonishing in its combination of myth, beauty, and intellect – Sandeep Parmar, The Guardian. Recognised as a powerful and moving read that honours lives lost to injustice and explores living with HIV – Maria Crawford, Financial Times. The opening visionary sequence is truly remarkable, offering a hopeful afterlife for black boys taken too soon.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781784742041

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 18 January 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Chatto & Windus

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 9.0mm

Width: 163.0mm

Height: 230.0mm

Weight: 169g

Pages: 112

About the Author

Danez Smith's debut poetry collection, insert boy, won the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award. Smith has received fellowships from the McKnight Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and has published poems in Granta, Poetry and The Best American Poetry. Smith lives in Minneapolis.

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