Marking a dramatic new direction for Jones, The Unicorn Woman is a riveting tale set in the Post WWII South, narrated by a Black soldier who returns to Jim Crow and searches for a mythical ideal.

Set in the early 1950s, this latest novel from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Gayl Jones follows the witty but perplexing army veteran Buddy Ray Guy as he embodies the fate of Black soldiers who return, not in glory, but into their Jim Crow communities.

A cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he's a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he is a true self-educated intellectual and a classic seeker: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love. As he moves around the south, from his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, primarily, to his second home of Memphis, Tennessee, he recalls his love affairs in post-war France and encounters with a variety of colorful characters and mythical prototypes: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists, and bigots.

The lead among these characters is, of course, The Unicorn Woman, who exists, but mostly lives in Bud's private mythology. Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of Black (and Indigenous) people in a time and place of frustration, disappointment, and spiritual hope.

The Black Box: Writing The Race is a profound exploration of how Black Americans have wielded the power of the written word to carve out their identity, defy the falsehoods of racism, and engage in robust debates within their own community throughout American history.

Derived from the renowned introductory course in African American Studies at Harvard, led by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this work narrates the journey of Black self-definition in America. It highlights the efforts of literary giants such as Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. These figures have utilized literature to create a "home" for Black individuals in a society marred by virulent racism.

At its core, the book celebrates the paradox that a community, initially shaped by oppressors to rationalize inhumane enslavement, has reinvented itself through literature. This transformation has been an act of defiance, leading to the emergence of a culture that is resilient, creative, and powerful, despite internal disagreements about the essence of being "Black" and the crafting of a past that fosters a more equitable future.

The Black Box: Writing The Race is an epic tale that documents how a multitude of creative minds have revealed and resisted the confines of the metaphorical "black box"—a label imposed upon them, often arbitrarily, since the nation's inception. This book captures the saga of a people's creation through their essays, speeches, novels, plays, and poems, chronicling their persistent struggle and triumph.

Ours: A Novel by Phillip B. Williams is a beautifully-written and ambitious epic about the complexity of freedom, set in mid-nineteenth-century America. This ingenious, sweeping novel introduces us to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjuror who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there.

She brings those she has freed to a haven of her own creation: a town just north of St. Louis, magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours. It is in this miraculous place that Saint’s grand experiment—a truly secluded community where her people may flourish—takes root. But although Saint does her best to protect the inhabitants of Ours, over time, her conjuring and memories begin to betray her, leaving the town vulnerable to intrusions by newcomers with powers of their own.

As the cracks in Saint’s creation are exposed, some begin to wonder whether the community’s safety might be yet another form of bondage. Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, Ours is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom by a writer of capacious vision and talent.

Spectral Evidence is a profound exploration by Gregory Pardlo, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Digest and Air Traffic. In this major collection of poetry, Pardlo's words flow seamlessly through a variety of themes, from the life of pro-wrestler Owen Hart to Tituba, the only Black woman accused during the Salem witch trials, and the MOVE organization's confrontations with Philadelphia Police.

The collection invites readers to ponder on topics such as Blackness, beauty, faith, and the impact of law. It is both cerebral and intimate, urging us to reflect on our notions of devotion and art, the criminalization and mortality of Black bodies, and the quest for justice. These themes are intricately woven into our current societal fabric, our history, and the Western literary tradition. Pardlo's poetry acts as a bridge connecting the past and present, challenging us to consider the role of art in interpreting and understanding the world around us.