An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children

Charis and Auburn Avenue Research Library welcome Jamaica Kincaid in conversation with Tiphanie Yanique for a celebration of , a unique collaboration from two of America’s leading artists that explores the fascinating and hidden history of the plant world.

In this witty, deeply original book, the renowned novelist Jamaica Kincaid offers an ABC of the plants that define our world and reveals the often brutal history behind them.

Kara Walker, one of America’s greatest visual artists, illustrates each entry with provocative, brilliant, enthralling, many-layered watercolors.

There has never been a book like —so inventive, surprising, and telling about what our gardens reveal.

Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John’s, Antigua. Her books include , , , , My Brother, Mr. Potter, and . She teaches at Harvard University and lives in Vermont.

Tiphanie Yanique is the author of the award-winning novels Land of Love and Drowning and , as well as the poetry collection . Winner of the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel award, and a National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Award and a Fulbright scholarship. Her short fiction has been published in The New Yorker and anthologized in Best American Short Stories 2020. Originally from the Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, where she is a professor at Emory University.
By existing at the intersection of creative expression and the Black experience and accepting the guidance of his ancestors, he creates, authors, and magnifies the truth and depth of Blackness. From loose sketches and tight lines to blocks of color and nuances of mixed media, his art manifests in visual expressions to the questions, “What came before?” and “What truth must be told?”
Palmer was recently appointed by the USPS to design the 47th stamp in the Black Heritage Stamp series, honoring Judge Constance Baker Motley. In 2020, he was chosen by John Legend to create the cover portrait for his Grammy Award-winning album "Bigger Love". Additionally, TIME Magazine commissioned him to create the cover art and illustrations for their "America Must Change" issue in July 2020, due to his 20-year expertise in painting on the topic of race. He also designed the cover for the NBA's 75th anniversary edition of the 2K22 video game, and most recently co-authored the New Brownies Book: A Love Letter To Black Families which won the 2024 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction.

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