New Book, Race. Resistance. Love. by Herukhuti Reaches #1 New Release for African American Poetry on Kindle in 1st Week

Reaches #10 for African American poetry overall

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, June 28, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, poet and publisher, H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams, popularly known as Dr. Herukhuti, is celebrating since the longtime spoken word and performance artist’s first collection of poetry, Race. Resistance. Love., reached #1 in the Black/African American poetry category on Amazon Kindle in its first week on the platform. The exciting new book, which is published by CCSS Publications, a division of his company, Center for Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality, contains poems from three decades of writing including work from the poet’s time regularly reading at the famous, weekly open mic night at the Brooklyn Moon Café in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in the early 90s and early 2000s. “When you do something out of love and people respond with love, it feels really, really good,” said Herukhuti.

Poet and Activist

Herukhuti, a Brooklyn-based poet, playwright-director, scholar, and community activist, participated in a 2021 summer intensive at Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) called Digital Evolution Artist Retention (DEAR) and was inspired to collect three decades worth of poetry and spoken word pieces and publish them as a book. That idea became Race. Resistance. Love.. Herukhuti has been deeply involved in movements for Black liberation, LGBTQIA+ rights, and social justice. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of DUB: Finding Ceremony, pointed out, “Herukhuti is a seer, a bridgemaker and a warrior who vigilantly notices the cusps between worlds. For decades, Herukhuti has opened portals and guided countless seekers through to their highest purpose and now he is offering his poems as portable ceremonies that will now travel beyond the vibrational range of his voice.” Well known bisexual+ speaker and educator, Robyn Ochs agreed, “I have enthusiastically engaged Herukhuti, times too numerous to count, through conversation, collaboration, and his written work. Not once have I left one of our interactions without new insight, new learning, and a welcomed challenge to my own frame.”

Praise and Acclaim

A number of artists and scholars have already shared high praise and acclaim for the book. Celebrated author of Yabo, Alexis De Veaux, has said of Race. Resistance. Love., “Herukhuti’s poetry arrives as a clarion call. Here is an unapologetic Blackness firing into the day--21st century, persistent and badass.” Tony Medina, PhD, author of Death, With Occasional Smiling, said of the book, “Herukhuti’s Race. Resistance. Love. tackles history, race and popular culture with passion, humor and the verve necessary to make us stop in our tracks and pay attention.” Carl Hancock Rux, author of The Baptism, declared “Herukhuti achieves an artful testimony of community and self while proclaiming an insistent otherness that pushes against historical and philosophical challenges.” Syrus Marcus Ware, PhD, assistant professor, School of the Arts, McMaster University and co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Canada, shared, “Herukhuti has offered us insight into racial injustice, love, sexuality, and Black liberation.” The first bisexual grand marshal of the Heritage of Pride March in New York City, Ifadadefumi Fasnmi Fayemi (J Christopher Neal), artist, educator, activist, and healer, expressed, “Race. Resistance. Love. is a codex for our time and for a time, not too long ago, the impact of which still reverberates today.” K. Marshall Green, PhD, assistant professor, Williams College and director of communications, Brown Boi Project, asserts “Herukhuti takes us to the past, into the hull of a ship full of our people, and brings us back to the present, all the while predicting a future we dare to consider. Race. Resistance. Love. is time travel through the word.”

Availability

Race. Resistance. Love. is available in print and eBook from the publisher, CCSS Publications, at https://sacredsexualities.org/books/race-resistance-love/, as well as your favorite retailer.

CCSS Publications is a division of the Center of Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality (CCSS), a social enterprise with a mission to use arts activism, creativity and cultural production to liberate the ways people love, experience the Erotic, and connect to the Sacred.

H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams
CCSS Publications
+1 917-403-0536
ccsspublications@sacredsexualities.org