How We Fight for Our Lives
From award-winning poet Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives — winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Book Award — is a “moving, bracingly honest memoir” (The New York Times Book Review) written at the crossroads of sex, race, and power.
“People don’t just happen,” writes Saeed Jones. ‘We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. ‘We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. It seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, “I am no longer yours.”’
Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir about a young, Black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescence — into tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another-and to one another-as we fight to become ourselves.
An award-winning poet, Jones has developed a style that’s as beautiful as it is powerful — a voice that’s by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. How We Fight for Our Lives is a one-of-a-kind memoir and a book that cements Saeed Jones as an essential writer for our time.
-
Free Shipping for orders $150+
Book Publication Date:
Book Publication Year:
Book Binding:
Book Authors:
Publishing has a diversity problem. There are less 'diverse' books being published which limits the discoverability and reach of those authors.
Representation is important. Read more about why we exist here.
An anti-racist social enterprise bookstore specialising in BIPOC books.
Only about 11% of books published are by BIPOC authors — so unless you specifically seek out books by BIPOC authors, you aren't likely to find very many of them organically. At Amplify, BIPOC authors are highlighted and celebrated. Here, they don't have to fight to be seen, and you don't have to fight to find them.
We hope that in our shop, you can discover a new favourite read, find stories that speak uniquely to you, learn about a culture outside your own (or more about your own histories), and gain a better understanding of the systems that connect us all.
Looking for something super specific?
Have a scroll through our tag directory to help direct your search and bring you to curated collections, as grouped by subgenres, identity markers, and more!
