Barry Jenkins’ critically acclaimed new film [Moonlight] was released on the 21st. Based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, Jenkins takes viewers on an intimate look into the life of a young Black male growing up in Miami and unraveling his identity and sexuality. Moonlight is generating Oscar buzz and garnering praise from film and cultural critics alike. Checkout ongoing coverage from A Melancholy Youth Finds Himself Under The Heavenly Glow Of 'Moonlight', 'Moonlight': A Cinematic Poem Of Love, Loneliness And Coming Out,For Film's Creators, 'Moonlight' Provided Space To Explore A Painful Past, A Necessary Story: How 'Moonlight' Allows Black Manhood To Exist Beyond Toxic Masculinity, and Moonlight’: Is This the Year’s Best Movie?. Here’s the trailer: 

Moonlight Official Trailer

Ava DuVernay, director of [Selma] and Oprah’s newest BFF, recently released [13th], a Netflix original documentary that explores race in the American criminal justice system. Powerful and infuriating, 13th is a must-see. Read more about powerful and infuriating of 13th in Review: ‘13TH,’ the Journey From Shackles to Prison Bars and '13th' Maps The Road From Slavery To Mass Incarceration

Brit Bennet’s debut novel [The Mothers], released earlier this month, takes readers on a complex tale of womanhood, friendship, and heartbreak. Bennet is already garnering recognition from writers like Jacqueline Woodson and Angela Flournoy, with a few comparisons to Ta-Nehisi Coates. Years in the making, Bennett wrote The Mothers while completing degrees at Stanford and Michigan. She is definitely one to watch. [Ben East] and Alexandra Alter: ‘The Mothers,’ a Debut Novel, Is Already Creating a Stir review the new novel. 

We’re still hype over [Luke Cage], the first “woke Black superhero show,” quoted by Creating “Luke Cage,” the First Woke Black-Superhero Show and hope you are too! Here’s The Luke Cage Syllabus: A Breakdown of All the Black Literature Featured in Netflix’s Luke Cage.

Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest- A True Story of the Jim Crow South is a new book covering the lives of Willie and George Muse, African-American albino brothers kidnapped as children and forced to be sideshow acts in the circus. Beth Macy spent over two decades gathering stories about the brothers, the fight their mother launched to stop their exploitation, and their lives post-Jim Crow. Here’s a review by NYT: How Two Black Albino Brothers Became Unwilling Sideshow Stars.

Everyone’s favorite “awkward” Black girl Issa Rae is back with a major HBO deal and a new series Insecure. If you want to learn more about insecure, read about it in Issa Rae Turns Basic Into Revolutionary With 'Insecure'.

Directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack recently premiered Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise. Read more about Maya Angelou in this NYT article: Review: ‘Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,’ a Life Well Lived. Running just under two hours, this documentary takes a long look at the incredible life of Maya Angelou, exploring her youth, relationships, and most importantly, her works. You will surely enjoy the many celebrity features throughout the documentary, but Hercules and Whack’s in-depth exploration of Angelou’s friendships with figures like Malcolm X and James Baldwin are an added bonus.

Faith Ringgold turned 86! She recently sat down with NPR to read from her award-winning 1991 children’s book [Tar Beach]. Here is the video: Faith Ringgold reads her 1991 children's book Tar Beach.

The [2016 National Book Award Finalists] have been announced.

Librarian Jamillah Gabriel is launching a Black literature subscription service. To read more click on this article: Purdue Librarian Launches Black Literature Subscription Service. Each month subscribers will receive a specially curated box that includes a new book and other items relevant to Black culture. We’ll post more information about the launch date when it becomes available.

Painter Kerry James Marshall is being celebrated at the Met Breuer—an extension of the renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, with his newest exhibit Mastry. Read more about it at Kerry James Marshall Mastery. From the exhibition overview: encompassing nearly 80 works—including 72 paintings—that span the artist’s remarkable 35-year career, Mastry reveals Marshall’s practice to be one that synthesizes a wide range of pictorial traditions to counter stereotypical representations of black people in society and reassert the place of the black figure within the canon of Western painting.

In Memoriam: Thomas Mikal Ford

#RIPTommy #Martin