Our regular Book Digest segment spotlights new books from Hayat Kasdi, Patrice Lawrence, Kamilah Cole, Nicole Sealey, and John Murillo.
Chouf…A Marseille by Hayat Kasdi
Publisher: Les éditions El Amir
Date: December 7, 2025
Genre: Fiction
Language: French
Where to find it: Amazon, FNAC
Hayat Kasdi
Hayat Kasdi is a writer from Algeria who writes in French.
Chouf…A Marseille (English: Look… Marcel)
What is happening in the suburbs, where thousands of families of foreign origin live together, especially Maghrebi and African families, is exhausting the body of these communities. A generation that is strangling itself because of its failure to find its rightful place in a society that is foreign to it by identity, culture and religion, this generation is failing to play its role in opening up a healthy path for itself. How can this generation free itself from its negative charge and its complexes knowing that this process seems very difficult? Problems of young people who suffer from identity poverty, from the absence of a beacon that gives their conscience a feeling of peace and serenity. Is it society that has failed to contain and integrate them? Or are they alone responsible for their failure to wrest their legitimate rights in French society? Why did they choose another path instead of resorting to healthy solutions? Who drew up this cursed road map for them to sink into the troubled waters of a country that some compare to the sun?
People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: January 30, 2025
Genre: Fiction, Children
Language: English
Where to find it: Shakespeare and Company, Scholastic
Patrice Lawrence
Patrice Lawrence is a British writer and journalist, who has published fiction both for adults and children. Her writing has won awards including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Children and The Bookseller YA Book Prize.
People Like Stars
12 year old Ayrton and his mum have recently moved back to the area they lived in when he was a baby – the area they fled after a local woman stole him away from Mum when she was out shopping, thankfully returning him after only a short time had passed. Mum is suffocatingly over-protective of Ayrton, who just wants to be a normal boy. At his new school, he discovers that his new friend Stanley is linked to him in an astonishing way: Stanley’s grandma was the woman who took Ayrton while his mum’s back was turned. She became estranged from her own family because of her actions and Stanley has never known her. Together the boys decide to track down the grandma – now a famous artist with the Banksy-style pseudonym Vixen – but will Ayrton’s mother can get answers to the questions that torment her, and will Ayrton be able to live a more free life?
This Ends in Embers by Kamilah Cole
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Date: February 4, 2025
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Where to find it: Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble
Kamilah Cole
Kamilah Cole is the bestselling author of So Let Them Burn and This Ends in Embers. A graduate of New York University, Kamilah is usually playing Kingdom Hearts for the hundredth time, quoting early SpongeBob SquarePants episodes, or crying her way through Zuko’s redemption arc in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
This Ends in Embers
Perfect for fans of Raybearer and Fourth Wing, this astonishing sequel to the bestselling novel So Let Them Burn doesn’t hold back. After all, there are no easy endings in war–especially when sisters are forced to fight on opposite sides.
Faron Vincent was once the saint of San Irie. Now, she’s done the unthinkable: betrayed her country. Alone, disgraced, and kidnapped, Faron is forced to help Iya grow his bloody empire. With her soul bonded to a ruthless killer, Faron has become an enemy to her people… and she fears they might be right.
Elara Vincent–the new Empyrean–must undo the damage her sister has caused. San Irie has been brought back to the brink of war as Iya proclaims no nation will be safe from his brutal invasion. But how can Elara save her sister, her best friend, her country, and her world when she’s already cracking under the pressure?
This heart-pounding conclusion to the Divine Traitors duology pushes these unforgettable heroines to their breaking point and beyond. Because when the lines between hero and villain are blurred, deadly sacrifices must be made.
Dear Yusef: Essays, Letters, and Poems, For and About One Mr. Komunyakaa edited by Nicole Sealey and John Murillo
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Date: November 5, 2024
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry
Language: English
Where to find it: Wesleyan University Press
Nicole Sealey
Nicole Sealey is the author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure (2023), an excerpt from which was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, Ordinary Beast (2017), finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named (2016), winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. She was the Executive Director at Cave Canem from 2017–2019. She teaches in the MFA Writers Workshop in Paris program at New York University.
John Murillo
John Murillo is the author of the poetry collections, Up Jump the Boogie and Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry. Among his honors are the 2021 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the Four Quartets Prize from the Academy of American Poets and the TS Eliot Foundation, and the Poetry Society of Virginia’s North American Book Award. Currently, he serves as associate professor of English at Wesleyan University.
Dear Yusef: Essays, Letters, and Poems, For and About One Mr. Komunyakaa
Anthology of new work honoring the legacy of a celebrated African American poet
This carefully and generously curated mosaic of essays, letters, and poems reveals the profound impact that poet Yusef Komunyakaa has had on poets, educators, and readers worldwide. The anthology brings together creative and critical offerings from fellow poets, former students, literary entities, and other admirers. There are emerging and established voices―from previously unpublished writers to Pulitzer Prize winning poets. Together these pieces honor one of the most influential writers of the last half century, one, it turns out, who is as beloved for his teaching as he is celebrated for his creative work. Contributors include Terrance Hayes, Sharon Olds, Carolyn Forché, Toi Derricotte, and Martín Espada, among others. Dear Yusef affirms Komunyakaa’s transformative influence, showcasing how his mentoring has ignited creativity, nurtured passion, and fostered a sense of belonging among countless individuals. Through the artistry of these testimonials, we witness the transformative power of poetry and the enduring legacy of a true literary icon.
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