RIZE Press Will Publish Shonda Buchanan's Nina Simone Poems
The Californer/10266869

LOS ANGELES - Californer -- In this book of poems, Shonda weaves a journey through Nina Simone's biography, artistic portfolio, personal history, and legacy while revisiting many of the themes that run through Shonda's literary work: historical injustice, cultural representation, identity reclamation, and the interplay of spirit, survival, and creativity.

Nina Simone's life, advocacy, and creative work were often misunderstood or misrepresented both during her life and after her death. This book celebrates and investigates how she influenced one poet and helps introduce readers to her complex layers and legacy. The Lost Songs of Nina Simone will be published in paperback and audiobook formats.

Shonda Buchanan is the author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian, which tells her story of excavating her Black family's Native American ancestry and masterfully weaves race, mental illness, addiction, genealogy, and the legacy of intergenerational familial pain into a beautifully compelling work. In addition to being a Pushcart Prize nominee, Oxfam Ambassador, USC Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities Fellow, and City of Los Angeles (COLA) Department of Cultural Affairs Master Artist Fellow, Shonda is also a faculty member in Alma College's MFA Program in Creative Writing.

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Shonda says, "Because Dr. Simone was a Civil Rights Activist with her music, today is the perfect day to announce this acquisition. Writing this book was an incredibly rewarding, yet also humbling experience. Delving into the life of Nina Simone, a world-renowned icon, took over 20 years, and I'm grateful the book finally has a home at RIZE." For more information about Shonda, visit www.shondabuchanan.com.

RIZE Press Acquisitions Editor Cody Sisco says, "We are so excited for this book to embody the intrepid spirit, fierce advocacy, and creative spark that Shonda is channeling and extending in a tribute to Nina's legacy." He states that RIZE Press, an imprint of Running Wild Publishing, is dedicated to cultivating historically excluded writers with great stories to tell. This acquisition extends the press beyond its fiction portfolio into poetry and hybrid texts to signal how the RIZE Press imprint can impact literary conversations.

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At RIZE, we are equally excited about our new and upcoming 2024 releases, including Obsidian Waste by Rudolfo A. Serna (released January 1), Far Out by Khaled Talib (released January 8), and Before You Met Me by Agatha Sicil (release date: January 29, 2024). As the year progresses, we look forward to adding fascinating and powerful stories to our RIZE and Running Wild catalogs (https://bookshop.org/shop/runningwildpress)!

Cody Sisco, RIZE Press Acquisitions Editor
Lisa Kastner, Publisher of Running Wild and RIZE Press