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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe
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BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://mobrowne.com/index.html
CITY: Brooklyn
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COUNTRY: United States
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PERSONAL
Born Lesley Tims, in 1976, in Oakland, California.
EDUCATION:Pratt Institute.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Poet, author, curator, organizer, and educator. First poet-in-residence at New York City’s Lincoln Center, Friday Night Slam curator, and Poetry Program director at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Lower Manhattan. Pratt Institute, Black Lives Matter program coordinator, 2019, and visiting instructor. Bowery Poetry Club, executive director; Urban Word NYC, artistic director; St. Francis College, poetry coordinator. Penmanship Books, founder; Woke Baby Book Fair, founder. Penmanship Books, founder and publisher.
AWARDS:Fellowships from Arts for Justice Fund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, Poets House, Hawthornden, SWACC! Focus Fellowship, Wesleyan University, and UCross; nominated for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work–Poetry.
WRITINGS
Also author of stage plays, articles, anthologies, and audio recordings.
SIDELIGHTS
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Dr. Mahogany L. Browne is an award-winning poet, author, community organizer, and educator. The founder of numerous poetry programs and organizations, she was the first poet-in-residence at New York City’s Lincoln Center. She has been awarded numerous poetry fellowships, and is cofounder of Brooklyn Slam. Browne is known for her poem, “Black Girl Magic,” an anthem to Black women’s empowerment.
Browne’s book-length poem, Black Girl Magic, illustrated by Jess X. Snow, pushes back against society always telling Black girls what they can’t do. Browne exposes 21st-century injustices, stereotypes, and low expectations of young black girls and women in the United States who are told what not to wear, not to dream, and not to love themselves. Browne’s poem tells them to rise above their limitations, to shine, bloom, love themselves, and revel in their strength and magic. The text is set in uppercase type that resembles hand-lettering, with prominent words cast in red ink.
“The rhythm and use of enjambment lends the work a spoken word-like cadence, making this an imminently readable poem,” according to Melissa Williams in School Library Journal. Writing in Booklist, a reviewer noted how Browne’s originally spoken-word poem “translate[s] to the page in bold, blocky, yet quivering text, displaying the vulnerability and hopefulness of Browne’s message.” In Kirkus Reviews, a critic remarked: “This book feels like the keepsake one gives to all the black girls and women in one’s life,” adding that the poem should be recited out loud rather than read silently on the page.
In an interview with Roya Marsh at Women’s Review of Books, Browne commented about her inspiration after reading prominent writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Adam Falkner, “Each of these works makes me question the status quo and consider the cyclical behaviors of our nation, the effects they have on our everyday lives, and how language and time can be bent in the telling and retelling of stories.”
Browne’s coming-of-age novel in verse, Chlorine Sky, features Skyy, a Black high school girl used to standing in the shadow of her more accomplished best friend, Lay Li. When Lay Li dates a boy who thinks that Skyy is black, stupid, and ugly, Skyy questions her friend’s excuses for him. Skyy instead concentrates on her skill on the basketball court, despite the boys saying she doesn’t belong there. Skyy eventually develops friendships with more positive girls, and learns to shine on her own. Her process of self-discovery helps her grow as she gauges her own self-worth. Browne’s “exploration of a teen finding herself moves rapidly, while Skyy’s journey toward self-love pulls at the heart,” according to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. In Kirkus Reviews, a critic noted that Browne’s “clear, descriptive word choices conjure vivid images and sharp feelings that pair well with the conversational flow, making the story accessible.”
In Vinyl Moon, Browne weaves together prose, poems, and vignettes to tell the story of Black high school girl Angel, who escapes an abusive boyfriend and learns to be a confident young woman. Angel’s mother sends her from her home in California to live with her nurturing uncle in Brooklyn. At her new school, Angel joins the group H.E.R., which stands for Her Excellence Is Resilience & Honoring Everyone’s Roots. She learns to work through her feelings, like her boyfriend’s abuse and abandonment from her mother. Group members also read books by powerful Black writers, such as Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, and learn Brooklyn’s hip-hop history. “Angel’s character continually evolves in this love letter to Brooklyn and hip-hop, told in a candid combination of poetry, prose, and vignettes,” according to Lisa Krok in School Library Journal. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted: “All of the novel’s characters are refreshingly layered and endearing, even when they aren’t at their best.”
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are explored in a New York neighborhood in Browne’s 2025 book, A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe. Set in 2020 and combining prose, poems, lists, and individual stories, the book is framed by the experiences of best friends Jamaican Electra and Trinidadian Hyacinth. Tragedies, such as parents who succumb to the virus, and triumps of survival through friendship and shared experiences are presented through stories of the foster care system, heightened family responsibilities, mandatory shutdowns, lack of physical contact, and feelings of sadness and loneliness.
In an interview with Iyana Jones at Publishers Weekly, Browne spoke about giving Elektra and Hyacinth the role of the chorus in the book: “I use the chorus as witness, as observer, as narrator. I like the idea of it being young women, because those are the folks we forget most times, right? So I thought that would be an amazing empowerment tool: to say no, I trust these narrators. I trust these witnesses.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews declared: “The characters’ voices feel as authentic as if they were next to you.” The book is “singularly relevant in its unsparing examination of the pandemic and its impact on young lives,” said Michael Cart in Booklist.
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 2025, Michael Cart, review of A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe, p. 71.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2020, review of Chlorine Sky; November 1, 2021, review of Vinyl Moon; January 15, 2025, review of A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe.
Publishers Weekly, November 16, 2020, review of Chlorine Sky, p. 94.
School Library Journal, January 2018, Melissa Williams, review of Black Girl Magic, p. 106; January 2022, Lisa Krok, review of Vinyl Moon, p. 75.
Women’s Review of Books, (May-June 2020), Roya Marsh, “Black Girl Magic, Knock-Knock Jokes, and Reading with Students in Mind,” p. 32.
ONLINE
Booklist, https://www.booklistonline.com/ (January 2018), review of Black Girl Magic.
Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (December 1, 2017), review of Black Girl Magic.
Mahogany L. Browne website, https://mobrowne.com (September 15, 2025).
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (March 6, 2025) Iyana Jones, “Q&A with Mahogany L. Browne.”
Mahogany L. Browne, a Kennedy Center's Next 50 fellow and MacDowell Arts Advocacy Awardee, is a writer, playwright, organizer, & educator. Browne received fellowships from All Arts, Arts for Justice, Air Serenbe, Baldwin for the Arts, Carolyn Moore Writing Residency, Cave Canem, Hawthornden, Poets House, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, Wesleyan University, & UCross. Browne’s books include Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky (optioned for a play by Steppenwolf Theater), Black Girl Magic, and banned books Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice and Woke Baby. Founder of the diverse lit initiative Woke Baby Book Fair, Browne currently tours Chrome Valley (highlighted in Publishers Weekly and The New York Times) and is the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize winner. Mahogany L. Browne holds an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree awarded by Marymount Manhattan College, and is the inaugural poet-in-residence at Lincoln Center.
Faculty | Lecturer
Mahogany Browne
Literature, Writing & Publishing, Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Mahogany L. Browne is a writer, organizer & educator. Currently, the Artistic Director of Urban Word NYC, Browne has received fellowships from Arts for Justice Fund, Agnes Gund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Mellon Research, Poets House & Rauschenberg. She is the author of Woke Baby & Black Girl Magic (Roaring Brook/Macmillan), Kissing Caskets (Yes Yes Books), Dear Twitter (Penmanship Books) and forthcoming Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice (Roaring Brook/Macmillan). She resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Mahogany L. Browne is writer, organizer & educator. Currently the Artistic Director of Urban Word NYC Browne has received literary fellowships from Air Serenbe, Cave Canem,Poets House & Rauschenberg. She hosts/curates the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Friday Night Slam Series and has authored: Black Girl Magic (Roaring Brook/Macmillan), Kissing Caskets (Yes Yes Books), Dear Twitter (Penmanship Books) & out or print titles: Smudge (Button Poetry), Redbone (Willow Books).
Mahogany L Browne
Genres: Young Adult Fiction
New and upcoming books
May 2026
no image available
Black Boy, Take Flight
May 2026
no image available
Black Girl, Bloom Bright
Novels
Chlorine Sky (2021)
Vinyl Moon (2022)
A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe (2025)
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Collections
Unlikely & Other Sorts (poems) (2006)
His Rib Stories Poems Essays by Her (poems) (2007)
#Dear Twitter (poems) (2010)
Toss the Earth (poems) (2012)
Smudge (poems) (2015)
Redbone (poems) (2015)
Kissing Caskets (poems) (2017)
Black Girl Magic: A Poem (poems) (2018)
The Black Girl Magic (poems) (2018)
Woke (poems) (2020)
I remember death by its proximity to what I love most (poems) (2021)
Chrome Valley (poems) (2023)
Black Boy, Take Flight (poems) (2026)
Black Girl, Bloom Bright (poems) (2026)
Picture Books hide
Woke Baby (2018)
Q & A with Mahogany L. Browne
By Iyana Jones | Mar 06, 2025
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In her latest collection for young readers, A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe, writer, organizer, and educator Mahogany L. Browne centers on a myriad of New York City teens grappling with love, grief, survival, and loss during the height of the pandemic. Browne, who is the inaugural poet-in-residence at Lincoln Center and the writer behind YA novels in verse such as Vinyl Moon and Chlorine Sky, spoke with us about how having Covid impacted her storytelling, writing about coming of age in a pandemic, trusting Black girls to be this story’s guide, and the importance of centering love.
Elektra and Hyacinth are our entry points into this collection. Where did these characters come from?
They came from several parts—friends. I have a Jamaican comrade and a Trinidadian comrade, and listening to them talk to each other, it’s very similar to what you see represented in the text. However, they’re not young women; but I just remember having that feeling of relaxed interpretation that happens when thinking about folks who have migrated from a different space. That’s who I turned to for those specific characters.
Each of their sections are defined as a chorus. What does that particular role mean to you, and why did you want to assign it to these two characters, as opposed to other characters throughout the collection?
“
I lived in New York City [during the pandemic]. I survived it. That’s why I was able to write about it in that hand-to-heart way.
”
I use the chorus as witness, as observer, as narrator. I like the idea of it being young women, because those are the folks we forget most times, right? So I thought that would be an amazing empowerment tool: to say no, I trust these narrators. I trust these witnesses. They’re responding from a different filter, because no one cares if they’re watching. No one cares if they’re blocking it. No one trusts their voice, even though they see more than we think.
How did you capture the shifts in New York during the height of Covid? As a longtime New York resident, what observations helped shape this collection?
I was outside. I made myself be a part of the elements. I put my mask on and I sat in the parks, I went to the grocery stores. I stood in line and watched the bodega owners have their own community to ensure that everybody was taken care of within this larger community. I lived in New York City. I survived it. That’s why I was able to write about it in that hand-to-heart way. I was writing as it was happening. But even now, if I don’t read the text, I kind of forget the absolute maniacalness of that pandemic. It changed all of our lives. But most people are capable of putting these barricades around their memory so that they can survive the trauma of it. And so I made it a point to write every day within that first year of the pandemic, just to have some textured notes, to have something that was more than just memory from a news article or a picture I had. I caught Covid in March 2020 while walking outside, doing what the former mayor told us to do. I realized, I don’t know if I’m going to be okay after this, so let me write what I think is going to happen.
How did experiencing Covid firsthand offer a different perspective or lens into understanding the pandemic?
I wasn’t working from praxis; I wasn’t working from theory. I was responding as someone who survived the moment. And there was a different urgency to that. The urgency was no longer, “I’ve read this, and this is what it will take.” The urgency then became, “This is what the eucalyptus can do, what lavender can do.” What happens when you run out of these things while responding to the pandemic? And this is how the art is responding to the lack.
You have multiple POVs throughout this collection, grappling with troubles ranging from the loss of parents, grief of an ailing grandparent, to facing Covid within a correctional facility. Were there any characters whose experience were particularly challenging to write?
The hardest one to write would have been Yusef’s, the story of the young person incarcerated during Covid. A lot of that, knowing those details, actually came from a family member who was locked up during the pandemic. We had a direct line in finding out what was working, what was happening with the things that we were sending, and had it not been for them I would not have had the desire to tell that portion of the story. I wasn’t there, but when I was listening to him, I think I felt not only called to do it, but an obligation to tell this story, because we weren’t certain that he would get out alive. And thankfully, he did. So, there is this hope at the end.
But this book also touches on the beauty of life: one’s first heartbreak, the intimacy of a local bodega. Can you tell us about navigating that balance?
That was the truth of the matter. You had people who were still caring for their houses and their elders, but then you had young people who we asked to put their lives on hold. We asked them to hold off on homecoming, on graduation, on their first love, on parties. And I just kept thinking, as the stories poured out in the newspapers six months, nine months, a year later, all of those touchstones of their growth. Slowly but surely, a lot of those muscles atrophied, especially if they weren’t developed. And you have 16-year-olds who came out into the world as a 20-year-old with no first love. You had 17-year-olds who had to bury their grandparents or their parents, who became the breadwinners for their family by 21 and never had that first kiss, because they were so busy making sure that their families were safe. So it felt like a really hard balance, but it also felt like the only way forward was to consider the love that these young people did not know that they were giving up their shot at. It only felt right to really center the loss of a childhood.
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There is an interesting line found towards the end of the book: “Love is not a vaccine. But when we take care of one another, man…. Love is the cure.” How does love show up in this story? Why is love a cure?
I think if we pose the question, “What do you know about love?” to any person, it always revolves around compassion, empathy, and service. [It shows up as] I’m going to hold this thing to the light, celebrate it. When you say “empathy”, a lot of people don’t know what that means. But if you say “love,” we have an access point. So that felt like the correct usage, because even if you say you’ve never felt it, you know what it is to give your love to something, to have a love of something, whether it’s returned to you or not. But also, I had to be mindful of saying that it isn’t a vaccine because so many of our loves were lost to the pandemic. I don’t want to be pithy.
The timing of this book is also notable. We’ve seen so many books grappling with Covid. What does it mean to be releasing this book now? Do you hope it helps us better understand the longer impact of what it meant to come of age during the pandemic?
I think it’s important that it’s coming out now. For one, it’s the five-year anniversary of Covid’s introduction to the world. And two, it’s not over. There are still traces of Covid. I lost my sister to it. She had heart disease, and it is not lost on me that her disease was exacerbated by the pandemic. So the story is important for me, because you still have folks who are living with the residue of it. We have young people who are now adults. We never said thank you for your service. That same way we say thank you for your service to the military, we should be saying thank you [to young people] for giving up these incredibly important parts of your youth. Thank you for pausing your growth, for pausing that moment for the betterment of your countries, your people. I think those go hand in hand for me.
A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne. Crown, $19.99 Mar. 11 ISBN 978-0-593-48647-4
A conversation with ‘Black Girl Magic’ poet Mahogany L. Browne
by MARIELLE ARGUEZA
May 8, 2025
Dr. Mahogany L. Browne (Anthony Artis photo)
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Mahogany L. Browne, Lincoln Center’s first poet-in-residence, is a woman of many talents, but is probably best known for her poem “Black Girl Magic,” published in 2018. The poem celebrates and uplifts the talents and strengths of Black women and girls, and is an ode to a rich history of role models — but also a conversation of young Black girls, just like she was once.
Ironically, she would have never come around to poetry had it not been for Urban Word, an organization creating a safe space for youth to explore and express themselves through poetry and other literary arts. Browne has been raising money for the organization since the release of her book through the annual Black Girl Magic Ball at the Lincoln Center, which this year will honor Maori Karmael Holmes, Nona Hendryx, and Sade Lythcott, among others.
The AmNews spoke with Browne ahead of the event, slated for May 13.
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AmNews: Tell me about your upbringing in the [California Bay Area]. It seems you were very adamant in your younger years that you wanted to stay in the Bay Area. But then you had this summer residency at the Pratt Institute in the late ‘90s.
Mahogany L. Browne: I thought I was going to be a Cali girl forever. I went to high school in Sacramento, came back after graduation, and worked at the Children’s Hospital for Oakland, the Sprint telemarketing area for the operators in Alameda. I was everywhere, I just love [California]. It’s such a pleasant place to grow up, and you don’t realize how much of that feeds your curiosity and your nervous system.
I had no intention of staying in New York. Cali people love Cali. It felt like that was, you know, like that little summer opportunity in New York. I’ll just come, do this journalism internship and then go back home and be their West Coast correspondent.
Even while doing all the things that I did in Oakland, I had never been in a position to just be an artist. I could be an artist who worked at the hospital. I could be an artist who could have another job, but I wasn’t just going to be paid to be an artist. [Employers in California] told me “no, no, no, that’s not what we’re paying you for.”
I found New York to be extremely attractive, because nowhere else in the world at that point — I think I was 23 — had I been given an opportunity to just think about what my art could do if given a chance.
AmNews: What was it about the time and place that made you stay?
MLB: My first week of interviews was like muMs da Schemer, Lil’ Kim, and Method Man and Redman. And I’m listening to this music growing up, right? So for this to just be a Tuesday? There’s nothing like that in the world.
Even in L.A, I think it’s fair to say, you can’t have that same experience. New York had that energy when it came to quote, unquote, “realness.” In L.A. it’s a lot of putting on airs and you had to look a certain way to be invited to a certain place. It was weird and fake.
In New York, they respected you if you did the work. They respected you if you had skin in the game. I loved that I could just work hard and prove myself, and that would be considered worthy. So I think that’s what [New York] has over [California].
AmNews: So the Black Girl Magic Ball will honor five changemakers, leaders, and creatives, and an ally honoree. But I want to focus on the fundraising efforts of Black Girl Magic Ball, which will help fundraise for Urban Word. Tell me why Urban Word is special. Why was it established and who does it serve? And what are the origins of the Black Girl Magic Ball?
MLB: Urban Word is a space. Urban Word is a youth literary organization. It was originally the East Coast branch of Youth Speaks, but the organization broke off because of the way California moves, and the way New York has to move — it’s just very different. So they went their separate ways, but still share some things like the International Poetry Festival. But that’s how we get Urban Word.
I personally was intrigued by [Urban Word] because I came to poetry in high school, by hook or by crook — well, literally by crook. My AP Lit teacher said she would flunk me because she didn’t like the language that I used in the poetry assignment, and that was enough for me to be like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do this again!’
So to be part of Urban Word, it felt like a welcome home moment, because I got to fight for the little girl that I once was. I got to fight alongside these young people who are constantly being told whether how they speak makes their story valid or not. That’s Urban Word — that’s their fight. They’re on the front line of reminding the young people that they have a voice, that despite their age, they are still necessary, and we need them to speak the truth.
Black Girl Magic Ball began [in a] very small shop. It was my book release party, and I didn’t want to just do another book release party. I was artistic director at Urban Word, and that was my attempt to raise money for an organization that I had been working with and had loved for so long.
It made sense. I thought it would be a one off. We did the event, we raised the money. We had great attendance. We also had people, like, that were really in love with the idea. And that’s when I realized, ‘Oh, we don’t really have a space for Black girls to feel safe.’ We asked so much of them. We asked them to be the blueprint. We asked them to, you know, tell us how to do our hair and how to be funny and whatever else. But we’re also the butt of the joke as often as possible. And so what does it mean to just have a space where nobody is making fun of you or using you as a transaction? But that’s what the Black Girl Magic Space is.
AmNews: I want to talk about that a little more about that. You’re not just a poet, you are also helping run and lead these events. You are also the Lincoln Center’s first poet-in-residence. Being the “first” can be a double-edged sword firstly as a “woman” but more so as a Black woman. But I read that you wanted this event to be an affirming event and celebration. What does it mean to you to be the first poet-in-residence in such a huge cultural institution that’s recognized worldwide? And what helps you affirm your own work?
MLB: I think to be the inaugural anything is heavy, right? Because you don’t know what you don’t know. I was concerned [about the Lincoln Center] because like — well, do you know who I am? Are you aware that I speak like this at all times? And as long as you’re OK with that, I’m good. And they were, they were OK with that!
I think for me to just realize that you don’t have to whitewash who you are. You got to find the organization that’s brave enough to work with you. So that was really a monumental moment, and it went from a three-month opportunity to a five-year tenure.
AmNews: Hell, yeah!
MLB: Right? Never have I ever! I love it! When I think about what an archive looks like, or what a legacy can look like, I want poetry to exist in all spaces of this campus. So poetry beside the Philharmonic? Sign me up! Poetry as a response to ballet? Absolutely. Poetry libretto? I made one.
I just have been having a great time reminding the world that poetry is the epicenter of all things. We can create a poem that reverberates to the world as a play, as a film, as you know, a doctor dissertation, like academic research — it’s all of the things! It has capacity, yeah, all of those things.
AmNews: If there are young Black girls out there, what pieces of your own work would you suggest for them to read to get to know you?
MLB: I would say, obviously the Black Girl Magic Ball is created because of the book. The book is just centering Black women, celebrating them throughout the community. There isn’t any one way to show up and celebrate it — you being yourself is, that’s the celebration. So that’s obvious, but I think what I’ve just released feels very much like it’s in conversation with the “Black Girl Magic” theme, which is “A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe.” It’s a YA novel . It centers on young people in New York City impacted by COVID-19, and how they moved around, how they, you know, just from the foster care system to the, you know, to the shoe on Rikers Island, from being political speakers trying to raise funds and awareness during COVID. What did that look like and who was impacted? And of course, the chorus throughout, the narrators are two Black girls, one Trini, one Jamaican. And that feels like a great amuse-bouche of it all.
AmNews: What suggested reading do you have for Black Girl Magic Ball attendees?
MLB: If I’m thinking poems, it’s always Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Nikki Giovanni. If it’s a play, I would say a play by Lynn Nottage or Lorraine Hansberry. If it’s nonfiction, I would say Imani Perry’s “Black in Blues.” If it is short stories, I would say Deesha Philyaw, “Secret Lives of Church Ladies.” Oh! And Jesmyn Ward’s “Salvage the Bones.” I think that covers most things. For more info, visit mobrowne.com and blackgirlmagicball.org.
“We Write a World Around Those Moments”
1/31/2023 By Jeff Harder
Arts and Humanities
Poet, author, activist, and educator Mahogany L. Browne is having a moment. The stage adaptation of her acclaimed young adult novel Chlorine Sky premieres this month at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. She’s finishing up a “poetic orchestral” performance she expects to unveil this spring at Wesleyan, where she’s deep into a stint with the inaugural group of Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence. And next week, Chrome Valley—the latest collection of verse from Browne, the first-ever poet-in-residence at New York’s Lincoln Center—was published by W.W. Norton & Company. Here, Browne offers insights into her work, creative process, and bringing a sense of home into the classroom. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q: What kinds of themes and subject matter are you digging into in Chrome Valley?
A: Chrome Valley began as a memory excavation experiment devised to remind me of what I survived when I left California over twenty years ago. I am thinking about the ways in which I learned love, both self-love and romantic love. I am thinking about the ways in which violence has dictated the ways in which I walk into spaces and create relationships. Chrome is about how we nurture the violence within the small bodies of our young, and what happens when they study the remains of an untenable, adult-ified childhood.
Q: How does producing a collection of poetry fit into your broader creative process? Is it intentional—like “I’m going to carve out time and space to create a body of work around these specific themes”—or are you writing without expectations and the body of work only arises after you’ve seen the throughlines in what you’ve written?
A: I think Chrome Valley is a hodgepodge of all the above. The work itself grew from different points and periods in my life. If I wasn’t working on a children’s book, a book of essays, a book-length poem, an anthology, and two articles, I wouldn’t have allowed my vision to develop. I’m a Taurus. Sometimes I can be a bit headstrong, but the poem is always stronger than the poet, so I’m glad I had time to sit with it.
Q: You’ve said that, back in AP English class, your teacher reacted so harshly to something you’d written that you stopped writing poetry for a time. Now that you’re an educator, how do you think about your own role and responsibilities toward your students?
A: Because my AP English instructor was so strict, I have found that I am super-lenient on vernacular: I know how difficult it is to speak with the familiarity of home within the rigor of class, but I don’t think one should have to exist without the other. The first couple of weeks of my class time is all about bringing home, and what is familiar, into the classroom setting—favorite songs, books, movies, jokes—and we write a world around those moments. I found centering home makes everyone the expert of their own stories. All we have to offer as listeners are moments of introspection and disconnect. It is up to the writer to give us access in.
Q: As one of the Shapiro Center’s first writers in residence, what have you made of the experience so far?
A: My experience with the students of Wesleyan has been extremely uplifting. Leading the class Novels in Verse & Other Poetic Intersections has been the apple of my eye! I have an amazing cohort of writers, advocates, book lovers, and thinkers. Our semester together was spent with pancakes, coffee, and special conversations with the likes of Nicole Sealey, Jason Reynolds, Amber McBride, and Sarah Kay. The young writers hosted a midterm open mic for the entire campus to enjoy and we closed our semester by turning in portfolios of their novels in verse. Many of them were surprised they wrote as much as they did. Even more surprising was how in love I fell with each of their stories: They wrote about trans identity, first-generation American stories, matriarchs, queerness, family structures, belonging, and the possibility of new homes. Wesleyan allowed me some time to think about what I would like to do—but I would not be honest if I didn’t say I wish I had even more time to develop and truly unearth the stories that Middletown beckons from me.
Day 24: Mahogany. L. Browne
by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich | Posted on February 24, 2019
Mahogany Browne author photo
Mahogany L. Browne is a California born, Brooklyn based writer, educator, activist, mentor, and curator. She was brought to the attention of many when her ‘Brief but Spectacular’ segment on PBS went viral, but she’d been putting in the work for a long time before that. It’s an honour to welcome her and her empowering and powerful work to The Brown Bookshelf.
The Back Story
Funny enough, this poem existed a year or so before meeting my editor. I premiered the poem on PBS’ Brief But Spectacular episode and the video went viral. I thought this would be a great gift for women I know. I wanted to make a coffee table book and used the remainder of my financial aid loan to collaborate with the artist and poet, Jess X. Snow. Fast forward, almost four to five months later and I have the book layout via PDF and am performing at the Girls Write Now mentor/mentee workshop. The response was overwhelming. I didn’t know my future editor was in that room. Two months after that I went to a lunch meeting and my editor said “I love the story you told on stage. I think you are the voice YA needs right now. What are you working on?” And when I tell you I threw everything I was working on at her — I THREW EVERYTHING. I had a YA novel via epistle I was working on. I had a series of vignettes I was working on. And I had this poem, illustrated, to be a special novelty gift. She said: “I want to work with you on all of those ideas.” And the whirlwind began.
The Inspiration
I am inspired by poetic novelist so of course, I love love love Eloise Greenfield, Jaqueline Woodson, June Jordan, Nikki Giovanni, Jesmyn Ward, Kwame Dawes, Sharon Draper, and Jason Reynolds. I have friendships and receive so much guidance from Jaqueline and Jason, but that doesn’t tarnish their shine. In fact, I think they are two of the most brilliant writers of this generation. Their ability to find poetry in the everyday landscape and evoke an investment from our young people is nothing less than miraculous. In this day in time, they are the literary heroes we need. I aim to leave an equally indelible mark with a consistent and unwavering focus on the word work.Woke Baby cover image
The Process
This is where it gets tricky. I am a poet first. I’ve been in love with stories and books since grade school and even stole books from the library to form my own personal collection. (and I would’ve gotten away with it had the meddling librarian not called my home and snitched on me to my mother requesting a $500 invoice be paid or the books returned). But still, my hand is more fluent in the space between the lines, the subtext. The stories are built with historical connections attached to a metaphor, voice inflection, and the economy of language. So my storytelling game requires me to listen to books while I am cleaning and eating breakfast (shoutout to Audible and them free points I get with my account) or reading short stories to bear witness to the crafting of a character within 20-30 pages, while the story itself creeps along your shoulder, a caterpillar. And here I go. Trying not to write a poem, when one clearly wants out. I also live by the workshop crew. It started with Cave Canem and moved to Poets House. From there I found my circle of readers and rely on them heavily to tell me if the story is moving or if the character is working. I pull from a lot of people and interactions around me. I fly through IG for inspiration in color, hair texture. It’s a great writing assignment when trying to see what I want the world to see in my head. Then, of course, I turn to the greats: Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez, Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, Aracelis Girmay and Suheir Hammad. I am never not reading. I am never not writing.
Black Girl Magic Cover
Thank you, Mahogany! Find Mahogany L. Browne at her online home, and on Twitter.
Mahogany L. Browne was born in Oakland, California. She received an MFA in writing and activism from the Pratt Institute.
Browne is the author of several poetry collections and chapbooks, including Chrome Valley (W. W. Norton, 2023), winner of the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize; I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love (Haymarket Books, 2021); Kissing Caskets (YesYes Books, 2017); Smudge (Button Poetry, 2016); Redbone (Aquarius Press, 2015); and #Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out Online (Penmanship Books, 2010). She is also the author of the young adult and children’s books Vinyl Moon (Crown, 2022); Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice (Roaring Brook Press, 2020); Black Girl Magic (Roaring Brook Press, 2018); and Woke Baby (Roaring Brook Press, 2018). In addition, she is the editor of His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER (Penmanship Books, 2007).
Browne has received fellowships from the Arts for Justice Fund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, and Poets House, among other honors and awards.
Browne is the executive director of Bowery Poetry Club, artistic director of Urban Word NYC, and poetry coordinator at St. Francis College. She is also the founder of Woke Baby Book Fair and is completing her first book of essays on mass incarceration, investigating its impact on women and children. Browne is also the founder and publisher of Penmanship Books, which she created “as the answer to the performance poet’s publishing problem.” An award-winning performance poet, she is active in the spoken word community. She has released five LPs of her work and has served as the poetry program director and Friday Night Slam curator for the Nuyorican Poets Café. From July to September 2021, she served as Lincoln Center’s first ever poet in residence. Browne was the Guest Editor for a special series of Poem-a-Day from July 20 to July 31, 2020, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Mahogany L. Browne
Mahogany L. Browne in Miami
Mahogany L. Browne in Miami
Born Lesley Tims
1976 (age 48–49)
Oakland, California
Occupation Poet and author
Alma mater Pratt Institute
Literary movement Activism, children's books
Dr. Mahogany L. Browne, (born Lesley Tims, 1976) is an American poet[1] curator, writer, organizer and educator. As of July 2021, Browne is the first-ever poet-in-residence at New York City's Lincoln Center.[2]
Biography
Dr. Mahogany L. Browne was born and raised in Oakland, California[3] before moving to Brooklyn, New York in 1999.[4] She recalls never having imagined moving to New York permanently as someone born and raised in Oakland, California but after her summer residency at Pratt Institute ended, she decided to stay. [5]
She is known for her thirteen-year tenure as the Friday Night Slam curator and Poetry Program director at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Lower Manhattan. In 2019, Browne served as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) program coordinator at her alma mater, Pratt Institute,[3] where she was also a visiting instructor.[6]
Browne is currently the executive director at Bowery Poetry Club, founded by Bob Holman in 2003. Browne is also the artistic director at Urban Word NYC, Poetry Coordinator at St. Francis College and the author of several books (including children's books), stage plays, articles and audio recordings. The founder of Penmanship Books,[3] Browne has received numerous awards and fellowships, among which is a fellowship from the Art for Justice Fund (A4J). The Academy of American Poets has published several blog essays [7] of Browne's through their partnership with A4J.[8]
Awards
In 2019, Browne received a SWACC! Focus Fellowship, which is awarded to a spoken word author whose lifelong creative work has demonstrated a commitment to building community through collaborative models.[9]
She was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry.[10]
Publications
Young Adult
Chlorine Sky, Crown/Penguin Random, 2020
Vinyl Moon, Crown/Penguin Random, 2021
Poetry collections
Kissing Caskets, Yes Yes Books, 2017
Unlikely & Other Sorts, Penmanship Books, 2006[11]
Destroy, Rebuild & Other Reconstructions of the Human Muscle, Penmanship Books, 2009[12]
#Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out Online in 140 Characters or Less, Penmanship Books, 2010
Swag, Penmanship Books, 2010
smudge, Button Poetry, 2015
REDBone, Willow Books, 2015
Black Girl Magic: A Poem, Roaring Brook Press, 2018[13]
Woke Baby, Roaring Brook Press, 2018
Chrome Valley, Liveright Publishing, 2023[14]
Essays
"Dismantling Rage: On Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider"[15]
Poems
"Ego-Tripp(ed)," The Academy of American Poets, 2015
"Litany," The Academy of American Poets, 2019
"Inevitable," The Academy of American Poets, 2019
"On St. John’s and Franklin Avenue," The Academy of American Poets, 2019[11]
"The 19th Amendment & My Mama", March 21 2020
Anthologies
Editor, His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by Her, Penmanship Books, 2007[12]
Editor and contributor, The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic, Haymarket Books, 2018[16]
Contributor, Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Glory Edim, Penguin Random House, 2018
Lead author (with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood), Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice, Roaring Brook Press, 2020
Contributor, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, Penguin Random House, 2020
Contributor, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song by Kevin Young, Penguin Random House, 2020
BROWNE, Mahogany L. Black Girl Magic: A Poem. illus. by Jess X. Snow. 40p. Roaring Brook. Jan. 2018. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781250173720.
Gr 6 Up-In this book-length poem, Browne, the cofounder of Brooklyn Slam, chronicles the many injustices, limitations, and stereotypes that Black girls face, leading up to a resounding celebration of Black girlhood and a rejection of all that is harmful. Browne's verse radiates energy and urgency, achieved through patiently building up momentum and then cutting it with voltalike segments: "You ain't 'posed to dream at all/You ain't 'posed to do/Nothing but carry babies/And carry/Weaves/Felons/Families/Confusion/ Silence./And carry a nation--/But never an opinion." The rhythm and use of enjambment lends the work a spoken word-like cadence, making this an imminently readable poem. The ending chorus of 'You Black girl shine!/You Black girl bloom! ..." will stick with readers long after they have closed the book. Snow and Key's striking illustrations keep to a limited color palette of white, black, red, and gold, a choice that is elegant and effective, conveying a raw honesty. Nearly every spread could be framed. While the picture book format may signal younger readers, its often intimate content is more appropriate for tweens and teens. VERDICT Browne celebrates a Black girlhood that is free, unforgettable, and luminous. Middle and high school poetry collections will want to consider.--Melissa Williams, Berwick Academy, ME
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Williams, Melissa. "BROWNE, Mahogany L.: Black Girl Magic: A Poem." School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 1, Jan. 2018, p. 106. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A521876307/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b63a5b69. Accessed 27 July 2025.
What books are currently on your nightstand?
I'm actively working on a decent sleep schedule and don't invite books into the bedroom with me. Now, my dining-room table, that's a different story! I've got a solid mix of poetry and novels that I'm working my way through. I'm constantly scouring for resources and new and relevant work to promote critical and analytical thinking with my students. On the table, staring right at me, are Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which features lovely drawings by Ellen Forney; Adam Falkner's The Willies, in which he navigates queer boyhood, addiction, and appropriation; and Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Water Dancer, a surreal masterpiece. Each of these works makes me question the status quo and consider the cyclical behaviors of our nation, the effects they have on our everyday lives, and how language and time can be bent in the telling and retelling of stories.
Where do you get your books? Library? Bookstore? Amazon?
I've actually never ordered anything from Amazon. Most of my books come from libraries, bookstores, and classrooms, or I get them as gifts or friendly recommendations. I'm diligent about supporting local and community bookshops as a means of fighting gentrification. Recently, I've been honored with the task of blurbing and reviewing the work of my contemporaries. So a lot of books also come to me courtesy of the publisher.
What's a book that made you cry?
The Kite Runner.
What's your favorite work of feminist nonfiction?
Thick and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom is a must-read. I've attended institutions of higher learning where I've experienced racism and sexism and was forced to combat various inequities on a daily basis. McMillan Cottom's approach is rigorous, analytical, intersectional and extremely accessible. The personal experiences that she describes resonated with me deeply. Thick addresses the tensions between popular and academic takes on the lives of Black women in America.
What's your favorite novel of the last two years?
I am all about YA right now, and, honestly, there are just too many amazing projects to have a single favorite. I loved Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (and anything else his mind creates), and everything from Elizabeth Acevedo, who makes room for my students to smile and laugh and hear themselves and love themselves and take up space that they didn't know existed. These writers are telling stories that ring true for my students, challenging their ideas around violence, vengeance, independence, heritage and the meaning of survival.
What is a book that changed your life?
The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic, which was edited by legends Mahogany L. Browne, Idrissa Simmonds, and Jamila Woods. The anthology features some of the greatest and most daring feminist writers and contemporary Black women geniuses. It gives breath, energy and a platform to so many amazing voices from groups that are often silenced. Black girls, women, trans women, and GNC folks are absolutely magic and worthy of all praise. We are not a monolith. We are here. We are writing. We are teaching. On a personal level, this book put me in spaces I may never have otherwise entered. Visibility is a key component in my work and mission. Being published in this anthology was both affirming and inspiring for this Black butch woman from the Bronx.
What book are you confident recommending to anyone?
DAMN, by Kendrick Lamar. It's not a book, but it could be (if you simply printed out the lyrics and bound the pages). That album earned Kendrick a Pulitzer and solidified his spot as one of the greatest storytellers of all time. The work speaks for itself. Listen to it. Read it. Honor it.
What do you read to relax?
I have been dog-earing and paperclipping Bobby Hundreds's This is Not a T-Shirt for a few months now. I've always had a passion for fashion, and there are so many gems within those pages about perseverance in the face of doubt and building community through culture. But when I'm really, really, really trying to relax, I love to read knock-knock jokes and little-known facts. They're the best space fillers for those awkward moments between poems during a reading.
Roya Marsh is a Bronx native and a nationally recognized poet / performer / educator / activist. She is the Poet in residence at Urban Word NYC and works feverishly toward LGBTQIA justice and dismantling white supremacy. Marsh's work has been featured in Poetry, Flypaper Magazine, Frontier Poetry, Village Voice, Nylon, The Huffington Post, Button Poetry, Def Jam's All Def Digital, Lexus Verses and Flow, NBC, BET, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol 2: Black Girl Magic.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Old City Publishing, Inc.
http://www.wcwonline.org/womensreview
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"Roya Marsh on: Black Girl Magic, Knock-Knock Jokes, and Reading with Students in Mind." The Women's Review of Books, vol. 37, no. 3, May-June 2020, p. 32. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A626918668/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=77e8d769. Accessed 27 July 2025.
Browne, Mahogany L. CHLORINE SKY Crown (Teen None) $17.99 1, 12 ISBN: 978-0-593-17639-9
A girl who is tired of being in the shadows decides to shine.
Skyy is used to hiding in the shadow of her best friend, Lay Li; shrinking away from her sister Essa’s harsh words; and turning invisible among her peers. The only place she stands out is on the basketball court going toe-to-toe with boys who think she shouldn’t be playing. While she and Lay Li are fighting and not speaking to each other, she reflects on the way her friend treated her, both during their friendship and afterward. Skyy garners the attention of Clifton, an attractive neighborhood boy, but his attention isn’t enough to help Skyy love herself. Through a process of self-discovery and by listening to the stories of girls around her, Skyy learns to stand in her truth and determine what she’s worth. Writing in free verse, Browne explores concepts that will resonate with readers navigating toxic friendships and budding relationships and growing into themselves. Her clear, descriptive word choices conjure vivid images and sharp feelings that pair well with the conversational flow, making the story accessible and appealing to reluctant readers. The decision to withhold Skyy’s name until the end of the text allows readers to find themselves in this story. Skyy and the majority of characters are cued as Black.
A coming-of-age novel for Black girls who have been told they’re too much and yet never enough. (Fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Browne, Mahogany L.: CHLORINE SKY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639818827/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9e1cdc76. Accessed 27 July 2025.
Chlorine Sky
Mahogany L. Browne. Crown, $17.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-593-17639-9
With her sister constantly criticizing het and their single mother working long hours, Black teen Skyy loves nothing more than retreating to the basketball court, despite het male peers' aggression, and spending time with her best friend of two years, Lay Li. But when thegifls havea falling-out over the boy Lay Li is dating, who calls Skyy "black/ & ugly & stupid," she must figure out how to face the wotld solo--navigating a romance of her own, considering her bond with Lay Li and male-driven narratives surrounding othet young women, and slowly learning to gauge her own self-worth. In succinct free verse lines, Browne {Black Girl Magic) stits up images that illuminate Skyy's vibrant neighbor hood ("The kind of folks that park on the lawn & clean they car/ with the Gap Band blasting out the door speakers") and engage the senses ("Both hands gtip the otange wotld/ ridges in black talk back"). Browne's exploration of a teen finding herself moves rapidly, while Skyy's journey towatd self-love pulls at the heart. Ages 14-up. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, CharlotteSheedy Literary. (Jan.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"Chlorine Sky." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 46, 16 Nov. 2020, pp. 94+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A649683445/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=26a73d07. Accessed 27 July 2025.
Browne, Mahogany L. VINYL MOON Crown (Teen None) $18.99 1, 11 ISBN: 978-0-593-17643-6
After a traumatic incident with her boyfriend, Angel gets a fresh start at a new school.
Darius was the first person to call Angel beautiful, but he called her other, terrible things too. After the events of a night that Angel can't forget, Darius' words are among the memories Angel carries when her mother sends her away from California to live with her uncle in Brooklyn. Worse than the memories, Angel blames herself for what happened. At her new high school, 11th grader Angel is assigned to a homeroom/advisory class entitled Her Excellence is Resilience & Honoring Everyone's Roots. Guided by their teacher, Ms. G, H.E.R. advisees work through their feelings in an encouraging environment. They deal with betrayals, young motherhood, and other challenges, but no one here is tragic. All of the novel's characters are refreshingly layered and endearing, even when they aren't at their best. As the school year progresses, Angel sees her life reflected in books by writers including Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jason Reynolds. Angel's poignant poems are interspersed among passages of compelling prose. Her community reflects a diverse array of Black cultures as well as sexual identities and personalities.
A beautiful love letter to Brooklyn, Black authors, and the beats that create the soundtrack of a young life evolving. (Fiction. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Browne, Mahogany L.: VINYL MOON." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A680615813/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=261ee320. Accessed 27 July 2025.
BROWNE, Mahogany L. Vinyl Moon. 176p. Crown. Jan. 2022. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780593176436.
Gr 8 Up--Angel is uprooted suddenly from her California home after an incident with her boyfriend culminates with her arm in a sling. She is resentful of her mother, Elena, for forcing her to take on the role of the adult at home with her four younger siblings. Elena sends Angel to Brooklyn to live with her Uncle Spence, who provides love and stability when Angel needs it most. In her new school, she is placed with Mrs. G. in H.E.R Advisory, which stands for Her Excellence is Resilience and Honoring Everyone's Roots. Together the students in the group process their struggles and work towards hope and healing. For Angel, this respite includes reading books by powerful Black writers, such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Jesmyn Ward, and finding that these stories remind her of home. As she explores Brooklyn, the hip-hop history resonates with her and she creates Soundcloud playlists to honor it. The playlists add a lyrical quality to the words she is reading, and the author intertwines the two. Angel's character continually evolves in this love letter to Brooklyn and hip-hop, told in a candid combination of poetry, prose, and vignettes. She develops new friendships and grows into someone more confident. Brooklyn comes to life via places, food, clothing, and music. All of this results in Angel healing not only her arm, but her soul as she flourishes in her new environment. A content warning is advised for domestic violence. VERDICT An important asset for all school and library collections.--Lisa Krok
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Krok, Lisa. "BROWNE, Mahogany L. Vinyl Moon." School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 1, Jan. 2022, p. 75. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A688744237/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=85086f2f. Accessed 27 July 2025.
Browne, Mahogany L. A BIRD IN THE AIR MEANS WE CAN STILL BREATHE Crown (Teen None) $19.99 3, 11 ISBN: 9780593486474
Young people and their families try to survive during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Two city girls with island roots," Jamaican Electra and Trinidadian Hyacinth, are best friends whose voices serve as the book's chorus, threading together individual stories and adding context, reflection, and direction. Their interspersed conversations are readers' touchpoints for poems (in varied forms, including haiku and acrostic) and prose (which encompasses a letter, email, and a to-do list). Together the entries evoke the experiences of teens in New York City who are searching for love, hope, community, and liberation amid the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic. Browne's use of varied formats and content offers a fresh and incisive look at the impact of the pandemic on young people's lives as they dated, worked, attended school, and grew up while their world shut down around them. Grief becomes a palpable presence, as heightened responsibilities and innumerable losses demand from teens levels of grace, honesty, and care that many adults bowed under. The characters' voices feel as authentic as if they were next to you--or, maybe, six feet away--close enough to feel the wrenching pain of hoping a grandmother lives long enough for a vaccine to be available, close enough to understand the ecstasy of a first kiss after months with no physical contact.
Heavy, important, powerful and evergreen; remembers kids during the time when the world stopped. (author's note)(Fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Browne, Mahogany L.: A BIRD IN THE AIR MEANS WE CAN STILL BREATHE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A823102303/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e6807652. Accessed 27 July 2025.
* A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe. By Mahogany L. Browne. Mar. 2025. 160p. Crown, $19.99 (9780593486474); e-book, $10.99 (9780593486498). Gr. 9-12.
The author calls this book "a quilt of stories, poems, fables, and woes circling the moment we all survived." What was survived, of course, was the COVID-19 plague, while "we" refers to the teens of color who endured, even when, in several tragic cases, their parents didn't. In form, the book is a collection of linked short stories with the occasional poem interspersed. Leitmotifs of the collection are sadness and loneliness. One teenage girl, who lives, parentless, with her older sister, longs for a calico cat for company. Electra and Hyacinth, two "city girls with island roots" (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively), who met through the foster-care system, are luckier, having each other for company. Together, they provide choruses that help link the stories, the largest number of which feature a nearly 18-year-old boy, Malachi, who lives with his younger siblings, MJ and Lil'Monti. Their father, whom readers encounter in two later stories, has been in prison for four years for his revolutionary speeches and writings; their mother went out looking for an inhaler for MJ and never came back. The book boasts memorable characters and beautiful writing--especially the poems. It is singularly relevant in its unsparing examination of the pandemic and its impact on young lives, ideal for both classroom use and independent reading.--Michael Cart
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Cart, Michael. "A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 11-12, Feb. 2025, p. 71. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A846924857/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=67689188. Accessed 27 July 2025.
Booklist Reviews
"This book is for you," Browne tells her audience in the dedication before directly addressing them in the opening lines of the poem, "Black girl / They say you ain't 'posed to be here." Browne's words cut and bleed as they identify the low and oppressive expectations of young black girls and women in the U.S. Selected words are crimson with fury, and still others are scarlet with tenderness. The persuasive, powerful, and lyrical delivery with which Browne imbues the originally spoken-word poem translate to the page in bold, blocky, yet quivering text, displaying the vulnerability and hopefulness of Browne's message. Snow creates beautiful black, white, and red art, skillfully adapting Browne's vivid word pictures into an ode to black girlhood, specifically focusing on natural hair styles. Ropelike braids are everywhere, sometimes binding, sometimes being skipped joyfully, and sometimes forming a chaotic mass of identity politics. The woodcut images perfectly support the pointed observations about what black girls are supposed be and how they still manage to rise above these limiting, erroneous beliefs.
BLACK GIRL MAGIC
A POEM
by Mahogany L. Browne ; illustrated by Jess X. Snow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018
The most optimal way to enjoy this book is reading along with the author’s PBS video—that synergy makes this small book sing.
Wonder why this poet and these words seem so familiar? Readers may have caught her on PBS’ “Brief but Spectacular” video series reciting it with the velocity and verve it richly deserves.
This book feels like the keepsake one gives to all the black girls and women in one’s life who missed the clip. And, much like a lot of spoken-word poetry, it is better recited out loud than read silently on the page. Yet in this rich historical moment in which black women are loudly and proudly claiming more and diversified ownership of their works and the media itself, this is as much a document of that moment as it is an emerging, beloved tome for black girls of all ages to read and share in classrooms and conferences, over brunch, on a lazy Sunday in autumn, or whenever or wherever one needs an assuring word. The illustrator’s work adds a sweet—if not a little messy—handmade quality to the book, as if each copy has been crafted as a personal gift, complete with a monotone woodcut look to the depiction of one of the most intimate aspects of black womanhood, hair-braiding. Set in uppercase type that emulates hand-lettering, key words and phrases are picked out in red or ocher type, complementing the spare highlights in the black-on-cream palette.
The most optimal way to enjoy this book is reading along with the author’s PBS video—that synergy makes this small book sing. (Picture book. 6-adult)
Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17372-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017