The success of George Elliott Clarke’s anthology Eyeing the North Star: Directions in African-Canadian Literature , published a decade ago, demonstrated the growing interest in black Canadian writing. In this exciting, provocative new collection, literary journalist Donna Bailey Nurse provides an up-to-date and fresh perspective on this vibrant, significant, and thriving literature.

Drawing on fiction, poetry, and memoir, this anthology brings together an impressively varied selection of outstanding work by both well-known writers and new voices. Donna Bailey Nurse’s lively and invaluable introduction deftly explores the various themes and motifs that define and illuminate the meaning of being black, while tracing the evolution of this influential literature through colonialism, post-colonialism, and decolonization.

This engaging collection celebrates a body of writing that holds an increasingly visible and important place within Canadian literature, and stands among the finest literary anthologies in the country.