Past Issues – Print
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Issue 27
09/2011
Interview
Tiphanie Yanique by Kim Coleman Foote
Tara Betts by Nicole Sealey
John Murillo by Adisa Vera Beatty
Excerpt
“The Saving Work” from How to Escape from a Leper Colony by Tiphanie Yanique
Poetry
When He Proposed by Tara Betts
Belinda “Azucar” Gonzalez by Tara Betts
Ode to Incense by Tara Betts
Enter the Dragon/ Los Angeles, California, 1976 by John Murillo
1989 by John Murillo
Mosaic Lesson Plans
Lesson plans for secondary-school educators
Designed by Eisa Nefertari Ulen
Reviews
Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama by Peniel E. Joseph
Up Jump The Boogie by John Murillo
Around Town by photographer Marcia E. Wilson
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Issue 26
09/2010
R. Dwayne Betts
Imagine Portrait of an Artist meets the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Here the protagonist turns to books and prepares to meet the world outside of prison on his own terms—a world that doesn’t allow for redemption or keeping the past at bay. This is the major tension of the work…
Jamel Shabazz
How would you feel if you could recall almost everyone that crossed your life’s path? If you could remember the conversations, and the clothing, down to the shoes and accessories of the people you’ve met. Sounds like a feat only an individual with a fantastic memory could pull off.
Reviews
The 5th Inning by E. Ethelbert Miller
One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love by Rebecca Walker
Rebel Yell by Alice Randall
Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother’s Story by asha bandele
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
Photo Essay
Nkiru Book Bklyn by photographer Marcia E. Wilson
Nkiru was a mecca for Black scholars, writers, and artists. From 1995 through 1998, photographer Marcia E. Wilson documented many of the readings and events held at the literary spot.
Lesson Plans
for Secondary-school Educators
Using Mosaic’s content as a foundation, these lesson plans give secondary-school educators a connective tool to explore educational subjects such as history and social studies while also serving to increase the importance of books and reading.
Narratives
Theme One: Family
One Big Happy Family by Rebecca Walker
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
The Fifth Inning by E Ethelbert Miller
Theme Two: Documenting our Lives
Back in the Days and A Time Before Crack by Jamel Shabazz
Theme Three: Expanding the Rim of Blackness
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
“The Look” by ZZ Packer (In Walker’s One Big Happy Family)
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Issue 25
09/2009
Interviews
Thomas Glave by Vincent F.A. Golphin
Lawrence Hill by Maranda Moses
Excerpt
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
Mosaic Lesson Plans
New lesson plans for secondary-school educators (click here to download)
Designed by Eisa Nefertari Ulen
Reviews
City Kid by Nelson George
Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing Edited by Rob Spillman
Gospel by Samiya Bashir
Home: Social Essays by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Midnight, A Gangster Love Story by Sister Souljah
More Than Just Race: Being Black And Poor In The Inner City by William Julius Wilson
The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin
The Torturer’s Wife by Thomas Glave
The World in Half by Cristina Henríquez
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Issue 24
05/2009
The New Black Memoir: An Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates
by Abdul Ali
When Ta-Nehisi Coates sat down to write The Beautiful Struggle, he broke new ground for young memoirists whose work challenge what a black story can be in this contemporary moment where a black male can conceivably top the New York Times bestselling list and be President of the United States at the same time.
Excerpt
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coayes
A New ‘Toon: Robert Truillo on graphic artist Dawud Anyabwile
I discovered Dawud Anyabwile’s work about two years ago while researching illustrations that were representative of African Americans and Latinos in contemporary comics and graphic novels.
Every Woman: An Interview with Goretti Kyomuhendo
by Beatrice Lamwaka
Ugandan writer Goretti Kyomuhendo is one of the founding members of FEMRITE, the Ugandan Women Writers’ Association and Publishing House where she worked as the programme coordinator for ten years (1997-2007). FEMRITE was created out of a belief that gender-defined support is essential to developing new voices.
Excerpt
Waiting: A Novel of Uganda at War by Goretti Kyomuhendo
Junot’s Oscar
An Interview with Junot Diaz by Alison Isaac
When Junot Díaz published his first book, Drown, it was met with critical acclaim from countless media sources. Described as “mesmerizingly honest,” “powerful” and “convincing,” Díaz’s work has been published in The New Yorker, GQ, The Paris Review and African Voices (among others).
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Issue 23
12/2008
The Holistic Writer: An Interview with Kalisha Buckhanon
by Tara Betts
The Darker Mask
Allegory for a New Literature
by Christopher Chambers
Healing Words: an Interview with Opal Palmer Adisa
by D. Scot Miller
Excerpt
Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon
Poems by Opal Palmer Adisa
Breaking Point I
Breaking Point IV
Reviews
Conduit: Poems by Khadijah Queen
Gentleman Jigger, A Novel of the Harlem Renaissance By Richard Bruce Nugent
Gomer’s Song By Kwame Dawes
Kinky Gazpacho By Lori L. Tharps
Say You’re One Of Them By Uwem Akpan
Slumberland By Paul Beatty
Somebody Scream!: Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power By Marcus Reeves
When the Black Girl Sings By Bil Wright
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Issue 22
08/2008
The Transitional Voice of Walter Dean Myers
by Ozioma Egwuonwu
Excerpt
Sunrise Over Falluja by Walter Dean Myers
Nikki Giovanni: Personal Politics
by Nicole Sealey
Poems by Nikki Giovanni
Beautiful Black Men
My First Memory (of Librarians)
Editorial: A Friend I Did Know
Phebus Etienne (1964-2007)
Emerging From Silence
by Randal Horton
Reviews
Ida: A Sword Among Lions Paula J. Giddings
Reviewed by Nicole Sealey
Conception By Kalisha Buckhanon
Reviewed by Danielle Y. Hatchett
Belly of the Atlantic by Fatou Diome
English translation by Lulu Norman and Ros Schwartz
Reviewed by Danielle A. Jackson
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Reviewed by Maranda Moses
Oracular Rumblings and Stiltwalking by Lamont Steptoe
Reviewed by Truth Thomas
Poems
by Phebus Etienne
Long Walk Home
Pimp
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Issue 21
04/2008
Reggae, Writing and Redemption: An Interview with Kwame Dawes
by Ozioma Egwuonwu
Excerpt
She’s Gone by Kwame Dawes
Frank X. Walker: Affrilachian, Historian, and Poetic Pioneer
by Stacia L. Brown
In Control: A Talk with Tina Mcelroy Ansa
by Nicole Sealey
Excerpt
Taking After Mudear by Tina McElroy Ansa
Reading in the Dark
by Pittershawn Palmer
Poems
She Flies
by Galen Leonhardy
Common Ground
by Frank X. Walker
A New York
by Frank X. Walker
Reviews
A Gathering of Matter/A Matter of Gathering by Dawn Lundy Martin
Review by Nicole Sealey
Next On The Mic: The Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam by Poetry Jam Collective
Review by William Ashanti Hobbs
Waiting ’Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel E. Joseph
Review by Nicole Sealey
The Water Cure by Percival Everett
Review by William Ashanti Hobbs
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Issue 20
10/2007
Errata: In the table of contents of issue #20, The Water Cure by Percival Everett is listed, in error, as reviewed. The review will appear in issue #21. Earth’s Water by Nicole Blades was reviewed in issue #20 but not credited. Apologies for the error –too much water.
Embracing Traditions: An interview with Tayari Jones
Deemed one of the best writers of our generation, Tayari Jones discusses writing, the South, and her novels The Untelling and Leaving Atlanta.
by Nicole Sealey
Excerpt
The Untelling by Tayari Jones
Bits of Wisdom:
A Conversation with J. California Cooper
Beloved by readers throughout the world, J. California Cooper tells us how she feels about creativity, accolades, and the acceptance of her work
by Kimberly Collins
A Writer’s Life: William Demby
At the tender age of 84, William Demby is finally receiving praise as an important voice in African-American writing.
by Steve Kemme
Poems
Frisson: Remembering Jamaica
by Kamilah Aisha Moon
Last Words
Ruby Carter Winfrey Hamer 1917-2002
by Jarvis DeBerry
Reviews
Earth’s Water by Nicole Blades
Reviewed by Regina Zamor
Erzulie’s Skirt by Ana-Maurine Lara
Reviewed by Tara Betts
The Girl with the Golden Shoes by Colin Channer
Reviewed by Maranda Moses
She’s Gone by Kwame Dawes
Reviewed by Mireille A. L. Djenno
The Story of the Cannibal Woman by Maryse Conde
Reviewed by Mireille A. L. Djenno
The Sweet Scent of Death by Guillermo Arriaga
Reviewed by Ozioma Egwuonwu
That Mean Old Yesterday by Stacey Patton
Reviewed by Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs
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Issue #19
07/2007
TRIBUTE ISSUE TO GWENDOLYN BROOKS
As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Gwendolyn Brooks the nineteenth issue of Mosaic pays tribute through poetry, essays, and recollections on the first African American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
ESSAYS
The Way of All Bridges, In Memory of Gwendolyn Brooks
by Afaa Michael Weaver
How I Fell So Deeply In Love With Us
by Kalamu ya Salaam
Parents: From Report From Part One
by Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn’s Gatekeeper: An Interview with Nichole Shields
by Tara Betts
The Poet in the House on Evans Ave.
by S. Brandi Barnes
Indispensable Maud Martha
by Asali Solomon
Giant Steps: First-person Observation of Ms. Brooks’ Guiding Hand by Quraysh Ali Lansana
POEMS
when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story
by Gwendolyn Brooks
Jane Addams
by Gwendolyn Brooks
No Ordinary Waterfall (for Gwen Brooks)
by Kalamu ya Salaam
Eighty-three is a Wise Number by Haki R. Madhubuti
The Other by Gwendolyn A. Mitchell
20/20 For Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, 1917-2000 by Joy Gonsalves
Three Kinds of Edges for P.S. by Christian Campbell
She Real Cool: Woman With the Golden Pen
by Nagueyalti Warren
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
Click here to listen to Gwendolyn Brooks reading “We Real Cool”
A Life in Art and Service An Interview with Danny Simmons
by DuEwa M. Frazier
REVIEWS
The New Moon’s Arm by Nalo Hopkinson
Reviewed by Stacia L. Brown
To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic
by William Jelani Cobb
Reviewed by Danielle A. Jackson
African Psycho: Killer in Training by Alain Mabanckou
Reviewed by Ozioma Egwuonwu
Ace of Spades by David Matthew
Reviewed by Kim Rose
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ISSUE #18
04.2007
Eisa Nefertari Ulen
Laylah Amatullah Barrayn sat down with Eisa Nefertari Ulen to discuss Eisa’s novel Crystelle Mourning, Brooklyn bohemia, and her inspiration for becoming a writer.
Patricia Smith
Fresh off the success of a critically received new book of poetry Teahouse of the Almighty, Patricia Smith met with Nicole Sealey to discuss her work and life.
Walter Mosley’s Sexcapade
The prodigious one, Walter Mosley took a break from writing novels, sci-fi, nonfiction, et. al. just long enough for D. Scot Miller to talk about Mosley’s “sextential” Killing Johnny Fry.
Excerpts
Crystelle Mourning by Eisa Nefertari Ulen
Killing Johnny Fry by Walter Mosley
Reviews
Free Burning by Bayo Ojikutu
Gravity, U.S.A. by Jacqueline Jones Lamon
Tales of the Out & the Gone by Amiri Baraka
Unburnable by Marie-Elena John
When Angels Speak of Love by bell hooks
Poetry
“Charming Gentleman/fever broken” by Patricia Spears Jones
“The Hand That Rules the World for Condoleezza Rice” by Dante Micheaux
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Issue #17
01/2007
The Healing World of Lucille Clifton
With Hurricane Katrina still heavy on her heart, poet Lucille Clifton sat down with Jacqueline Jones LaMon to discuss life, death, and poetry.
Marlon James
First-time novelist Marlon James chats with Felicia Pride about his novel, John Crow’s Devil, and the influence Jamaica has had on his work.
Let There Be Peace, Let There Be Life
Nigerian-writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reflects on her award-winning novel Purple Hibiscus and discusses future literary work with A. Naomi Jackson.
A Diva Supreme
Poet and activist Suheir Hammad met with poet (and former student) John Rodriguez to talk about politics, and her new book of poetry Zaatar Diva.
Reviews
Bearing Witness: Not So Crazy in Alabama by Carla Thompson
Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani
The Last Friendby Tahar Ben Jelloun
Paradise Travel by Jorge Franco
Excerpt
John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James
Poetry
“Watching Mary Walk Through The Front Door” by Toni Asante Lightfoot
“laveau’s sojourn” by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs
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Issue #16
12/2006
Thomas Sayers Ellis
A poet, educator, and self-proclaimed “genuine negro hero” to the heart, Thomas Sayers Ellis did the QandA thing with Penny Dickerson.
Total Life Is What We Want
Poet Sharan Strange reflects on the history and lasting influence of the Dark Room Collective.
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Nancy Rawlinson finds the legendary Jamaican dub poet has no interest in mellowing with age.
Reviews
After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement by Cheryl Clarke
Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? by Michael Eric Dyson
The Language of Saxophones: Selected Poems of Kamau Daáood
Let the Lion East Straw by Ellease Southerland
Limbo by Sean Keith Henry
Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America by Bakari Kitwana
Zorro by Isabel Allende
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Issue #15
06/2005
For all of its seven years Mosaic has called the Bronx home. In this issue we focus on poets who were born here or, as in the case of James Baldwin, spent formative years in the borough of hills.
Poet and educator Dr. Tony Medina talks with Cave Canem fellow Jacqueline Johnson about the current state of poetry
James Baldwin’s friend and editor Sol Stein talks of their early days at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, NY.
E. Ethelbert Miller slowed down just long enough to discuss poetry, scholarship, and Howard University.
Boogie Down Productions: Five Bronx poets featured in the book, Shout Out +more.
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Issue #14
12/2004
Interviews
Bakari Kitwana “The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture
Raquel Rivera, “New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone”, breaks down the culture in Black and Brown
Dr. Todd Boyd, The New H.N.I.C: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop
Camille Yarbrough talks about her life and prolific career
Love and War
Three literary stalwarts revisit America’s battle-fatigued history
Essays by Haki Madhubuti and Yusef Komunyakaa
Dialogue between Amiri Baraka and Bill O’Reilly
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Issue #13
04/2002
Profile
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
Nelly Rosario
The Black Arts Movement
Reviews
Break Any Woman Down by Dana Bryant
Envy of the World: On Being a Black Man in America by Ellis Cose
Ghost of a Flea by James Sallis
Glow in the Dark by Lisa Teasley
Harlemworld: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America by John Johnson
The Red Moon by Kuwana Haulsey
This Bitter Earth by Bernice Mcfadden
Song of the Water Saints by Nelly Rosario
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Issue #12
12/2002
Interview
James Earl Hardy
Joyce Palmer
Article: Gwendolyn Brooks Writers’ Conference
Article: Anthologies
Excerpt
Greenwichtown by Joyce Palmer
Reviews
Approaching the Center by Myronn Hardy
Bird At My Window by Rosa Guy
Chester Himes: A Life by James Sallis
Erasure by Percival Everett
The Fire of the Origins by Emmanuel Dongala
Here’s To You, Jesusa by Elena Poniatowska
Juice by Renee Gladman
Living with Music: Ralph Ellison’s Jazz Writings by Ralph Ellison
My Grandmother’s Erotic Folktales by Robert Antoni
A Negro Explorer At the North Pole by Matthew Henson
Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy
Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life by Jabari Asim
Soledad by Angie Cruz
Turning South Again: Re-Thinking Modernism/Re-Thinking Booker T. by Houston Baker
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Issue #11
09/2001
Interviews
Nikky Finney
Chester Himes
Profile: The Autobiography of Assata Shakur
Reviews
A Fool’s Paradise by Nancy Flowers Wilson
Bloodroot by Aaron Roy Even
The Day Eazy-E Died by James Earl Hardy
Desirada by Maryse Conde
Further to Fly: Black Women and the Politics of Empowerment by Shelia Radford-Hill
Honky by Dalton Conley
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Issue #10
06/2001
Interviews
Mat Johnson
Major Jackson
Sharrif Simmons
Robert Fleming
Features
New Bookstores
Independent publishing
Reviews
The Big Mango by Norman Kelley
Slapboxing with Jesus by Victor LaValle
Kin by Crystal Williams
Popular by Thierry LeGoues
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Issue #9
06/2000
Article
Books on Muhammad Ali by Ron Kavanaugh
Interviews
Bernice McFadden
Myrlin Hermes
Bil Wright
Excerpts
Sugar by Bernice McFadden
Careful What You Wish For by Myrlin Hermes
Sunday You Learn How To Box
Profile
Julia de Burgos by Tracy Grant
Caribbean women writers by Marcia Douglas
Rone Shavers on the novel Tuff by Paul Beatty
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Issue #8
04/2000
The Souls of Black Folk: we profiled nine writers who will make a difference in what we read for years to come: asha bandele, Brian Keith Jackson, Glenville Lovell, Shay Youngblood, Natasha Tarpley, Philippe Wamba, Joan Morgan-Murray, Farai Chideya, and Nikky Finney.
Interview
Marci Blackman “Po Man’s Child” by Akilah Monifa
Excerpt: Po Man’s Child
Reviews
The Debt: What America Owes To Blacks by Randall Robinson
Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism by Walter LaFeber
Understanding the Tin Man: Why So Many Men Avoid Intimacy by William July
Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English by John Russell Rickford & Russell John Rickford
Walking the Dog by Walter Mosley
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Issue #7
09/1999
Breena Clarke
Willie Perdomo
Roger Bonair-Agard
Reggie Gibson
Kevin Powell
Profile: Third World Press by Nichole Shields
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Issue #6
06/1999
Grace Edwards
Eleanor Taylor Bland
Colin Channer
Poet Stacyann Chin
Elizabeth Nunez
Loida Maritza Perez
R.M. Johnson
The NAACP’s Crisis Magazine
The Myth of Solitude: No Writer Is An Island by Kalamu ya Salaam
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Issue #5
04/1999
E. Lynn Harris
bell hooks
Guy Johnson
Lee Meadows
Latino literature by Evangeline Blanco
three writers who, throughout this century, have spoken to their generation:
James Baldwin by Kalamu ya Salaam
Zora Neale Hurston by Leah Mullen
Farai Chideya by Cynthia Ray
Excerpts
Abide With Me by E. Lynn Harris
Standing at the Scratch Line by Guy Johnson
Poetry
Loving You is Church by Tara Betts
Among Women by Nicole C. Kearney
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Issue #4
12/1998
Sonya Sanchez
Kimberla Lawson Roby
Camika Spenser
Mars Hill
Profiles of Ann Petry and Nkiru Books
The Writing Business by Pat Houser
Speak Dis! by Tony Medina
The Struggle for Visibility of African American Women’s Literature by Dorothy Harris
Excerpt of The Moaners’ Bench by Mars Hill
Reviews
Assault on Paradise by Latiana Lobo
Blue As the Lake by Robert Stepto
Blue Light by Walter Mosley
Don’t Explain by Jewell Gomez
The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Dandicat
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Issue #3
09/1998
How Writers Get Agents
Excerpt: Song of Night by Glenville Lovell
Interviews
Sandra Lee Gould by Renee Michel
Nalo Hopkinson by William Ashanti Hobbs III
Colson Whitehead by Akilah Monifah
Reg e. Gaines
The Mystery of Gayl Jones by Kelly Howard
Getting Published: How to Get There From Here by Herbert Stern
The Domain of the Sisters by Omar Tyree
African American Book Clubs by Pat Neblett
Reviews
A Hope In the Unseen by Ron Suskind
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Issue #2
06/1998
Content
Sheneska Jackson by Pat Houser
Jessica Care Moore by Lynne d. Johnson
Telling Our Stories Ourselves by Dorothy Harris
Why I Write by Kathleen Morris
The Literary Life: Write On by Mo Fleming
Lorraine Hansberry by Lynne d. Johnson
Reviews
Pride by Lorene Cary
In Another Place, Not Here by Dionne Brand
Ella Baker by Joanne Grant
If God Can Cook You Know I Can by Ntozake Shange
Nothing But the Rent by Sharon Mitchell
The Healing by Gayl Jones
Roberts vs. Texaco by Bari-Ellen Roberts
The Men of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
Blanche Cleans Up by Barbara Neely
The Itch by Benilde Little
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Issue #1
04/1998
Excerpts from the book Men We Cherish – Kiini Ibura Salaam and Brooke Stephens
Eric Jerome Dickey interviewed by Pat Houser
Louisiana’s Black Writers by Rosa Lili
The Literary Life by Mo Fleming
Excerpt from All American Dream Dolls by David Haynes
Caribe by Evangeline Blanco
A Stranger In My Bed by Kevin Luttery
Blue by Eric Nisenson
