Two Author-Curated Playlists for Go Ahead in the Rain

Originally posted to Largehearted Boy, these curated playlists by NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR Hanif Abdurraqib—author of Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest—offer insight behind the music of A Tribe Called Quest, drawing from the music that inspired them and their sampling. Hanif writes:

I felt like it would be easier to pick a handful of Tribe Called Quest songs that I loved. Instead, I wanted to pick songs that showed the sounds Tribe was pulling from, and I wanted to pick songs by artists who committed themselves to building on Tribe's legacy in the years they weren't active. This book is, largely, about lineage and about how music can build pathways of curiosity and knowing. So, it made sense to populate a playlist with the music that Tribe chased after to make their own.

Playlists

Giveaway

Spin these amazing playlists and don't forget that we are giving away ten copies of Go Ahead in the Rain! Subscribe to our email list by this Sunday, February 10th at midnight for your chance to win some book love by Valentine's Day!

Book Tour

Catch Hanif Abdurraqib's Go Ahead in the Rain tour this spring and summer!

Praise for the Book

Reviews 

View more on Bookmarks

• New York Times: “[W]arm, immediate, and intensely personal...This lush and generous book is a call to pay proper respects not just to a sound but to a feeling.” 
• Washington Post: “[R]iveting and poetic…Abdurraqib’s gift is his ability to flip from a wide angel to a zoom with ease. He is a five-tool writer, slipping out of the timeline to deliver vivid, memoiristic splashes as well as letters he's crafted to directly address the central players, dead and living.” 
• NPR: "Go Ahead in the Rain is at once an extended critical essay, a hip-hop history, and a series of love letters to A Tribe Called Quest, and particularly to the group's two star MCs, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg. . . . [Abdurraqib] has a seemingly limitless capacity to share what moves him, which means that to read Go Ahead in the Rain, you don't need to be a Tribe Called Quest fan: Abdurraqib will make you one. His love for the group is infectious, even when it breaks his heart."
• Mancunion: “Abdurraqib...manages to write about music by making his language a type of music. He pays homage to A Tribe Called Quest in the only way fitting, with flow and charm and emotional rawness.” 

Interviews

• Nylon: “In his personalized approach to the group’s musical legacy, Abdurraqib articultes how the group helped to define his personal growth, helping readers appreciate the power that our favorite acts have in helping us create a durable sense of identity.” 
• Columbus Alive: “Fans of Abdurraqib’s writing will recognize his ability to seamlessly weave together stories about multiple, often disparate topics. Whether he’s reminiscing about his failed attempt to master the trumpet as a child, or geeking out over the history of sampling in hip-hop, or dissecting a 2011 Tribe documentary, each story serves the larger purpose: recounting the life of A Tribe Called Quest through a fan’s eyes.” 
• Student Life (from Washington University in St. Louis): “Thursday night, as poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib stepped behind the podium to read, the room was overflowing, with people crammed into the aisles and standing practically in the hallway to hear him read pieces that touched on everything from a fight in a New Haven pizza parlor to spades to the criminally overlooked Mary Clayton.” 
• Pittsburgh City Paper
• Bookin’ w/ Jason Jefferies Podcast
• ShutdownFullcast Podcast
• The Opus Podcast (about Jimi Hendrix). 

Excerpts 

• Longreads: “The Paths of Rhythm” 
• Los Angeles Review of Books: “From Chapter Ten: Family Business” 
• Full Stop: “The Low End” 

Listicles

• Lit Hub: “12 Books You Should Read This February”: “…the book promises to be a stunning blend of author and subject.” 
• Austin360: “Pop Culture Coming in February”: “The outstanding poet pens an ode to one of the greatest groups of all time.” 

Winter Institute Recaps

• Shelf Awareness: “’I would hope that folks in the back would move up closer,’ [Abdurraqib] said. “You don’t have to sit on the floor, but you can if you want. If we can all make a pledge to get closer to each other…Is that something we can do? If I come down there, can you come up here?’ The open space quickly filled with book—and music—people. As he says, the idea of a sample ‘is to hear the world differently.’” 
• American Bookseller’s Assocation: “’That’s why books should be written,’ he said. ‘If we’re lucky, we’re building a life for ourselves just by existing and being in proximity with people who we love and care about. We’re building a life that deserves to be echoed into some corners after we’re gone.’” 

Book Trailers

www.utexaspress.com

Hanif Abdurraqib's 'Go Ahead in the Rain' at Winter Institute

Every year, the American Booksellers Association gathers independent booksellers together for professional development and author appearances at their Winter Institute meeting. This year's Winter Institute was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and hosted authors Reshma Saujani, Margaret Atwood, and our own author—poet, essayist, and music expert Hanif Abdurraqib. Hanif's delivered his keynote to a packed auditorium, reading passages from his latest book Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest and emphasizing how bookstores had shaped his life as a reader and a writer. The audience connected deeply to Hanif's incredible, writerly voice and his deep love for bookstores. Read Robert Gray's summary of the keynote address for Shelf Awareness.

Before the keynote, we scoped out the auditorium. We'll be honest; everyone involved was a little nervous about how many people would show up to see Hanif. The room seemed huge, and the podium onstage quite formal—a far cry from the ice cream parlors and cozy, local bookstores Hanif's voice has graced at his readings in the past.

As booksellers started to stream into the auditorium, Hanif began to read Go Ahead in the Rain passages on stage, from behind the podium. At some point, attendance swelled and Hanif left the stage to read closer to the audience. He welcomed those who wished to come forward and sit at his feet, which were characteristically adorned in the freshest kicks.

The response on social media was overwhelming. In advance of Go Ahead in the Rain's publication date next Friday, February 1st, we gathered a selection of the social media love for Hanif and for his book to celebrate a truly masterful piece of music writing. A special thanks to the American Booksellers Association for inviting Hanif to give a keynote, which is a huge platform for a university press author. Most of all, though, our deepest gratitude to all the booksellers who engaged with Hanif and his book during Winter Institute this year. The University of Texas Press is honored to share Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest with communities of readers across the country and around the world.

From Unabridged Bookstore and 57th Street Books | Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago, Deep Vellum Books in Dallas, the American Booksellers Association,  Two Cats Communications, and Duende District Bookstore

Watch these Instagram stories on our Instagram page. Find the #Wi14 Highlights!

And finally, a sampling of the Twitter love:

Follow Hanif Abdurraqib on social media for dispatches from his upcoming appearances (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram). Follow the University of Texas Press on social media for more books and author news!

www.utexaspress.com

University Press Week Blog Tour: Day 1

Welcome to the sixth annual University Press Week! In today’s political climate—where “fake news” and “alternate facts” are believed by so many people—valuing expertise and knowledge can feel like a radical act.

University presses not only believe in facts and knowledge, but traffic in them daily, publishing approximately 14,000 books and more than 1,100 journals each year, read by

people around the globe.

For the annual blog tour, our fellow presses are featuring posts for each day of the week including commentary on the following themes: “Scholarship Making a Difference,” "Producing the Books that Matter," "Libraries and Librarians helping us all #LookItUP," "#TwitterStorm," and "Selling the Facts."

Participate in the celebration by reading through the blog tour all this week, contribute to the conversation using the hashtags #LookItUP #UPWeek on social media, and visit www.UniversityPressWeek.org for more information.

Here are the blog posts for today's theme Scholarship Making a Difference:

Wilfrid Laurier University Press – a post by Daniel Heath Justice about why university presses matter, the importance of Indigenous voices, and why he chose WLU Press for his book

Temple University Press: a post about books and authors that focus on racism and whiteness

Wayne State University Press: a post about a forthcoming book on slavery in 21st century America

University Press of Colorado: a feature of the press's post-truth-focused titles

Princeton University Press: Al Bertrand on the importance of non-partisan peer-reviewed social science in today's climate

George Mason University Press: a post on the path to discovery onf an overlooked and misunderstood yet influential historical figure

Cambridge: University Press: a post about Marie Curie and her struggle for recognition within the French scientific community dominated by male scientists.

University of Toronto Press: a post on the importance of making scholarship accessible to students and the role of publishers in helping to build better citizens; a post on how academic publishing can go beyond just facts to attempt to win over hearts and minds

www.utexaspress.com

Find Community at Your Local Independent Bookstore

Welcome to the University Press Week blog tour! The theme for this year’s University Press Week is community and today's blog posts will highlight IndieBound, a movement developed by the American Booksellers Association to celebrate independent bookstores and support local communities of readers.

So, in the spirit of community, we’d like to highlight our very own assistant director and sales manager Gianna LaMorte's recent Bookstore Roadtrip along the West Coast!

To continue the blog tour, check out Cornell University Press, University Press of Colorado, McGill-Queen's University Press, Duke University Press, Seminary Co-op Bookstores, New York University Press Blog, University Press of Kentucky, and University Press of Kansas!

West Coast Indies Warmly Welcome University of Texas Press’ Gianna LaMorte

By Sydney Jarrard 

Reposted from American Booksellers Association's Bookselling This Week blog

On August 25, Gianna LaMorte, assistant director and sales manager for University of Texas Press, kicked off a nine-day indie bookstore tour that spanned the entire West Coast. Along the way, she shared photos of her favorite moments visiting 30 indie bookstores between Los Angeles and Seattle.

Alexander Book Company in San Francisco, Californi

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve worked really hard at University of Texas Press to reintroduce ourselves to independent bookstores, and we had a really good year last year,” LaMorte recently told Bookselling This Week.

Indie bookstores were ardent champions for several of the press’ books this year, in particular The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin. “Bookstores, the indies specifically, really helped us out and sold a ton of those books,” said LaMorte. Booksellers also went above and beyond for Don’t Suck, Don’t Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt by Kristin Hersh and the sports photography book Relentless: The Stories Behind the Photographs by Neil Leifer.

“I wanted to go and say thank you,” explained LaMorte, who chose to travel up the West Coast because she had never visited many of the stores along that route. “I thought, let me go and say thank you face to face. I hoped the gesture would mean something to booksellers.”

Among the stores visited by LaMorte were The Last Bookstore, Hennessey & Ingalls, Vroman’s Bookstore, and Skylight Books in the Los Angeles area. She also stopped at a few independent comic book stores to share the press’ academic list of graphic novels.

Chaucer's Books in Santa Barbara, California

In West Hollywood, California, Book Soup’s “Have a Killer Summer” window display struck a chord with LaMorte. Calling attention to the growing murder rate in Los Angeles County, the display, which remained up through the summer, featured an ever-growing pile of beach balls filling the front window, each with the date of death, age, and ethnicity of a murder victim in the county. The display was inspired by Jill Leovy’s Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America (Spiegel & Grau).

To LaMorte, Book Soup was risking sales in order to spotlight a critical subject and generate important conversations. “It hearkens back to a time when bookstores were the place where you went to talk about community issues. It sure did give me pause, and it made me really proud,” she said.

Before moving on to children’s bookshop Green Bean Books in Portland, Oregon, and King’s Books in Tacoma, Washington, LaMorte stopped in San Francisco to check out City Lights Books, her personal favorite, where buyer Paul Yamazaki gave her a tour of the store and took her out for drinks and conversation. “Little things like that mean the world to a small publisher,” said LaMorte.

Green Bean Books in Portland, Oregon

During LaMorte’s travels, which included hours of driving, parking difficulties, and plenty of walking, indie booksellers reached out to invite her to stop by. Others followed her trip on social media, knowing she’d be stopping in any day. “There was this general excitement that some schmo from Texas was driving along the coast visiting bookstores,” she said. “Everybody really wanted to show me their stores.”

While some of the coolest moments of LaMorte’s trip included seeing a woman walking a pig on a leash in Los Angeles and busting a shoplifter thieving a mass-market paperback during one of her bookstore visits, above all, she said, the friendliness and the warm welcome she received from indie booksellers in every city has truly stayed with her.

See more photos from LaMorte’s trip on the University of Texas Press’ Facebook page.

www.utexaspress.com

UTP on IndieBound's October Next List

Brick-and-mortar independent bookstores are on the rise in the Amazon age largely because they foster a sense of community through engaging staff, author events, and book clubs. That's why it is so exciting to have Don't Suck, Don't Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt by Kristin Hersh on the October IndieBound Next List, a roundup of the best new books based on reviews by independent booksellers.

It's our third book to appear on an IndieBound Next List. First, the hardback edition of Jan Reid’s Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards (now a $11.36 paperback on our website), made a splash in 2012. Then in 2013, Two Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark landed on the list alongside Amy Tan, Wally Lamb, and Ann Patchett. Now Kristin Hersh's haunting ode to a lost friend Don't Suck, Don't Die has deeply moved booksellers across the country. Hersh's new book joins Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies, Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir, and other highly anticipated titles. Browse the full list here.

To celebrate, we've gathered all the bookseller reviews together and thrown in our book trailer, Spotify playlist, and fan zine!

Bookseller Quotes

"Add Kristin Hersh’s Don't Suck, Don't Die to the list of music memoirs that have little to do with music. A book about her friendship with the talented and tragic Vic Chesnutt, the style, tone, and quality of the very personal writing allow this work to sit nicely next to Patti Smith’s Just Kids and Kim Gordon’s Girl in a Band, but the unique tenderness between Vic and Kristin ensure that the book also stands alone. The book sometimes feels like a punch in the gut, and sometimes like a good hug, but it is always affecting. For anyone who is a fan of Hersh, or anyone who loved Chesnutt, or anyone who has a best friend."

— Frank Reiss, Owner, A Cappella Books (Atlanta, GA)

"Vic Chesnutt wrote songs so brilliant and powerful that they drew the attention of the likes of Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, and Jeff Mangum. His direct, bold, and uncompromising honesty through artistry are the very things that made him a legend that never broke into mainstream popularity. In Don't Suck, Don't Die, his longtime touring partner and friend Kristen Hersh draws a portrait of an artist so clear and unflinching that only a true friend could. Hersh takes time to focus on the importance of both the tragedies and joys of Chesnutt's life and art, never dismissing the important fleeting moments in exchange for rock star spectacle. No other book about a musician reaches the level of intimacy, respect, and love for a friend as Hersh's does."

— Kevin Elliott, 57th Street Books (Chicago, IL)

"Hersh's memoir of her time spent touring with the musician Vic Chesnutt is an intimate portrayal of a unique friendship faced with the harsh realities of life on the road. Hersh addresses Chesnutt directly in this book giving the reader the feeling of eavesdropping on a conversation that is still ongoing even though Chesnutt killed himself years ago. The method clearly reveals the open wound of Hersh's heart and the beauty of her love for Chesnutt."

— Arsen Kashkashian, Boulder Book Store (Boulder, CO)

 

“This is an amazing memoir. It paints a beautiful portrait of Vic Chesnutt, his unique friendship with the author and the sorrowful broken darkness they each deal with. The language is warm, intimate and poetic. It's so gorgeous it actually hurts to read. I have not been so moved by a piece of art, any art in years. Even with the inevitable tragic ending, Hersh keeps you hanging on with her delicate and sublime prose. You know you are circling a vortex but the water is so perfect you don't care. This story aches, laughs, stuns, pulls you into it like a siren song. You will put it down with insights that seem natural but impossible. You'll want more of both Chesnutt and Hersh and all the more brokenhearted at the enormity of the loss.”

— Bosco Farr, Bookstore manager, BookPeople (Austin, TX)

Spotify Playlist

UT Press e-books now at your local indy store

Independent booksellers are an important part of the ecosystem of books in which UT Press lives, so as sales of our e-books continue to rise, we are especially excited about our new partnership with Kobo. 

In August of 2012, Kobo became the official e-book platform of the American Booksellers Association, an organization of some 2,000 independent bookstores. If you enjoy buying books, drinking coffee, and attending author events at your local indy, then consider giving them your e-book business, as well. For a full list of participating stores and information on how the program works visit IndieBound [http://www.indiebound.org/ebooks]. Kobo e-books can be read on an iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac, PC, and most smartphones. If you are still a print reader but considering e-books, Kobo makes reading devices that are available at these indy stores, as well.

—John McLeod, Special Projects and Development Manager at UT Press