Danez Smith reads from their collection, Don't Call Us Dead

Danez Smith has had a big year - most noteably they WON the Foward Prize for Best Collection 2018, one of the most prestigious poetry prizes in the world. To honour Black History Month, here they are reading from their winning collection, 'Don't Call Us Dead'. The poem is called 'Dear White America'. https://bit.ly/DanezSmithDontCallUsDead Award-winning poet Danez Smith is a ground-breaking force, celebrated for deft lyrics, urgent subjects, and performative power. Don’t Call Us Dead opens with a heartrending sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion, violence, and grief are forgotten and replaced with the safety, love and longevity they deserved here on earth. Smith turns then to desire, mortality – the dangers experienced in skin and body and blood – and an HIV-positive diagnosis. ‘Some of us are killed / in pieces,’ Smith writes, ‘some of us all at once.’ Don’t Call Us Dead is an astonishing and ambitious collection, one that confronts, praises, and rebukes an America where every day is too often a funeral and not often enough a miracle. // Free bookish extras // SIGN UP to our newsletter to be the first to hear about new releases, giveaways and more: http://bit.ly/VintageNewsletter LISTEN to our podcast: http://bit.ly/vintagebookspodcast FOLLOW US on twitter:   / vintagebooks   LIKE US on Facebook:   / vintagebooks   // More things you might like // Book-to-screen film adaptations of Vintage titles: https://bit.ly/VintageonFilm Meet your favourite authors and discover new ones in Vintage Meets: https://bit.ly/VintageMeets