Khalisa Rae’s Collection “Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat” Summons Ghosts of Ancestral Pain

Podcast: Download (Duration: 38:05 — 34.9MB)

In this episode 241, we visit with Khalisa Rae, author of “Ghosts in a Black Girl’s Throat,” a vivid collection of poems that explore Black pain, agency, reclamation, and the ghosts—past and present—that haunt them.

Jaki Shelton Green, author of “I Want to Undie You,” had this to say about the book, “If storytelling in the griot’s hands is a form of resistance, then Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat is a form of control. Khalisa Rae’s poetics are unbreakable glass knives that own uncharted and unmarked underground burrows, providing refuge for righteous indignation… This powerful collection bears witness to the fraught overlap between women’s bodies and minds. Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat reframes the Black body politic as sacrament, benediction, delicacy, and tenderness.”

Connect With the Author 

Website     Facebook     Twitter     Instagram     Goodreads

About the Author:

Khalisa Rae is a poet and journalist in Durham, NC that speaks with furious rebellion. She is the author of Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat (Red Hen Press 2021). Her essays are featured in Autostraddle, Catapult, LitHub, as well as articles in B*tch Media, NBC-BLK, and others. Her poetry appears in Frontier Poetry, Florida Review, Rust & Moth, PANK, Hellebore, Sundog Lit, HOBART, among countless others. She is the winner of the Bright Wings Poetry contest, the Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, and the White Stag Publishing Contest, among other prizes. Currently, she serves as Assistant Editor for Glass Poetry and co-founder of Think in Ink and the Women of Color Speak reading series. Her second collection Unlearning Eden is forthcoming from White Stag Publishing in 2022.

Additional Endorsements

“Khalisa Rae’s Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat is like a newborn scream that’s been held in for eons. Sharp, strong, unapologetic, beautiful, and angry, the writing in this collection is a celebration of language and rhythm…. The result is a book that demands to be read with clenched fists and an open heart.”—PANK

“Rae considers the intersection of history and modernity in the American South in her provocative debut.”

—Publisher’s Weekly

“A remarkable chronicle of agency and prophetic voice. Ghosts and apparitions are among playful agents in the pages to witness a reclamation and provide a powerful fire. This haunting is but a reckoning of reconciliations and a quest for meaning in agency against oppressive forces.”—Yes Poetry

Extra Stuff

Sign up for The Book Report for free on the Home page. We won’t spam you. That takes too much time.

Receive exclusive audio content when you become a supporter of the podcast for a small monthly contribution. You will be able to access author interviews on the craft and business of writing and other creative topics. Check out the offerings on the Exclusive Content Page or scroll through what’s available at the Patreon page.

Use promo code Charlottereader (all one word) to get a free audiobook when you join Libro.fm, the audiobook provider that supports independent book stores.

Meet Our Networks:

Queen City Podcast Network  is a carefully selected collection of more than two dozen podcasts produced in and centering around Charlotte, North Carolina focused on news, non-profits, entertainment, literature, sports, food, culture, health and wellness, and comedy.

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network  is an international digital media corporation comprised of more than two dozen radio talk shows, podcasts, & book reviewers interested in speaking to writers in all genres and other creative people.

Meet Our Team:

Learn About Our Social Media Team – Social Grit Marketing

Learn About Our Publicity Manager – Spellbound Public Relations

Learn about our Web Master – TM Petaccia

Learn about our Production Assistant – Shauna Morgan

Thank you for listening!