Solange Knowles launches library of rare Black books

It has been reported that creative artist, musician and filmmaker Solange Knowles has created a new library of rare books by Black authors. While she is a prominent musician, she has also built a limitless world of interesting projects including “performance art, music compilation production, podcasts, and beyond since 2013,” reports ZORA, though her creative firm, Saint Heron.

The Saint Heron Community Library is an outstanding rotating collection of rare and signed books by Black authors like Ntozake Shange’s “A Daughter’s Geography,” Langston Hughes’ “Shakespeare in Harlem” and Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Children Coming Home,” along with books by Octavia Butler and Audre Lorde and is “a growing media center dedicated to students, practicing artists and designers, musicians and general literature enthusiasts.”

The first iteration of books was officially premiered in October 2021 and was curated and cared for by Rosa Duffy, founder of the Atlanta-based For Keeps Bookstore.

“For this Saint Heron Library collection, it was really focusing on the people that we know and love, but we might not know the details of what they do. So highlighting these artists, I think that’s really important, because then you get to the different mediums and the different spaces that we can move throughout that we might not always be affirmed that we can move through,” says Duffy.

Different books will be made available seasonally and will be curated by a myriad of guest curators. The selected literary works can be borrowed for free for a 45-day stint of time for people in the United States.

“We believe our community is deserving of access to the stylistically expansive range of Black and Brown voices in poetry, visual art, critical thought and design,” says Saint Heron.

“The library’s focus is education, knowledge production, creative inspiration and skill development through works by artists, designers, historians, and activists from around the world.”

This is a rare an innovative opportunity to connect enthusiastic readers of Black literary to obtain access book that would be a challenge to find elsewhere. It is vitally important to celebrate and share literature by Black authors that would otherwise be incredibly hard to find. Black readers as well as book lovers from all backgrounds are being offered a chance to expand their knowledge on Black writers whose work has oftentimes been unsung or out of print.

To find out more visit www.saintheron.com