Light for the World to See by Kwame Alexander, Read by the Author

Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens.

With Light for the World to See, Kwame Alexander delivers three of his poems about the struggles of Black Americans to make a potent combination of elegy, protest, and celebration of Black triumph. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the impressive impact of this brief audiobook, and Alexander’s powerful performance. He begins the audiobook with a stirring foreword recounting a time as a child when he joined his school in protesting police brutality, his fear of police violence, and the power he felt through communal protest and song. Listen to hear his wonderfully performed poems “American Bullet Points,” “Take a Knee,” and “The Undefeated,” set to original music.

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Today’s episode of Behind the Mic is brought to you by Oasis Audio, publisher of Remembering Kobe Bryant, the first in the new Heirs of Neverland series, a dark and dramatic take on the classic story of Peter Pan.