Solange launches ‘Saint Heron Library’ for Rare Books by Black Authors
The collection includes titles by Audre Lorde, Octavia Butler, Langston Hughes and More.
Solange Knowles’ creative studio Saint Heron has announced the launch of a free library featuring rare and out-of-print works by Black and brown authors. The collection spans a wide variety of genres including prose, poetry, drama and non-fiction in the hopes of getting them in the hands of budding artists and creatives of color.
On the Saint Heron website, curator Rosa Duffy goes into detail about the importance of archives and collections available to communities of color.
“The truth is, if you’re not invited to these spaces or you don’t feel invited to these spaces - which Black folks often are not - you can feel like this stuff doesn’t belong to you, like you’re not allowed to put your hands on it, and it’s behind closed doors.”
The collection will vary each month, with different curators choosing the works on access. This month’s curator, Rosa Duffy, is the founder of Books for Keeps in Atlanta and specializes in classic Black literature. The collection itself will launch in November and books can be borrowed by the public for up to forty-five days.
Duffy’s aim is to widen the cultural focus of black literature past popular titles and ensure their accessibility as important works within Black history.
“The more ways that we can do that with free literature in a community, that’s the point.”
Knowles collaborated with designer Sablá Stays on the art direction, as well as Angela Asemota and Celso White on the eclectic website design. “These works expand imagination,” Knowles stated. “It is vital to us to make them accessible to students, and our communities for research and engagement, so that the works our integrated into our collective story and belong and grow with us.”
Some of the titles available include The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde, Shakespeare in Harlem by Langston Hughes, Judith Jameson: Aspects of a Dancer by Olga Maynard and the zine Kick: Black, Gay and Fierce Urban Culture.
You can read more about the Saint Heron Library and check out the full collection here.
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