Side Notes from the Archivist

<p><strong>The award-winning genre-crossing writer demonstrates her power as a funkadelic and formidable feminist voice in this rich and beautiful collection of verse and image--a multi-part retrospective that traverses time space and reality to illuminate the expansiveness of Black femme lives.</strong></p><p><strong>Voted one of the Best Books of 2023 by the New York Public Library.</strong></p><p><em>Side Notes from the Archivist </em>is a preservation of Black culture viewed through a feminist lens. The Archivist leads readers through poems that epitomize youthful renditions of a Black girl coming of age in Philadelphia's pre-funk '80s; episodic adventures of the Black Girl whose life is depicted through the white gaze; and selections of verse evincing affection for self and testimony to the magnificence within Black femme culture at-large.</p><p>Every poem in <em>Side Notes</em> elevates and honestly illustrates the buoyancy of Blackness and the calamity of Black lives on earth. In her uniquely embracing and experimental style Anastacia-Reneé documents these truths as celebrations of diverse subjects from <em>Solid Gold</em> to halal hotdogs; as homages and reflections on iconic images from Marsha P. Johnson to Aunt Jemima; and as critiques of systemic oppression forcing some to countdown their last heartbeat.</p><p>From internet Fame to the toxicity of the white gaze <em>Side Notes from the Archivist </em>cements Anastacia-Reneé role as a leading light in the womanist movement--an artist whose work is in conversation with advocates of Black culture and thought such as Audre Lorde Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni.</p>