Welcome to the Pond, friends, and a big welcome to February and Black History Month! As part of our mission of uplifting diverse books, we at The Quiet Pond are hosting a series of exciting guest features, book reviews, and book recommendations to celebrate Black History Month – a month centered entirely on Black authors and Black literature.

This Black History Month is our first ever Black History Month at The Quiet Pond, and 15 Black authors will be visiting us in February! We have been planning and working on this guest feature series for two months now and I am excited to share with you all the awesome content that we – Skye, Joce, and I (CW) – and our guests have worked on together. And I’ve read the content we have; I can promise you that every single interview and every single book celebrated are books that you should be adding to your to-read lists.

In case you are not familiar, Black History Month is celebrated during the month of February! Like most history or heritage months, this month is an opportunity to learn, educate, and celebrate the achievements and contributions made by Black people. For The Quiet Pond, although we celebrate Black literature every other day and month of the year, our Black History Month guest series this month is an opportunity for us to spotlight and rave about the awesome books and work done by Black authors in the community!

Lastly, we recognise that Black History Month is celebrated during February in the U.S. and is celebrated during October in the U.K., Ireland, and Netherlands. We have invited some Black authors from the U.K. for our guest series this February, and also recognise that Black authors from the U.K. and U.S. have distinct experiences. However, because Latine Heritage Month also falls in October, we opted to celebrate Black authors and literature specifically in February. (In saying that, if you’re an Afro-Latine author based in the UK, drop us an email; we’d love to feature you!)

Introducing: Black History Month at the Pond!

An official and warm welcome to Black History Month at the Pond, friends! Today’s post marks the beginning of our month-long guest series, where we will be visited by 15 incredible authors, four book recommendation posts where I talk about the books that I think you should read this month (and all year round), and also a few book reviews of Black books!

Similarly to our previous month-long events (Asian Heritage Month during May 2020 and Pride Month during July 2020), you’ll find myself as Xiaolong, Joce as Cuddle, and Skye as Sprout inviting new friends to visit us at the Pond. Get your reading lists ready, friends – because you’re going to be adding a lot of Black books!

To kick us off, I invite you all to have a read through past Our Friend is Here! posts that feature Black authors and content creators! 

• An Interview with Emery Lee, Author of Meet Cute Diary; On Eir Writing Journey, Trans Characters and Trans Joy
• An Interview with Alechia Dow, Author of The Sound of Stars; On Writing Hope and Resistance and Demisexual Representation
• An Interview with Kacen Callender, Author of Felix Ever After; On Writing Themself Into Stories and Telling Stories That Empower Trans and Enby Teens
• A Discussion with Fadwa, Book Blogger and Booktuber, Discusses ‘I am Muslim, Queer and Not a Contradiction’
• A Discussion with Em, Book Blogger Behind Em’s Bookish Musings; Being Aro-Ace and Yoruba Muslim
• A Discussion with Joel, Booktuber Behind Fictional Fates; If Your Activism Isn’t Intersectional, It Isn’t Activism

Happy Black History Month and happy reading, friends!