£7.99 – £14.99
Dispatches from the Vanguard channels the global soul’s hunger for freedom from authoritarian control.
Partnering with dozens of Pulitzer Prize Winners, New York Times Best Sellers, poet laureates, and influencers within the Global International African Arts Movement, including Ishmael Reed, Vinnie Bagwell, Tyehimba Jess, Nikki Giovanni, Darnell Moore, Hanna Wagari, Nnedi Okorafor, Tori Reid, and Jaki Shelton Green, itoffers a poignant, high-frequency rebuke of Donald J. Trump and his amoral presidency.
In showcasing the spirited work of creatives from across the world, Dispatches from the Vanguard shows us how we can challenge systemic racism and authoritarian control.
“Dispatches from the Vanguard is James Baldwin’s dream manifested through art and culture, through porch talks, poetry and visual debates. This carnival of a book is a dynamic treasure trove of Black passion, style, intellectual prowess, wit, grace and soul. Behold this beautiful bouquet of Blackness.”
“Patrick Howell’s passionate content and delivery takes me back to my own college years at Howard University, where I interviewed the likes of Frances Cress Welsing, Leonard Jefferies, John Henrik Clarke, Tony Browder, and listened to the fired up speeches of Khallid Muhammad, Michael 3X, and Steve Cokely. What a refreshing thought it is to be reminded of the mental strength, courage, and audacity it takes to be ‘Black’ again with a capital B. Howell gave me an invigorating read and a reminder of how to write for the right to fight.”
“Patrick A. Howell undertakes the role of griot — storyteller — in this insightful and hard-hitting collection of interviews. Once you start reading this eclectic and intergenerational group of poets, writers, artists, activists and scholars, you simply cannot stop. Thought-provoking and inspiring, Dispatches from the Vanguard is a worthy addition to anyone’s library.”
“Dispatches from the Vanguard is exceptional. It takes our current moment and draws an oral history from architects of the culture. From the Black Arts Movement and, before that, the Harlem Renaissance to the Global International African Arts Movement.”
“Patrick A. Howell deploys the interview as scalpel and bridge, laying out the nuances of our hassled yet still beautiful Black while detailing, through the responses of these artists and intellectuals, resilience for this generation and the next. Here, Africa and its diasporas achieve completion.”
“There has never been a time of great uncertainty that didn’t produce a windfall of brilliance from the Black community. Dispatches from the Vanguard has collected the wisdom, depth, creativity, insight, joy, critique, hope and brazen boldness from the current windfall being borne out of the crisis that is the current administration. And why does a collection like this mean so much? Because it allows us to transcend by way of the words of those voices we value so much. They lead us, they teach us, and they remind us what is possible. This is a book for those who, in the words of Audre Lorde, are ‘deliberate and afraid of nothing.’”
“A strong, no, essential book of conversations with Nikki Giovanni, Dr Harry Edwards, Abiodun Oyewole, Ishmael Reed, Quincy Troupe, Tori “LA” Reid, Nnedi Okorafor, and a huge host of others. The cast of (mostly) African American writers, leaders, educators, activists, musicians, designers, scholars, public figures, Afro-Futurists, artists, historians of several generations is assembled here as an urgent, achingly literate fuck-you to Donald Trump. But the serves equally well as a fascinating compendium of contemporary African diasporic thought, from figures you know, figures you think you know, figures you ought to know.”
“In these troubling and challenging times I am always glad to hear from those who are providing visions of wholeness and collective liberation. Dispatches from the Vanguard is a treasure trove of wisdom, cultural history, and reflection from some of today’s leading Afro-centric cultural workers. I found the mix of voices from older and younger visual artists, poets, writers, directors, and other arts movement workers, artfully woven together by the poetic voice of multi-talented Patrick Howell, truly moving, healing and inspiring. Read these interviews and you too will want to find out more about the work of these creatives and changemakers.”
“Dispatches from the Vanguard is a timely compilation of cultural luminaries. Howell’s honoring of lived experiences coupled with vocal wisdom bridge past to future and illuminate the necessary interplay between education, field artistry, global consciousness, and social justice.”
