Small Press Pages February 2026
We’re halfway through Black History Month here in the US, and to celebrate, I’m highlighting books by Black authors whose work pulses with truth, insight, and depth. As a white reader, this month’s column isn’t about speaking for anyone; it’s about paying attention and reading widely, gratefully, and with joy. Across genres and generations, these writers challenge, delight, and surprise readers, inviting them to read thoughtfully and with a mind open to learning. Happy Reading!
The Longest Bloom by Rashah Solun (Launch Point Press)
Fiction featuring a woman who, at seventy-five and with support from her granddaughter, a close friend, and her late husband’s spirit, decides to reclaim her life. Her candid journey celebrates desire, grief, and self-discovery, revealing the joy and wisdom found in embracing every stage of life.
Magic Like That by Samara Cole Doyan (Lee & Low Books)
A picture book that celebrates Black hair as a young girl discovers confidence, wonder, and self-expression through the many forms her natural hair can take. With lyrical text and radiant illustrations, the book invites young readers to see patience, creativity, and natural beauty as sources of joy and pride.
Mortevivum: Photography and the Politics of the Visual by Kimberly Juanita Brown (The MIT Press)
Open-access book that traces images from slavery to contemporary global photojournalism, exposing how photographic archives across the United States, South Africa, Haiti, and Rwanda reproduce a persistent visual logic of antiblackness and often deny Black subjects complex humanity.
Soul by India Trotter (Independently Published)
Fiction that traces the life of Soul Morgan—a woman celebrated for her resilience yet quietly shaped by the unseen cost of always being strong. As her relationships and world shift, readers view an intimate portrait of legacy, love, and the ache beneath the armor, a good reminder that those who seem most unbreakable often carry the deepest wounds.
Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion by Tia Noelle Pratt (University of Notre Dame Press)
Nonfiction that dismantles the myth that Black Catholics do not exist by centering the history, culture, and lived experiences of Black Catholics within U.S. Catholicism. Drawing on extensive research, interviews, and the story of St. Peter Claver Church, the book examines the impact of systemic racism while showing how liturgy, music, and tradition foster resilience, community, and resistance.
The Unrooted Bloom by Amber Allen-Peirson (Black Lawrence Press)
Poetry collection that draws readers into a deeply reflective and transformative experience. Through compassionate, evocative, and lyrical writing, these poems guide readers toward healing, spiritual growth, and clarity.
Black History Facts You Didn’t Learn in School by Yecheilyah Ysrayl (Literary Korner Publishing)
Fact book that highlights the achievements, contributions, and struggles of Black Americans whose stories are often overlooked or erased from mainstream history. By centering figures like Anna Douglass and thriving Black communities, it emphasizes the importance of recognizing Black resilience and honoring these histories.
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Christina Consolino is the author of REWRITE THE STARS, THE WEIGHT WE CARRY, and THE MARRIAGE DEBT, all contemporary fiction. Her work revolves mainly around family, marriage, relationships, and physical or mental health issues. She also writes romance under the pen name Keely Stephens. She can be found most days running, reading, writing, teaching, or sitting with a warm cup of coffee.
THE MARRIAGE DEBT
Sex is never just about sex.
From the outside, Nika Stewart’s life looks perfect: two loving kids, a fulfilling job as an elementary-school librarian, and a wonderful second marriage to Ethan, her sexy husband. The only problem? She doesn’t want to have sex with him.
Maybe it’s the harrowing hot flashes and formidable fatigue, or maybe it’s trying to juggle a weed-junkie dad, an onerous stepsister, and the avalanche of responsibilities that have left sex just another chore to cross off the to-do list.
When an honest conversation with her best friend leaves Nika worried her aversion to sex might drive Ethan away, she begrudgingly agrees to see a sex therapist. But as the sessions go on, Nika discovers that talking about sex with a therapist isn’t the same as facing the problem with her husband and that sex with Ethan might not be the only problem after all.
Filled with humor, candor, and at least one pair of role-playing chaps, The Marriage Debt examines the hard truths about sex that overbooked women face in their forties, as well as the joys still to come once a woman knows who she is and how to ask for what she wants.
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing
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