Timing: Available in time for Black History Month 2019

Fascinating New Material: This book is a carefully chosen selection of Robert Penn Warren’s interviews with leading civil rights figures, some of them available for the first time. The interviewees include James Baldwin, Stokely Carmichael, Ralph Ellison, Martin Luther King, Jr. , Bayard Rustin, and Malcolm X.

Timeliness: Material directly addresses themes of racial inequality that are still at the forefront of the news, as well as extends the recent attention that I Am Not Your Negro and the work of Ta-Nehisi Coates have given to James Baldwin’s work.

High Profile Endorsements: We have strong leads to high-profile blurbers including Michael Eric Dyson, Jesmyn Ward, Jelani Cobb, Taylor Branch, and others.

Sales record: Smith and Ellis' Say It Plain sold more than 10,000 copies in its combined editions.

Media Track Record: The authors’ previous books, Say It Plain and Say It Loud were reviewed or featured in Booklist, Salon, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Library Journal.