Spring forward: Take a look at UATL’s April book recommendations

This spring, Black authors are using history, place, pain and family to write memoirs and novels about defying the odds, strengthening bonds with our loved ones and identifying our purpose in this new season.

It’s also National Poetry Month, so writers are using stanzas and rhythm to innovate and remind us how important our existence is to literature and culture.

For April, here are four Black culture book recommendations themed around seeking out new places, confronting the past, finding beauty in struggles and being unapologetically yourself.

“We (The People of the United States)” by poet Joshua Bennett shows how vital Black people have been to the evolution of the nation and moving culture forward. (Courtesy of Penguin Books)

‘We (The People of the United States)’ by Joshua Bennett

Black people are everywhere, literally.

Poet Joshua Bennett makes this crystal clear in “We (The People of the United States),” a book-long poem broken into 55 sections. Released in March, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and Guggenheim Fellow creatively imagines a poetic road trip listing and describing cities and towns where prominent and iconic Black figures lived and became household names.

We ride shotgun with Bennett as he pays homage to explorer Matthew Henson in Alaska, stops through anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville, Florida, and goes back to Gary, Indiana, with sibling musical act the Jackson 5 as the country prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary.

“We (The People of the United States)” shows how vital Black people have been to the evolution of the nation and moving culture forward.

“Leave Your Mess at Home,” by Atlanta-based novelist Tolani Akinola, chronicles four Nigerian American adult siblings returning to their hometown. (Courtesy of Pamela Dorman Books)

‘Leave Your Mess at Home’ by Tolani Akinola

Atlanta-based author Tolani Akinola’s debut book, “Leave Your Mess at Home,” shows what happens when Black families and dysfunction meet at the dinner table during the holidays.

The novel, publishing April 14, chronicles four Nigerian American adult siblings returning to their hometown, Chicago, for Thanksgiving. The season brings out the best (and worst) in the Longe family as they deal with ego, romance, parenting, sexuality, ethnic identity and self-image.

As you read “Leave Your Mess at Home,” think “Soul Food” meets “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.” It’s an emotional roller coaster that interrogates our loyalty, forgiveness and unconditional love for family and self.

Former Atlanta mayor-turned gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms gives readers a bird’s-eye view into her world with her upcoming memoir, “The Rough Side of the Mountain.” (Courtesy of Mariner Books)

‘The Rough Side of the Mountain’ by Keisha Lance Bottoms

Keisha Lance Bottoms gives readers a bird’s-eye view into her world outside of her political career in her upcoming memoir, “The Rough Side of the Mountain.”

Publishing later this month, the former Atlanta-born mayor and now gubernatorial candidate takes us to the west side, where she grew up an overachieving, chatty daddy’s girl who relied on sage advice to make her family proud. She confronts surviving an eating disorder, sexual abuse, her late father’s drug abuse, prison stint and shame in her ascension to become a judge, City Council member and adviser to former President Joe Biden.

“The Rough Side of the Mountain” suggests no one should silence their relatives or mask parts of themselves as they pursue their goals.

Angela Nissel details how she survived depression, renounced religion, handled divorce and debt while attempting to earn her mother’s approval in “Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom is Dead.” (Courtesy of Amistad Books)