Audiobooks narrated by Bahni Turpin

Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal

Zora and Langston is the dramatic and moving story of one of the most influential friendships in literature. They were best friends. They were collaborators, literary gadflies, and champions of the common people. They were the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston, the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Langston Hughes, the author of 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers' and 'Let America Be America Again,' first met in 1925, at a great gathering of black and white literati, and they fascinated each other. They traveled together in Hurston's dilapidated car through the rural South collecting folklore, worked on the play Mule Bone, and wrote scores of loving letters. They even had the same patron: Charlotte Osgood Mason, a wealthy white woman who insisted on being called 'Godmother.' Paying them lavishly while trying to control their work, Mason may have been the spark for their bitter and passionate falling-out. Was the split inevitable when Hughes decided to be financially independent of his patron? Was Hurston jealous of the young woman employed as their typist? Or was the rupture over the authorship of Mule Bone? Yuval Taylor answers these questions while illuminating Hurston's and Hughes's lives, work, competitiveness, and ambition, uncovering little-known details.

Yuval Taylor (Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

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You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience and the Black Experience: An anthology

Brought to you by Penguin. Tarana Burke and Dr. Brené Brown bring together a dynamic group of Black writers, organisers, artists, academics and cultural figures to discuss the topics the two have dedicated their lives to understanding and teaching: vulnerability and shame resilience. Contributions by Kiese Laymon, Imani Perry, Laverne Cox, Jason Reynolds, Austin Channing Brown, and more. It started as a text between two friends. Tarana Burke, founder of the 'me too.' Movement, texted researcher and writer Brené Brown to see if she was free to jump on a call. Brené assumed that Tarana wanted to talk about wallpaper. They had been trading home decorating inspiration boards in their last text conversation so Brené started scrolling to find her latest Pinterest pictures when the phone rang. But it was immediately clear to Brené that the conversation wasn't going to be about wallpaper. Tarana's hello was serious and she hesitated for a bit before saying, 'Brené, you know your work affected me so deeply, but as a Black woman, I've sometimes had to feel like I have to contort myself to fit into some of your words. The core of it rings so true for me, but the application has been harder.' Brené replied, 'I'm so glad we're talking about this. It makes sense to me. Especially in terms of vulnerability. How do you take the armour off in a country where you're not physically or emotionally safe?' Long pause. 'That's why I'm calling,' said Tarana. 'What do you think about working together on a book about the Black experience with vulnerability and shame resilience?' There was no hesitation. Burke and Brown are the perfect pair to usher in this stark, potent collection of essays on Black shame and healing. Along with the anthology contributors, they create a space to recognise and process the trauma of white supremacy, a space to be vulnerable and affirm the fullness of Black love and Black life. © Tarana Burke, Brené Brown 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Brené Brown, Tarana Burke (Author), Bahni Turpin, Brené Brown, Jd Jackson, L Morgan Lee, Mirron Willis, Tarana Burke (Narrator)

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You Are Free: Stories

Danzy Senna's You Are Free is now available for the first time in audio! Each of these eight remarkable stories by Danzy Senna tightrope-walks tantalizingly, sometimes frighteningly, between defined states: life with and without mates and children, the familiar if constraining reference points provided by race, class, and gender. Tensions arise between a biracial couple when their son is admitted to the private school where they'd applied on a lark. A new mother hosts an old friend, still single, and discovers how each of them pities-and envies- the other. A young woman responds to an adoptee in search of her birth mother, knowing it is not she. Audiobook Table of Contents: Admission, read by Adenrele Ojo The Land of Beulah, read by January LaVoy Replacement Theory, read by Cassandra Campbell There, There, read by Bahni Turpin The Care of the Self, read by January LaVoy You Are Free, read by Cassandra Campbell Triptych, read by Adenrele Ojo What's the Matter with Helga and Dave?, read by Bahni Turpin

Danzy Senna (Author), Adenrele Ojo, Bahni Turpin, Cassandra Campbell, January Lavoy (Narrator)

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Yellow Crocus

Moments after Lisbeth is born, she’s taken from her mother and handed over to an enslaved wet nurse, Mattie, a young mother separated from her own infant son in order to care for her tiny charge. Thus begins an intense relationship that will shape both of their lives for decades to come. Though Lisbeth leads a life of privilege, she finds nothing but loneliness in the company of her overwhelmed mother and her distant, slave-owning father. As she grows older, Mattie becomes more like family to Lisbeth than her own kin and the girl’s visits to the slaves’ quarters—and their lively and loving community—bring them closer together than ever. But can two women in such disparate circumstances form a bond like theirs without consequence? This deeply moving tale of unlikely love traces the journey of these very different women as each searches for freedom and dignity.

Laila Ibrahim (Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

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Women Destroy Science Fiction!: Lightspeed Magazine Special Issue; The Stories

Women Destroy Science Fiction!, a special issue of Lightspeed magazine (winner of two Hugo Awards), is an all-science fiction extravaganza written-and edited-entirely by women. Guest-edited by longtime Lightspeed assistant editor Christie Yant, Women Destroy Science Fiction! contains eleven original science fiction short stories, four short-story reprints, a novella reprint, and for the first time ever, an array of flash-fiction stories. Stories by Charlie Jane Anders, Eleanor Arnason, Elizabeth Porter Birdsall, Tina Connolly, Katherine Crighton, Ellen Denham, Tananarive Due, Rhonda Eikamp, Amal El-Mohtar, Emily Fox, Maria Dahvana Headley, Cathy Humble, N. K. Jemisin, Marina J. Lostetter, Maureen F. McHugh, Maria Romasco Moore, Samantha Murray, K.C. Norton, Anaid Perez, Sarah Pinsker, Rhiannon Rasmussen, Holly Schofield, Effie Seiberg, Gabriella Stalker, James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), Vanessa Torline, Carrie Vaughn, and Kim Winternheimer. General editor of Lightspeed magazine: John Joseph Adams. Produced by Gabrielle de Cuir. "The reigning king of the anthology world."-Barnes&Noble.com, praise for John Joseph Adams

Christie Yant, Multiple Authors (Author), Bahni Turpin, Cassandra Campbell, Cassandra De Cuir, Gabrielle De Cuir, Grover Gardner, Harlan Ellison, Jamye Grant, John Allen Nelson, Jonathan L. Howard, Judy Young, Molly Underwood, Multiple Narrators, Stefan Rudnicki, Susan Hanfield (Narrator)

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Woman of the Ashes

The first in a trilogy about the last emperor of southern Mozambique by one of Africa's most important writers. Southern Mozambique, 1894. Sergeant Germano de Melo is posted to the village of Nkokolani to oversee the Portuguese conquest of territory claimed by Ngungunyane, the last of the leaders of the state of Gaza, the second-largest empire led by an African. Ngungunyane has raised an army to resist colonial rule and with his warriors is slowly approaching the border village. Desperate for help, Germano enlists Imani, a fifteen-year-old girl, to act as his interpreter. She belongs to the VaChopi tribe, one of the few who dared side with the Portuguese. But while one of her brothers fights for the Crown of Portugal, the other has chosen the African emperor. Standing astride two kingdoms, Imani is drawn to Germano, just as he is drawn to her. But she knows that in a country haunted by violence, the only way out for a woman is to go unnoticed, as if made of shadows or ashes. Alternating between the voices of Imani and Germano, Mia Couto's Woman of the Ashes combines vivid folkloric prose with extensive historical research to give a spellbinding and unsettling account of war-torn Mozambique at the end of the nineteenth century.

Mia Couto (Author), Bahni Turpin, Joel Richards (Narrator)

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Wings of Ebony

In this riveting, keenly emotional debut fantasy, a Black teen from Houston has her world upended when she learns about her godly ancestry and must save both the human and god worlds. Perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Tomi Adeyemi, and The Hunger Games! “Make a way out of no way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue's taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon—a hidden island of magic wielders. Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life. Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves. Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her ancestors’ power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the ground.

J. Elle (Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

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Wildflowers

Twenty-three dollars and eleven cents–that’s all that thirty-five-year-old Chloe Davis Michaels has to her name after she is driven from her home and career as a jet-setting Hollywood publicist, desperate to protect her unborn child from her crazed newlywed husband. She thought she had it all. Now Chloe seeks refuge in her Midwestern hometown to “get prayed up” by the women in her family. Chloe’s impromptu homecoming takes us into the world of eight African-American women who make up the Davis clan–three mothers and five daughters, including Chloe, who soon discovers that the secrets she’s been keeping about her own life don’t compare to the secrets the other women in her family have been hiding. As the bonds of family are tested, the women call upon their strong faith and spiritual teachings of deceased family matriarchs, MaMaw and Muh, in order to weather the storm. With rippling boldness and crackling prose, Wildflowers is a beautifully written novel that explores the richness and complexity of the love between mothers and daughters. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Lyah Beth LeFlore (Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

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Whiteout

Atlanta is blanketed with snow just before Christmas, but the warmth of young love just might melt the ice in this novel of interwoven narratives, Black joy, and cozy, sparkling romance—by the same unbeatable team of authors who wrote the New York Times bestseller Blackout! As the city grinds to a halt, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life. But will they be able to make it happen, in spite of the storm? No one is prepared for this whiteout. But then, we can’t always prepare for the magical moments that change everything. From the bestselling, award-winning, all-star authors who brought us Blackout—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—comes another novel of Black teen love, each relationship within as unique and sparkling as Southern snowflakes.

Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Dhonielle Clayton, Nic Stone, Nicola Yoon, Tiffany D Jackson, Tiffany D. Jackson (Author), Alaska Jackson, Bahni Turpin, Danielle Shemaiah, James Fouhey, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Kevin R. Free, Korey Jackson, Shayna Small (Narrator)

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When You Find Me

For fans of S. J. Watson and A. S. A. Harrison comes a chilling look at marriage and madness from a talented new voice in psychological suspense. Her husband is missing. Visiting her family's South Carolina estate, socialite Gray Godfrey wakes from a night out to an empty bed. Her husband, Paul, is gone, and a thrashing hangover has wiped her memory clean. At first, she's relieved for the break from her tumultuous marriage; perhaps Paul just needed some space. But when his car is found abandoned on the highway, Gray must face the truth: Paul is gone. And Gray may not want him found. Her life is unraveling. When a stranger named Annie calls claiming to know Paul's whereabouts, Gray reluctantly accepts her help. But this ally is not what she seems: soon Annie is sending frightening messages and revealing disturbing secrets only Gray could know. As Annie's threats escalate and Gray's grip on reality begins to slip, the life she thought she had and the dark truth she's been living begin to merge, leaving an unsettling question: What does Annie want? And what will she do to get it? A chilling look at marriage, madness, and the lives we think we lead, When You Find Me is a daring debut from a talented new voice in psychological suspense.

P. J. Vernon (Author), Amy Mcfadden, Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

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When the Ground Is Hard

Edgar Award nominee stuns in this heartrending tale set in a Swaziland boarding school where two girls of different castes bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre. Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders. But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. Then a boy goes missing on campus and Adele and Lottie must rely on each other to solve the mystery and maybe learn the true meaning of friendship.

Malla Nunn (Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

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When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down

Joan Morgan offers a provocative and powerful look into the life of the modern black woman: a complex world in which feminists often have not-so-clandestine affairs with the most sexist of men, where women who treasure their independence frequently prefer men who pick up the tab, where the deluge of babymothers and babyfathers reminds black women who long for marriage that traditional nuclear families are a reality for less than forty percent of the population, and where black women are forced to make sense of a world where truth is no longer black and white but subtle, intriguing shades of gray. Still fresh, funny, and irreverent, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost gives voice to the most intimate thoughts of the post-Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul generation.

Joan Morgan (Author), Bahni Turpin, Joy Bryant (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Bahni Turpin