HQ acquires 'groundbreaking' essay collection by Zora Neale Hurston

HQ has acquired a "groundbreaking" essay collection from the late Zora Neale Hurston, author of the classic Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Zoe Berville, commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays from Janice Suguitan at HarperCollins US. It will publish in hardback, audio and e-book in January 2022

Spanning more than 35 years of work, it is the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism and articles by Hurston. The collection showcases the evolution of her distinctive style as an author.

It is edited by Genevieve West and features an introduction from West and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. The publisher said: "This essential collection covers a panoply of topics including politics, race and gender, and folkloric study from the height of the Harlem Renaissance to the early years of the civil rights movement. Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer’s work, You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer’s development and a window into her world and time."

Berville said: "We are incredibly proud to continue publishing the work of Zora Neale Hurston. Bold, defiant, poetic and acutely analytical, this rich collection is essential reading and testament to the enduring legacy of one of the most revered writers of the 20th century."

HQ has published two previous titles from Hurston, Barracoon: The Story of the Last Slave and the short story collection, Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick.