Khalisa Rae

Khalisa Rae is a poet, queer rights activist, journalist, and educator in Durham, North Carolina, and a graduate of the Queens University MFA program. Her chapbook, Real Girls Have Real Problems, was published in 2012, and her recent work has been seen in PANK, Sundog Lit, Crab Fat, Damaged Goods Press, Red Room Poetry’s New Shoots poetry anthology, Glass Poetry, TERSE., Luna Luna, The Hellebore, Homology Lit, Dancing Bear Books: WOMXN Anthology, Tishman Review, and Obsidian, among others. She was a Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize finalist and a winner of the Fem Lit Magazine Contest, Voicemail Poetry Contest, White Stag Publishing Contest, and Bright Wings Poetry Contest. She is Managing Equity and Inclusion Editor of Carve Magazine and Consulting Poetry Editor for Kissing Dynamite. Unlearning Eden is forthcoming from White Stag Publishing in Summer 2021. She is currently the Writing Center Director at Shaw University and the newest writer for NBC-BLK and Black Girl Nerds.


All Books

Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat

Khalisa Rae

Publication Date: April 13, 2021

$16.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 9781597098854

Description:

What happens when a Midwestern girl migrates to a haunted Southern town, whose river is a graveyard, whose streets bear the names of Southern slave owners? How can she build a home where Confederate symbols strategically stand in the center of town? Can she sage the chilling truths of her ancestors? What will she do to cope with the traumatizing ghostliness of the present-day South?

Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat is a heart-wrenching reconciliation and confrontation of the living, breathing ghosts that awaken Black women each day. This debut poetry collection summons multiple hauntings—ghosts of matriarchs that came before, those that were slain, and those that continue to speak to us, but also those horrors women of color strive to put to rest. Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat examines the haunting feeling of facing past demons while grappling with sexism, racism, and bigotry. They are all present: ancestral ghosts, societal ghosts, and spiritual, internal hauntings. This book calls out for women to speak their truth in hopes of settling the ghosts or at least being at peace with them.

ADVANCE PRAISE

Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat pursues agency, selfhood, and disturbing meditations on inhumanity. These poems deliver truth and rage with the precision of a visionary heart and the rancid tears of a poisoned ghost.

This powerful collection bears witness to the fraught overlap between women’s bodies and minds. Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat reframes the black body politic as sacrament, benediction, delicacy, and tenderness.

These verses are timeless refrains sizzling on parched tongues. All praises for the testament of these poems that bring a full communion of blessed assurances to wise women daring oceans to erase our footprints and to wild girls chasing winds that steal the scent of herstory.”
—Jaki Shelton Green, author of I Want to Undie You

News

Kristen Millares Young & Khalisa Rae featured in PANK Magazine’s latest issue with new pieces!

PANK Magazine’s just released their 16th issue, which includes a Non Fiction piece titled Fathers Day written by Kristen Millares Young and poetry by Khalisa Rae titled Livestock. Kristen Millares Young is the author of the novel Subduction, a Paris Review staff pick and a finalist for two International Latino Book Awards (best novel and best first novel). Khalisa Rae is […]

Khalisa Rae featured on Lit Hub!

The Southern writing tradition has always been the fertile ground for fire. Dry weeds exist, yet the soil is rich. For me, the South is a living, breathing thing: a ghost, a bay window, a river’s edge, a magnolia tree, a stained-glass hymn. Read the full piece here!

Khalisa Rae featured in The Chronicle!

On April 17 at the Hayti Heritage Center, seven slam poets competed for a coveted spot on the 2021 Bull City Slam Team. These poets are a part of the 16 year legacy of the “Triangle’s longest running poetry event” — the Jambalaya Soul Slam. Since 2005, poets have competed monthly. 12 slam poets, 18 years […]

GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT on list of “Best Southern Books of April 2021”

There are so many wonderful books coming out this month we just want to rave about them all! Since April is National Poetry Month, we included three poetry collections by Tiana Nobile, Khalisa Rae, and Kendra DeColo, and they are absolutely worth celebrating any month of the year. We’ve also got essay collections and novels […]

GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT (Khalisa Rae) listed on Poetry Daily!

Wondering what new books have just been published? We seriously consider every book we receive, and we feature poems from many of the best and most interesting collections among them, but it would be impossible to feature every fine book. Browse every book we’ve received in the past six months here—plus the list of journals and […]

Khalisa Rae’s GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT featured in The Root!

How does trauma affect the way we live our day-to-day lives? Is inherited or intergenerational trauma more significant than a trauma—or traumas—experienced firsthand? There are perspectives and arguments to consider for each side: Dealing with inherited trauma is multilayered, convening in a complex web of emotions. Being exposed to or experiencing an immense trauma can […]

GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT by Khalisa Rae listed on WRAL

As a reader and native North Carolinian, I love finding books that are set in NC and/or written by fellow NC folks. Since becoming a bookseller, I’ve been astounded by just how many Carolina authors there are to celebrate and promote! When I started compiling my list for 2021, I quickly discovered that I would […]

Khalisa Rae’s GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT is featured on The Rumpus!

It’s no secret that at The Rumpus, we love us some poetry, which makes April one of our favorite months of the year! And, just in case sharing thirty thrilling new poems with you each day throughout the month isn’t quite enough (can there be such a thing as too much poetry?), we’ve asked our editors to share […]

Read Poetry features GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT by Khalisa Rae!

It’s a new month, a new season, and now it’s time for new poetry collections. April promises gorgeous and pivotal collections that explore everything from trans identity to Black womanhood. Discover Read Poetry’s recommendations for timely, fresh collections to read next. Read the list here!

Khalisa Rae featured on Autostraddle: “Queering Faith”

Welcome to Autostraddle’s 2021 Black History Month essay series. In their recent stirring multi-media anthology Black Futures, Black queer creators Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew ask, “What does it mean to be Black and alive?” And so, this Black History Month, Autostraddle is reaching past, and pushing forward, to explore realities beyond (the pain of) what we have inherited. Read the full […]

Khalisa Rae is featured on NBC News!

This year welcomes a slate of Black authors who will publish young adult fiction ranging in subject matter, but sharing one common goal: to expand what it means to see Black teen girls as full, whole characters. Read the full piece here!

Khalisa Rae interviewed on PopSugar!

Self-care has never been more important than it is right now, and that’s especially true for Black women, who have had to juggle work, family, personal lives, and more amid ongoing racial trauma while also living in a pandemic. According to women’s rights organization LeanIn.org, Black women have faced an even greater burden and were more susceptible to […]

Reviews

EcoTheo Collective reviews Khalisa Rae’s GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT!

The American ghost, in Khalisa Rae’s narrative, is a chimera—a multi formed, multi-faceted reflection and mirror of society, of survival, and suspense, of waiting to see what the future will unfold as the collective holds its breath, hoping for that cathartic release.  Rae shows an incredible attention to form and design, her work structured around […]

GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT by Khalisa Rae reviewed in The Rumpus!

I was new to the seventh grade when Ms. Rossi routinely refused to acknowledge me. Though my hand stabbed the air in response to questions she posed, Ms. Rossi never called my name. “What d’ya think, Hillary?” or “Rebecca, you give it a go!” Each time Ms. Rossi’s eyes roamed over my hovering wicker-brown arm and landed on […]

GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT by Khalisa Rae reviewed in Marías at Sampaguitas!

Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat, published in April 2021 by Red Hen Press, is poet Khalisa Rae’s debut collection, following her 2012 chapbook, Real Girls Have Real Problems. Rae is a poet, queer rights activist, journalist, and educator in Durham, North Carolina, and a graduate of the Queens University MFA program. She is Managing […]

[PANK] reviews GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT!

Khalisa Rae’s Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat is like a newborn scream that’s been held in for eons. Sharp, strong, unapologetic, beautiful, and angry, the writing in this collection is a celebration of language and rhythm, and the words on the page run like the blood from a wound caused by racism. Click here to read […]

NewPages reviews GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT!

Guest Post by Lannie Stabile. A Black girl can be a dog, a rat, a gadget, a myth, a ghost, a mermaid, origami, or livestock. A Black girl can be a scavenger, a caged bird metaphor, a “perfect little alien,” or unwelcomed roots. A Black girl can be a black cloud, but she cannot be […]

The Culture Commentator reviews GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT!

What happens when a Midwestern girl migrates to a haunted Southern town, whose river is a graveyard, whose streets bear the names of Southern slave owners? How can she build a home where Confederate symbols strategically stand in the center of town? Can she sage the chilling truths of her ancestors? What will she do […]

Publishers Weekly reviews Khalisa Rae’s GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT!

Rae considers the intersection of history and modernity in the American South in her provocative debut. “The South will birth a new kind of haunting in your black girl-ness,” she warns the reader. These works range widely in form, including traditional lyric poems, list poems, lyric fragments, and found forms, such as the guidebook. As […]

GHOST IN A BLACK GIRL’S THROAT reviewed by Yes Poetry!

One facet in poetry’s beauty is its urgency. Its collective need–which is beyond desire–to facilitate a process that weaves its spill and story. Urgency is one of the driving forces in poems that grab us and enchant us. Click here to read more!