Last year something unusual landed in my in-box: a manuscript of poems by seventeen-year-old poet and activist Alora Young, who was then the Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States. Alora’s agent Lauren MacLeod assured me this wasn’t an ordinary poetry collection but something far more ambitious: an American epic about the nine+ generations of Black girls and women in Tennessee who made Alora’s life possible. It didn’t take long to fall under the spell of Alora’s words and wisdom. Using the tradition of poetry as history, WALKING GENTRY HOME: A Memoir of My Foremothers in Verse spans centuries to tell the stories of those who came before. Through archival research and personal interviews, Alora spins her family history into a book that reads like an update to, and expansion of, our national history. The book’s title refers to Gentry, Alora’s great-great grandmother, who wed at fourteen and walked home to her mother to leave an unhappy marriage. Through a remarkable mastery of language, meter, and storytelling, Alora introduces us to several girls and women who come to feel like beloved characters in a multi-generational novel. By the time I finished reading Walking Gentry Home, I knew Hogarth had to publish it. We closed the deal with Alora on the last day of her childhood—the next day she turned eighteen and could simultaneously celebrate her right to vote (denied to most of the women in the book) and becoming a published author. Today Alora is nineteen and entering her sophomore year at Swarthmore College. If you’re ever feeling down about the future of our country, spend a moment with Alora’s poetry. Her voice and vision will show you what we can expect from her and the other leaders of her generation. Please help me congratulate Alora on her “extraordinary” (Laurie Halse Anderson) and “lyrical” (Time) debut. Evette Dionne calls it “A masterpiece that beautifully captures the heartbreak that accompanies coming of age for Black girls becoming Black women.” PS — You might’ve heard Alora on NPR’s Morning Edition. If not, the link is in my bio. It will bring chills.