Biomythography Bayou

"A bountiful feast of a book. . . . The first thing you notice about Biomythography Bayou is its fecundity, its rich and generous voice. Yet not a word is wasted. Right from the start, you feel the presence of ancestors, their interwoven histories, and the effulgence of Lewis as a Black, queer woman with a complex heritage. . . . [An] effusive celebration of a book recommended to readers of all stripes, ages, and walks of life." (Washington Independent Review of Books) "In Biomythography Bayou, Mel Michelle Lewis renders a compelling literary gumbo with which to read across the mix of multiple theories of knowledge, including those found in autobiography, folk traditions, black feminist praxis, poetry, scholarship, nature, photography, and black queer studies. Beneath it all, the question emerges: where did the conversation around black futurity begin? In our mothers' mouths, in our ancestors' breath, in the demand between not what is but what is possible? Written in language both erudite and of the folk, Biomythography Bayou invites more expansive engagement with Saidiya Hartman's 'critical fabulations' and Toni Morrison's 'literary archaeology.'" - Alexis De Veaux (author of JesusDevil: The Parables) “Biomythography Bayou is a stunningly beautiful medicinal offering that I did not know I needed. The recipes, story-telling, poetry, and honoring of origin, memory, and ancestry are profoundly compelling. I could not put this book down. Take your time, savor, and surrender to the magic of Mel Michelle Lewis.” - gina Breedlove (author of The Vibration of Grace: Sound Healing Rituals for Liberation) “This innovative and tender manuscript is an absolute pleasure to read. Sensually Southern, fem(me)ininely curving, and rhythmically grounded, Biomythography Bayou is an everyday praise song to Black queer spirit and the landscapes that raise us.” - Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley (author of Ezili's Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders) “Biomythography Bayou is a beautiful assembly and chorus of experimental prose that evocatively explores kinship, a region, ecologies, Black queer longing, and politics. It is an elegant and spirit-filled work that summons and communes with ancestors and the living who continue to quilt a Black lesbian and queer writing tradition. Biomythography Bayou experiments with and bends form in ways that invite and inspire more innovation. This work is a stunning contribution to Black lesbian and queer southern and diasporic writing.” - Tiffany Lethabo King (author of The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies) “Lewis’ Biomythography Bayou is an explosive dance party of culture, identity, and word magic, and above all, it is a truth-telling serum. A balm for generations lost and those voices unheard, this is a project that celebrates, contests, and frames family and legacy in a decolonial context that breathes new life into the waterways and bayous of the Gulf Coast. From Louisiana to Baltimore, readers will be on a multi-dimensional journey to rootedness in land, healing, and cultural recovery. A powerful work that sits alongside a growing collection and chorus of voices, artists, and scholars reweaving Creole Indigenous, African Indigenous, and queer-Afro-Indigenous lifeways. A must-read!” - Andrew Jolivétte (author of Gumbo Circuitry: Poetic Routes, Gastronomic Legacies)