About the Book
A short story collection featuring the unique lives and experiences of contemporary Black American Muslims in the Nation of Islam and Sunni Orthodox communities.In Temple Folk, author Aaliyah Bilal acquaints you with the complex and self-governing world of contemporary Black Muslims grappling with the convictions of their race, religion, economics, politics, sexuality, and gender in America. The ten stories in this collection contribute to the bounty of diverse narratives about Black life by intimately portraying the experiences of a community that resists the mainstream culture to which they are expected to accept and aspire to while functioning within the country in which they are born. In "Due North," an obedient daughter struggles to understand why she's haunted by the spirit of her recently deceased father. In "Who's Down?" a father, after a brief affair with vegetarianism, conspires with his daughter to order him a double cheeseburger. In "Candy for Hanif" a mother's routine trip to the store for her disabled son takes an unlikely turn when she reflects on a near-death experience. In "Woman in Niqab," a daughter's suspicion of her father's infidelity prompts her to wear her hair in public. In "New Mexico," a federal agent tasked with spying on a high-ranking member of the Nation of Islam grapples with his own responsibilities closer to home. With an unflinching eye for the contradictions between what these characters profess to believe and what they do, Temple Folk accomplishes the rare feat of presenting moral failures with compassion, nuance, and humor to remind us that while perfection is what many of us strive for, it's our errors that make us human.
About the Author :
Aaliyah Bilal was born and raised in Prince George's County, Maryland. She has degrees from Oberlin College and the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. She has published stories and essays with The Michigan Quarterly Review and The Rumpus. Temple Folk is her first short story collection.
Leon Nixon is a Los Angeles based voice actor who has narrated audiobook titles in a wide range of genres, including crime, mystery, science fiction, romance, and nonfiction. Classically trained as an actor and improviser, he can also be found performing on stage. Chante McCormick is a Los Angeles-based actress and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in speech from Northwestern University's famed theater department. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association. Soneela Nankani is the award-winning narrator of over 300 titles in many different genres, including young adult, fantasy, romance, sci-fi, and nonfiction. A recipient of AudioFile magazine's Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor, she has garnered sixteen Earphones awards as well as nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters. Amir Abdullah (he/him/his) is an actor, playwright, and audiobook narrator residing in Los Angeles. He has been seen on stage at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Geffen Playhouse, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, California Shakespeare Theatre, A Noise Within Theatre, and other theaters around the US. On screen, Amir most recently appeared on Chicago Med and on the last season of Empire and has been seen on other network shows and films. As a narrator, he is a four-time Golden Earphone Award winner and an ALSC Notable Children's Recording recipient. Most known for narrating the YA series Tristan Strong, he has lent his voice to dozens of other prolific authors' works such as Ibram X. Kendi, Kwame Mbalia, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Dubois, Eric Jerome Dickey, and more. You can hear him as the voice of Yasir in the videogame Abo Kashem and in the HP Lovecraft Society Radio Plays and as a regular on the Open Door Playhouse. He can be seen and heard in commercials for Ford, Adidas, Kaiser Permanente, and Facebook, as well as many others. As an actor Amir won Best Actor at the Movieville International Film Festival for his work in the film The Untimely Concurrence. Amir's playwriting debut, Pray to Ball, had its world premiere at Skylight Theatre Company in Los Angeles and won the Ovation Award for Best Set. He graduated with an MFA in acting from Pennsylvania State University and a BFA in acting from the University of Miami. Jade Wheeler is an actor of the screen, stage, and booth. She has recorded nonfiction, self-help, and educational material as well as fiction, fantasy, and YA.
Review :
"Put between faith and family, duty and self, Temple folk live through all the ties that bind and break."
-- "Marlon James, New York Times bestselling author"
"We have long needed these stories, these songs, and this gift should be praised from as many rooftops as possible."
-- "Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author"
