This Poison Heart is a young adult, fantasy novel about a 17-year-old girl, Briesis, who has the ability to control plants with her mind. In addition, she’s immune to poisons. What this means is not only does she have her black girl magic going for her, but she also has a pretty badass power that would make anyone pause.

This dearth of racial representation is clear every time a commercial fetishizes non-White bodies, every time a film layers a sepia wash over scenes of lovers south of the American border, and every time a billboard packages cultural appropriation of queer Black culture as “trendy.” We recognize the importance of queer representation, yet we can’t help but ask one another: “Was there no one of color in the room?” Too often, the answer is “No.”

What if I panic and let my anxiety take over and I shake things up in a desperate attempt to please her but my chaotic good turns to chaotic evil and tremors too violent pass through and everything we had falls through the cracks as our shared world splits back in twoTried to stop the hurt innumerable (∞) times but it keeps getting worse

Aliya Brooks picked up a pen and started her writing journey in her third year of nursing school. She felt the need to write and explore impactful Black characters.

Gender Justice LA published a groundbreaking report that highlights the serious health inequities impacting transmasculine people in Los Angeles County.