Black Punk Now is a collection of essays, interviews, comics, and excerpts of fiction that centre around the Black punk experience in the US and UK. In these mini works, musicians, critics, and fans explore music as expressions of identity, conflicting feelings about punk being perceived as a white genre and thus not being perceived as Black enough, and the legacy of creating punk music across family generations.

Each piece carries a sense of urgency and passion that can only come from a deep love of music that both saves and shapes you; I feel like I identified with the ethos of this book while reflecting upon my experience growing up as a kid who similarly found solace in the genre but also felt like an outsider because of my race. Highlights for me are the roundtable discussions with Christina Long, Shawna Shante, Scout Cartnega, Courtney Long, Shana Collins, Monika Estralla Negra, and Stephanie Phillips, who delve into both the hardship and payoff of organizing festivals and community work. Another favourite is a beautiful essay (I expected no less) by Hanif Abdurraqib, exploring the expectation of making art while persevering through grief.

After reading this over the course of a week, I think that it’s one you should buy and savour over a longer period of time. The mixing of genres and formats actually made the experience a bit of a drag in the middle, because I’d really be into an essay or comic, but then was plunged into a work of fiction immediately after and I had to readjust my mindset. What I’m saying is, this is a good excuse to buy the book, especially for punk lovers who want to either connect to relatable stories, or expand your understanding of the genre’s diverse and multi-layered impact.

Huge thanks to Soft Skull Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Black Punk Now is a mix tape-style anthology that reads like a beloved DIY zine. It amplifies the best things about punk music, from community to raising alienated voices to a subversiveness that still thwarts efforts to corporatize it.

A broad-ranging collection of fiction, nonfiction, comics, and interviews on what it is to be Black and punk from folks across the age and gender spectrum. Despite how different each piece is, there are major through-lines that reflect why this book is necessary: most authors felt like an outsider among outsiders or simply invisible. This book provides more than just personal experience from nonfiction, more than imagined stories from fiction, but also some real in-the-weeds how-to that speak directly to punk DIY.