Black Voices Book Club

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs

The Black Voices Book Club discusses books written by Black writers.

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and other notable reviewers. This debut collection of interrelated stories features a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend their lives. At Banneker Terrace, longtime tenants describe their lives in intensely frank and unfiltered voices that testify to the multiplicity of their backstories and roots. Swan, in apartment 6B, comes to terms with the fact that his friend's release from prison jeopardizes the life he's been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing part-time at Roscoe's and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, in apartment 21J, is a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can't seem to escape the building's gravitational pull. We root for the tight-knit cast of characters as they weave in and out of one another's narratives, tensely awaiting the rent raises and eviction notices sure to come with the sale of their home to a property company looking for profit.

Sidik Fofana earned an MFA from New York University and works a public school teacher. You can listen to an interview with him on NPR.

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