Build Yourself a Boat

2019 National Book Award Longlist: "Centering on black, female identity, [this is] an exquisite and thoughtful collection." —Bustle

This is about what grows through the wreckage. This is an anthem of survival and a look at what might come after. A view of what floats and what, ultimately, sustains.


A finalist for the PEN Open Book Award, Build Yourself a Boat redefines the language of collective and individual trauma through lyric and memory.

"With Build Yourself a Boat, Camonghne Felix heralds a thrillingly new form of storytelling." —Morgan Parker, author of Magical Negro