logo

112 pages 3 hours read

The Fire This Time

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Key Figures

Jericho Brown

Poet Jericho Brown has received Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts, and Radcliffe Institute fellowships and is an associate professor at Emory University. His poem “The Tradition” begins the anthology. Brown connects fleeting flora with fallen black men such as Michael Brown in this sonnet. The sonnet appears in his poetry collection The Tradition. 

Jesmyn Ward

Two-time National Book Award-winner and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Jesmyn Ward conceived of The Fire This Time and edited the anthology. She is an associate professor of English at Tulane University. Her Introduction to the book describes its beginnings in her sorrow over the death of Trayvon Martin. Her personal connection to the work of James Baldwin informs her commitment to offer compassionate literature to others, as he did for her. Her essay “Cracking the Code” sees her coming to terms with her mixed genetic heritage and choosing to see it as a symbol of cultural unity. 

Kima Jones

Kima Jones wrote the anthology’s hybrid poem, “Homegoing, AD.” A poet and fiction writer and recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, PEN Center USA Emerging Voices, Kimbilo Fiction, and Yaddo’s Howard Moss Residency in Poetry, she blends genres to depict a family in the Southern swamp in this piece.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 112 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,600+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools