“THE WATERBEARERS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND TRUTHFUL BOOKS I’VE EVER READ. BONÉT TELLS THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY THROUGH THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AND BETWEEN BLACK MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. IT IS AS INTIMATE AND TENDER AS IT IS VAST AND STORMY. UNFORGETTABLE.”
— Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America
New York, NY
September 16, 2025 • 7:00 PM
The Strand
Los Angeles,
September 26, 2025 • 7:00 pm
Reparations Club
Austin
November 8th and 9th
Texas Book Festival
Miami
November 22–23
Miami Book Fair
Tulane University, New Orleans
March 12–15 2026
New Orleans Book Festival
Brooklyn, NY
March 2026
Brooklyn Museum
“SASHA BONÉT’S TALE IS A TALE OF EVOLUTION AND HOPE– A MOVING FORWARD WHILE LOOKING BACK AT GENERATIONS OF WOMEN WHO HAVE SOUGHT SOMETHING BETTER FOR THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILIES, AND ULTIMATELY, THE WORLDS THAT SOUGHT TO DEFINE THEM. I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO READ THIS STORY FOR A VERY LONG TIME.”
Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of White Girls
“SASHA BONÉT’S THE WATERBEARERS IS A BOLD NEW ENTRY IN THE CANON OF LITERATURE ABOUT BLACK MOTHERHOOD. WITH GREAT INTENTION AND BEAUTY, BONÉT EXPLORES WHAT IT MEANS TO CARE FOR OTHERS AND FOR ONESELF IN THE MATRIX OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER THAT POWERS AMERICAN CULTURE.”
Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie
“THE WATERBEARERS IS MAGNIFICENT IN ITS NIMBLE AGILITY. PEOPLE ARE ELEVATED TO WONDERS, IF THAT IS STILL POSSIBLE, AND SASHA BONÉT DANCES ON OUR HEARTS IN THIS CLASSIC CREATION OF WILL AND WIT. ELECTRIFYING...WOW. ”
— Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir
“AT ONCE PROPULSIVE AND TENDER, SASHA BONÉT’S THE WATERBEARERS IS AN EPIC LOVE SONG AND A REMARKABLE BALLAD OF GENERATIONS. BY THE END OF THIS BOOK, I KNEW I HELD IN MY HANDS ON A NEW AMERICAN CLASSIC, AND THAT I WOULD NEVER FORGET THIS FAMILY, WHOSE STORY IS THE STORY OF AMERICA, AND THAT THE WOMEN IN THESE PAGES HAD FOREVER DEEPENED MY UNDERSTANDING OF MOTHERHOOD, HISTORY, HOMECOMING, AND THE REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF LOVE.”
— Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams
photo by Deirdre Lewis
Sasha Bonét is a writer, critic, and editor living in New York City.
Sasha’s debut book The Waterbearers is a sweeping intergenerational memoir and cultural history on Black matriarchy in America. Forthcoming from Alfred A. Knopf September 16, 2025.
More about Sasha
“THE WATERBEARERS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND TRUTHFUL BOOKS I’VE EVER READ. BONÉT TELLS THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY THROUGH THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AND BETWEEN BLACK MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. IT IS AS INTIMATE AND TENDER AS IT IS VAST AND STORMY. UNFORGETTABLE.”
— Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America
New York, NY
September 16, 2025 • 7:00 PM
The Strand
Los Angeles,
September 26, 2025 • 7:00 pm
Reparations Club
Austin
November 8th and 9th
Texas Book Festival
Miami
November 22–23
Miami Book Fair
Tulane University, New Orleans
March 12–15 2026
New Orleans Book Festival
Brooklyn, NY
March 2026
Brooklyn Museum
“THE WATERBEARERS IS MAGNIFICENT IN ITS NIMBLE AGILITY. PEOPLE ARE ELEVATED TO WONDERS, IF THAT IS STILL POSSIBLE, AND SASHA BONÉT DANCES ON OUR HEARTS IN THIS CLASSIC CREATION OF WILL AND WIT. ELECTRIFYING...WOW. ”
— Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir
“SASHA BONÉT’S THE WATERBEARERS IS A BOLD NEW ENTRY IN THE CANON OF LITERATURE ABOUT BLACK MOTHERHOOD. WITH GREAT INTENTION AND BEAUTY, BONÉT EXPLORES WHAT IT MEANS TO CARE FOR OTHERS AND FOR ONESELF IN THE MATRIX OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER THAT POWERS AMERICAN CULTURE.”
Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie
“SASHA BONÉT’S TALE IS A TALE OF EVOLUTION AND HOPE– A MOVING FORWARD WHILE LOOKING BACK AT GENERATIONS OF WOMEN WHO HAVE SOUGHT SOMETHING BETTER FOR THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILIES, AND ULTIMATELY, THE WORLDS THAT SOUGHT TO DEFINE THEM. I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO READ THIS STORY FOR A VERY LONG TIME.”
— Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of White Girls
“AT ONCE PROPULSIVE AND TENDER, SASHA BONÉT’S THE WATERBEARERS IS AN EPIC LOVE SONG AND A REMARKABLE BALLAD OF GENERATIONS. BY THE END OF THIS BOOK, I KNEW I HELD IN MY HANDS ON A NEW AMERICAN CLASSIC, AND THAT I WOULD NEVER FORGET THIS FAMILY, WHOSE STORY IS THE STORY OF AMERICA, AND THAT THE WOMEN IN THESE PAGES HAD FOREVER DEEPENED MY UNDERSTANDING OF MOTHERHOOD, HISTORY, HOMECOMING, AND THE REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF LOVE.”
— Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams
Sasha Bonét is a writer, critic, and editor living in New York City.
Sasha’s debut book The Waterbearers is a sweeping intergenerational memoir and cultural history on Black matriarchy in America. Forthcoming from Alfred A. Knopf September 16, 2025.
More about Sasha
Sasha Bonét is a writer, critic, and editor living in New York City.
Sasha’s debut book The Waterbearers is a sweeping intergenerational memoir and cultural history on Black matriarchy in America. From Alfred A. Knopf September 16, 2025.
Design: Visual Intelligence
Sasha Bonét is a writer, critic, and editor living in New York City.
Sasha’s debut book The Waterbearers is a sweeping intergenerational memoir and cultural history on Black matriarchy in America. From Alfred A. Knopf September 16, 2025.
Design: Visual Intelligence