from “Residual”

A woman in a floral dress and hat standing in a dilapidated building, looking out towards a doorway. The book cover features the title 'Residual' by Tisa Bryant.
Tisa Bryant | Residual  | Nightboat Books | April 2026 | 272 Pages

A page from a written presentation discussing themes of memory and intimacy after a mother's funeral, featuring a reflective narration and an image of a Black woman in a dressing gown at an ornate vanity.
A woman with an afro hairstyle looks thoughtfully into a round silver mirror at her vanity, dressed in a vibrant satin gown with floral patterns. She holds a brush, appearing deep in contemplation.
A digital collage exploring themes of inheritance, memory, and feminine elements, highlighting rich colors like brown, mauve, and violet.
A close-up of a Black woman's hand reaching towards a drawer on a dresser, with a focus on the fingers.
An abstract representation of several arms and hands, with tattoos, reaching towards a ghostly dresser drawer, surrounded by swirling mist and colors, symbolizing themes of ancestry and identity.
A poem reflecting on themes of motherhood, identity, and heritage, with imagery describing a Black woman's hand intertwined with memories of her mother's influence.
A poem exploring themes of identity, spirituality, and the complexities of existence, accompanied by expressive imagery of an entity resembling a spirit, with references to personal and collective memories.
A collage of various hands in different colors and positions, symbolizing intersectionality and identity, accompanied by poetic text reflecting themes of ancestry, memory, and self-expression.
A black and white image depicting a hand holding an ornate goblet against a cloudy background.
Tisa Bryant

Tisa Bryant is the author of Unexplained Presence, a collection of hybrid essays focused on the mythologies of Black presences in film, literature, and visual art, reissued from Wave Books in 2024. She is co-editor of the three-volume, cross-referenced literary journal The Encyclopedia Project and collaborated with Ernest Hardy on The Black Book, a series of visual mixtapes and love letters to Black people and Black culture, presented at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Bryant is an editor of hybrid writing for Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and editor for The Deep West Assembly, a monograph of recent works by filmmaker Cauleen Smith. Her writing has appeared in exhibition catalogs for the Studio Museum in Harlem, for artists Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Laylah Ali, Suné Woods, and Jaime Cortez, and in various anthologies and publications. She is Assistant Professor of English in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

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