Chef, educator, activist, and SFA Trendspotter Bryant Terry is launching a new imprint, 4 Color Books, along with Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House. 4 Color Books will collaborate with forward-thinking BIPOC chefs, writers, artists, activists, and innovators to craft visually-focused nonfiction books that inspire readers and promote a more healthy, just, and sustainable world for all.
As editor-in-chief, Terry will acquire and edit two to three titles per year on a variety of lifestyle topics to include food, art, culture, wellness, and self-care, collaborating with Kelly Snowden, Ten Speed’s editorial director, acquiring titles in food, beverage, and wellness areas.
“Bryant has a keen eye for talent, a gift for gathering people together to make magic, and a genius for connecting the threads of food, memory, art, song and history, bringing people to the cultural conversation in a meaningful way,” said Snowden, in a statement. “He gives so much to every step of the book-making process, and I’m beyond excited to work with him as he curates what will be a singular roster of authors, designers, photographers, stylists and others – and, of course, a one-of-a-kind lifestyle imprint.”
4 Color Books is inspired by Terry’s lifelong community-organizing work as well as his tenure as chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora, where public programming focuses on the intersection of food, art, culture, and the African Diaspora. Driven by a desire to diversify the book publishing industry, Terry will cultivate a community of BIPOC authors, designers, illustrators, and photographers, that will inject the imprint with a dynamic and necessary perspective.
“Books, whether my own or others, have been an incredibly important and transformative part of my life, helping to expand my mind and nourish my body,” said Terry, in a statement. “4 Color Books will amplify my ability to connect readers with new ideas, stories, and perspectives and to create captivating, inspiring, valuable books. I’m excited to realize my vision of a library that reflects the contribution of a diverse and inclusive creative community, and points the way to more mindfulness, health and equity in our individual lives and beyond.”
4 Color’s flagship publication will be Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora, curated and edited by Terry, coming in October 2021. Each chapter of Black Food illuminates a part of the Black experience, offering recipes, moving essays, arresting art from Black Panther Party creative director Emory Douglas and American artist Sarina Mantle, and design by the acclaimed George McCalman. The imprint’s first acquisition is the debut cookbook from Top Chef Junior finalist and teen chef sensation Rahanna Bisseret Martinez.
Related: Business Owner Launches Black Culinary Collective; Bon AppéSweet Wins The Empower Project.
Image: Random House/Ten Speed Press/4 Color Books