From the day this was announced I was looking for the ARC. This is a collection that helps soothe the soul in these chaotic times. It reminds the reader that we have survived terrible cycles--without minamalising the real threats of today. It reminds us to slow down and protect ourselves and our communities. And Make Art--in whatever medium works for you.

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am gonna say really quick that I do think rating this is an injustice as there's no way to encapsulate my thoughts about this when it takes everything we see. Everything we hear. To make this kind of story. I'm just glad this exists. I feel like it is an important story to read especially in this current state of the world.

Beautiful. Moving. A thoughtfully curated collection of writing to help readers feel hope in dark times. Highly recommended.

Thank you very much to Atria and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Any collection of the best poets and thinkers is a collection worth reading. The book takes on the special task of responding to this current moment in American (and global) history and sharing the perspectives of the best writers to offer us a way forward. This is a must read book for anyone who understands that the way forward is one that will be led by creatives.

This is not just a book....it’s a lifeline. The People’s Project is a radical gathering of voices that offers solidarity, clarity, and strength in a time of overwhelming uncertainty.

Curated by Maggie Smith and Saeed Jones, two well known writers known for truth-telling, this anthology is part survival guide, part love letter, part manifesto. Twenty-six contributors, spanning poetry, memoir, essay, and visual art, each offer something essential: language for what hurts, frameworks for care, visions for the future. It doesn't pretend to have all the answers. It gives us a community of thought, feeling, and action.

This collection says: you’re not alone. It says: you still have agency. It says: there’s work to be done, and we can do it together.

Read it slowly. Share it widely.
#thepeoplesproject #atria #saeedjones #maggiesmith

The people's project curated by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith is an impactful anthology of poems, visual art and essays about the state of our nation and world. An excellent selection of authors which include Alexander Chee. Imani Perry, Hala Alyan, Alice Wong, Mira Jacob, Ashley C. Ford, Marlon James, Joy Harjo, ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, etc. The people's project is a short book that packs an emotional punch. 5% of the sales price of this book from September 9 and after, Proceeds will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU).
The people's project serves as a vital reminder of our country's enduring journey and a resonant call to action

"The beauty that comes out of that fight, the way our love for each other changes the world around us is real and glorious and unrelenting. It cannot be caged, tamed, erased, or lost. You are part of that tradition."-Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

"Let's all stay alive and celebrate on the other side. I know it might not be me. But we can try.'-Alexander Chee

"Let go of that which burdens you. Let go of any acts of unkindness or brutality."=Joy Harjo, former U.S. Poet Laureate

The People's Project offers both poetry and prose as a way "in" for readers to think about and discuss the state of our country at this time, and in an historical perspective. I look forward to recommending this book to reading groups as well as to graduate students.

I'm a liberal US college prof trying to figure out how to live my values in this scary moment. The People's Project is really inspiring and comforting at the same time. Lots of brilliant writers, all helping to articulate what this moment feels like and how we can prepare ourselves for the long fight. Short pieces that you can reread, like talismans. I'll probably do a book club with our Indivisible chapter.

Wow. This book could not have been more timely. This is a compilation of stories that reflect the contradiction of living through such horrors in this nation while still choosing to love the country deeply. I think this is powerful for anyone who has thought "is caring this much worth it" about the state of the nation. It is so difficult. But that doesn't mean the effort doesn't have weight. Thank you NetGalley for this early ARC

It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child. I would also say that it takes a village to be a human. "The People's Project: Poems, Essays and Art for Looking Forward" offers up that village through the presence of twenty-six writers whose words and images, thoughts and challenges chart a path forward in this time of great uncertainty for so many.

Facilitated by Maggie Smith and Saeed Jones, "The People's Project" is inspired by Jones and Smith's post-2024 election conversations. These were conversations guided by thoughts on what we can do, individually and collectively, to work toward being light when even the institutions shine darkness toward us.

I will confess that I initially struggled to get into the communal rhythm of "The People's Project." In fact, I was right around 50% in before I began to deeply resonate with the words, ideas, and energy vibrating throughout the pages. It wasn't that anything was necessarily wrong. If anything, it was, perhaps, a sense that I had become enveloped by my guardedness and I was struggling to embrace the safety within these words.

Then, I reached a piece offered by Jones. I released.

I reached a piece by Alice Wong. I released.

I reached another. Release.

Suddenly, I felt the light being put forth and really began to embrace this project so much so that even as I wound down my time with "The People's Project I began to read it again.

"The People's Project" isn't necessarily about any one thing. Instead, it draws wisdom and hope from different communities. The way forward isn't one thing. It's us. It's all us.

It's enlightened voices familiar and perhaps not as familiar here like Jones, Tiana Clark, Imani Perry, Ada Limon, Joy Harjo, Alice Wong, Jason Silverstein, Randall Man and a host of others.

A relatively quick read, "The People's Project" isn't so much a book to be read as it is a book to be experienced. It's a book you read. Then, it's a book you slowly read. Then, it's a book where you find those spaces where you resonate most deeply and you bathe in them. It's a book that makes you think and feel, release and move forward.

I'm reading this as children are being kidnapped from their parents and forced into detention centers. As the military industrial complex uses tax dollars to commit genocide. As the U.S. vs Skrmetti case rules trans people can't have access to healthcare.

I asked myself: <i>how can I look forward when I can barely imagine what tomorrow will look like?</i> But as soon as I had this thought, I realize that imperialism has won and I've become their pawn and submissive subject. Therefore, I think it was perfect timing that I received an ARC from NetGalley for this book.

It can be cliche or possibly even privileged to say that joy is what will win the revolution, but this collection of writing truly reminds me of the need to keep joy and love, especially in times of hopelessness. I have always felt motivated and inspired by Saeed Jones works, and was extra escatic to see Alice Wong, Danez Smith, and Chase Strangio also contributed pieces of writing. I cannot wait for this book to come out in print so I can recommend it to other loved ones and comrades in the fight for justice.

This slender volume packs a powerful punch. Far more than just a book, it serves as a balm for despair, a vital reminder of our country's enduring journey, a resonant call to action, and a truly beautiful testimony. The contributions within are both deeply personal and wonderfully crafted. My sincere thanks to NetGalley for the early copy, and immense kudos to the gifted poets, writers, and artists who contributed to this fine work – their beauty and insight are precisely what we need in these times.

A quick and inspiring read. Different pieces within the anthology touch on recent history and current realities. The week I read this advanced copy is the week the national guard was ordered on protestors in LA and the war between Iran and Israel continues to escalate. I pray that upon the publication of this book, we are in a quieter moment. Regardless, this is a quick and inspiring compilation that offers a beacon of hope in these trying times.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a complementary E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of short essays and poems are balm and a dose of courage for this scary road ahead. It’s something you can take what you need from, learn from, and come back to. Highly recommend.

"Let's all stay alive and celebrate on the other side." -Alexander Chee

This slim volume contains a surprising number of heavyweights in our cultural and literary landscape. As I read through it, I was awed not only by the contents but how they were arranged within the book. This anthology was obviously so lovingly crafted and curated. It feels like a sacred object, reads like a modern scripture.

There were several contributions that I had to stop and read aloud to whoever was next to me, and many more that brought tears to my eyes. There is hope in these pages, and a sense of community, and an honest vibe check for what it's like to be alive right now. This is the book we all need in 2025. I can see myself buying several copies as gifts for friends and family. This is a book I will return to again and again.

Thank you for this ARC! WOW!

This book is the perfect encapsulation of all the feelings I have about the world we are living in, and yet at the end I walked away feeling hopeful.

This anthology presents itself as “a community in book form.” A liberatory collection of twenty-six voices offering pathways for action and care amid ongoing political and social uncertainty. It’s a powerful and necessary vision, which I deeply respect. The very idea of bringing together such a range of contributors to collectively imagine and articulate care, survival, and resistance is vital in a world shaped by multiple forms of past and current violence that we face in all its forms: slow, structural, personal, sweeping, acute. The book's premise speaks to the urgent need for solidarity and collective imagination in this reality.

That said, I find myself sitting with a complicated response. As a reader, I struggled to fully connect with many of the contributions. While each piece was undoubtedly personal and shaped by lived experiences under oppressive systems, the anthology as a whole didn’t quite come together as the “community” it aspired to be. Rather than feeling held within a collective, I often felt like I was reading individual reflections that, while powerful, didn't always speak to or build on that vision.

I sometimes felt unsure of who the audience was meant to be. Many pieces appeared to emerge from a liberal perspective and seemed to assume a similarly liberal reader; as a result, they often stopped short of challenging the deeper structural foundations of the systems they critiqued. At times, this made the book feel more reformist than radical and more invested in recognition within the system than in imagining or organizing beyond it.

There were moments that felt somewhat underdeveloped, and I found myself wondering whether the contributors had the space or time to bring their most fully realized work to the page. It left me questioning whether the pieces reflect the full depth and insight these writers are clearly capable of, or if the urgency to publish something timely may have limited the work’s overall cohesion and impact.

I also feel a need to state my discomfort with the decision to donate 5% of proceeds to the ACLU. While the ACLU has done critical work on many social justice fronts, their recent institutional decisions, such as declining to support staff demands to divest from Israel and publicly condemn the role of the U.S. in the genocide of Palestinians (which they call a ‘war on Gaza’ (obscuring the extreme imbalance of power and erasing the cultural and national identity of the Palestinian people), raise questions about their role in upholding the very systems this book seeks to challenge. Choosing the ACLU as a beneficiary feels misaligned with the more liberatory intentions voiced by some of the contributors.

Overall, I appreciate what this book is aiming to do. I admire its ambition and its intention toward care, and I’m sure that many readers may find resonance within its pages. For me, however, it ultimately didn’t go as far as I hoped in naming or resisting the deep structural violence we are entangled in. I believe we need more from our liberatory visions, more clarity, more connection, more of the community the book promised, and perhaps this is one step toward that, but not the destination itself.

2.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Washington Square Press for the advanced copy for review. Opinions are my own.

This book felt like a balm for the times we are all living through. I appreciated the variety of voices, forms, genres, and stories. There was urgency, fear, brutal honesty, but also lots of hope. It was just what I needed.

I'm writing this review on a morning where the biggest news is that our president is about to attack a US State with their own National Guard. It's surreal. I've been reading The People's Project in between those spaces in time where I'm not checking in to see what's going down in Los Angeles. The poems and the essays have provided me with the deep breaths that I've needed to take and the reminder that we are not alone, that we can all stand strong if we stand together. I'm not going to go on and on about all of the big names in this book because, to me, that's not what it's about. It's about community and hope. It's about endurance. It's a statement that we will get through this together.
Chances are, when you stumble onto this book, the news of the day may be pretty insane. I recommend buying this book for yourself and keeping it somewhere easily accessible so that it's right there for you when you need to take your own deep breaths. Consider it a kindness to yourself.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was absolutely hypnotized. From Palestine, to COVID lockdown, to the Black Lives Matter movement-It covered it all. It wasn't afraid to speak out of turn, it was brutal and honest and RAW. To fight the system we need more youth reading books like these. People, in general, but especially the younger generation that are growing to know the current state of the world as the only way it's ever been. It's important that they see multiple view points and time periods, to know that we've fought this before and we will continue fighting.
5/5 damn stars.