Catherine Coleman Flowers is the founding director of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise. Michael Carson/The New Press hide caption

"One of the greatest gifts is to feel alive while you are alive," Katherine Standefer says. She writes about her experiences living with an implantable cardiac defibrillator in Lightning Flowers. Luke Parsons/Hachette Book Group hide caption

Chef Marcus Samuelsson's new book is called The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food. "Dressing has always been part of an African identity, but also a sad journey in American history," Samuelsson says. "As Black men, we had to dress up. ... If we didn't look in a certain way ... police officers [could] round us up — and it still happens." Angie Mosier/Little, Brown hide caption

A volunteer loads food into a cart at a mobile pantry in Detroit in April 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an uptick in the demand at food banks. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images hide caption

Rumaan Alam is also the author of the novels Rich and Pretty and That Kind of Mother. David A. Land/Harper Collins hide caption

Ethan Hawke plays abolitionist John Brown in The Good Lord Bird, a new Showtime series based on the novel by James McBride. Showtime hide caption

Voters cast ballots during early voting last month in Fairfax, Va. During the first presidential debate, President Trump would not commit to refraining from declaring victory until the election has been independently certified. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption