As Cuba and the United States work to normalize relations, we feature a number of books on the island nation. Here’s a sampling: Queloides: Race and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art Edited by Alejandro de la Fuente and Elío Rodriguez Valdés   Grupo Antillano: The Art of Afro-Cuba Edited by Alejandro de la Fuente   The Cuban Embargo: The Domestic Politics of an American Foreign Policy Patrick Haney and Walt Vanderbush   The Cuban Economy Archibald Ritter  

Richard Blanco, the inaugural poet for President Obama, has written a special poem, Matters of the Sea / Cosas del Mar, and will read it during the ceremonial reopening of the United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba on August 14, 2015. The Embassy had been closed since 1961. Watch the MSNBC interview with Blanco discussing this historic event. University of Pittsburgh Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of Matters of the Sea / Cosas del Mar, a bilingual chapbook that beautifully reproduces poet Blanco’s stirring poem. The expected publication date is September 30, 2015. “Matters of the Sea is one of the most…