
Blues in Stereo
The Early Works of Langston Hughes
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $11.69
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Danez Smith
About this listen
Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Fall 2024 Poetry Books
From Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, a stunning collection of early works written from 1921-1927 and curated by award winning poet and National Book Award finalist, Danez Smith.
Before Langston Hughes and his literary prowess became synonymous with American poetry, he was a seventeen-year-old on a train to Mexico City, seeking funds to pursue his passion. His early poems, beloved verses like “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” were written without formal training, often on the back of napkins and envelopes, and were inspired by the sights and sounds of Black working-class people he encountered in his early life.
Blues in Stereo is a posthumous collection of these early works, in which we see Langston Hughes like we’ve never seen him before. In the intimate pages of his handwritten journals, you will travel with Hughes outside of Harlem as he ventures to the American South and Mexico, sails through the Caribbean, and becomes the only Harlem renaissance poet to visit Africa. He celebrates love as a tool of liberation in his poems and journal entries. His songs included showcase musicality of verse poetry. And the book even includes a play he co-wrote with Duke Ellington with a full score that experiments with rhythm and structure.
Blues in Stereo portrays a young man coming of age in a changing world. Moment by moment, a young, fresh-faced Hughes contends with matters beyond his years with raw talent. National Book Award nominated poet Danez Smith offers their insight and notes on themes, challenges, and obsessions that Hughes early work contains. Blues in Stereo foreshadows a master poet that will go on to define literature for centuries to come.
©2024 Danez Smith (P)2024 Legacy LitListeners also enjoyed...
-
Great African American Literary Voices
- By: Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and others
- Narrated by: Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and others
- Length: 10 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hear rare recordings from five of the most-respected African American poets reading their own works: Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"; Arna Bontemps, "Nocturne At Bethesda"; Countee Cullen, "Heritage"; Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Vacant Lot"; and Sonia Sanchez, "Black Magic".
-
-
Classic!!!
- By Blue on 04-25-12
By: Langston Hughes, and others
-
Three Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
- Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Countee Cullen
- By: Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Georgia Douglas Johnson
- Narrated by: Ron Butler, Robin Miles, Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The intellectual and cultural revival of African-American arts and politics in the 1920s and 1930s was centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. Here are poems from three major contributors to that rebirth: The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes, The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Copper Sun by Countee Cullen, delivered by three multiaward–winning narrators.
By: Langston Hughes, and others
-
Bluff
- Poems
- By: Danez Smith
- Narrated by: Danez Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith's powerful reckoning with their role and responsibility as a poet and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. This is a book of awakening out of violence, guilt, shame, and critical pessimism to wonder and imagine how we can strive toward a new existence in a world that seems to be dissolving into desolate futures.
-
-
Wow!
- By Andre on 10-28-24
By: Danez Smith
-
Not Without Laughter
- By: Langston Hughes
- Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This stirring coming-of-age tale unfolds in 1930s rural Kansas. A poignant portrait of African-American family life in the early twentieth century, it follows the story of young Sandy Rogers as he grows from a boy to a man. We meet Sandy's mother, Annjee, who works as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his strong-willed grandmother, Hager; Jimboy, Sandy's father, who travels the country looking for work; Aunt Tempy, the social climber; and Aunt Harriet, the blues singer who has turned away from her faith.
-
-
Thank you Mr. Hughes!
- By ThatGuyHerb on 09-16-24
By: Langston Hughes
-
Speeches by Malcolm X - The Ultimate Collection
- By: Malcolm X
- Narrated by: Malcolm X
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Any kind of movement for freedom of Black people based solely within the confines of America is absolutely doomed to fail." Speeches and interviews of Malcolm X.
-
-
Confused and disappointed by this book
- By LuvJonz on 06-13-20
By: Malcolm X
-
The Fire Next Time
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Jesse L. Martin
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic, James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with this eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Time stands as one of the essential works of our literature.
-
-
Sad and moving and powerful and beautiful
- By Darwin8u on 09-17-15
By: James Baldwin
-
Great African American Literary Voices
- By: Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and others
- Narrated by: Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and others
- Length: 10 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hear rare recordings from five of the most-respected African American poets reading their own works: Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"; Arna Bontemps, "Nocturne At Bethesda"; Countee Cullen, "Heritage"; Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Vacant Lot"; and Sonia Sanchez, "Black Magic".
-
-
Classic!!!
- By Blue on 04-25-12
By: Langston Hughes, and others
-
Three Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
- Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Countee Cullen
- By: Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Georgia Douglas Johnson
- Narrated by: Ron Butler, Robin Miles, Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The intellectual and cultural revival of African-American arts and politics in the 1920s and 1930s was centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. Here are poems from three major contributors to that rebirth: The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes, The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Copper Sun by Countee Cullen, delivered by three multiaward–winning narrators.
By: Langston Hughes, and others
-
Bluff
- Poems
- By: Danez Smith
- Narrated by: Danez Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith's powerful reckoning with their role and responsibility as a poet and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. This is a book of awakening out of violence, guilt, shame, and critical pessimism to wonder and imagine how we can strive toward a new existence in a world that seems to be dissolving into desolate futures.
-
-
Wow!
- By Andre on 10-28-24
By: Danez Smith
-
Not Without Laughter
- By: Langston Hughes
- Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This stirring coming-of-age tale unfolds in 1930s rural Kansas. A poignant portrait of African-American family life in the early twentieth century, it follows the story of young Sandy Rogers as he grows from a boy to a man. We meet Sandy's mother, Annjee, who works as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his strong-willed grandmother, Hager; Jimboy, Sandy's father, who travels the country looking for work; Aunt Tempy, the social climber; and Aunt Harriet, the blues singer who has turned away from her faith.
-
-
Thank you Mr. Hughes!
- By ThatGuyHerb on 09-16-24
By: Langston Hughes
-
Speeches by Malcolm X - The Ultimate Collection
- By: Malcolm X
- Narrated by: Malcolm X
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Any kind of movement for freedom of Black people based solely within the confines of America is absolutely doomed to fail." Speeches and interviews of Malcolm X.
-
-
Confused and disappointed by this book
- By LuvJonz on 06-13-20
By: Malcolm X
-
The Fire Next Time
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Jesse L. Martin
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic, James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with this eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Time stands as one of the essential works of our literature.
-
-
Sad and moving and powerful and beautiful
- By Darwin8u on 09-17-15
By: James Baldwin
AMAZING!!!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.