phati'tude Literary Magazine is a quarterly publication that publishes poetry, fiction and essays written by both emerging and established writers of diverse origins whose works exhibit social, political and cultural awareness. Published by the Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS) a NY-based nonprofit organization. Our Winter 2011 issue, "Celebrating Black History Through Literature: From the Harlem Renaissance to Today," features over 40 poets, including Rita Dove, Amiri Baraka, Tara Betts, Shonda Buchanan, David Henderson, Geoffrey Jacques, Yusef Komunyakaa, devorah major, Louis Reyes Rivera, Tony Medina, E. Ethelbert Miller, Lenard D. Moore, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Askia M. Toure, Quincy Troupe and others. Essays by Leah Creque-Harris, Andrew P. Jackson, Remica L. Bingham and Thabiti Lewis. Short stories by Jasmine Iona Brown, Yvonne Harriott, Almasi Hines and Stephanie Small. Interviews featuring Ishmael Reed, Harryette Mullen and Sharon Dennis Wyeth.

Inspired by the widely praised novel Three Days as the Crow Flies, Danny Simmons and Floyd Hughes present a richly illustrated graphic novel set in the gritty underworld of New York City circa 1985 -- a time and place when street culture and the fine arts scene came together in strange and often predatory ways. Crow, a junky and the son of a deceased police officer, steals a few paintings from his friend Danny, which he hopes to sell and make a few dollars off of to pay his landlord and cop some powder. Before he knows it, he's drawn into the surreal dreamland of "do-as-you-please," a hazy, hedonistic world of sex, drugs, and cold-blooded commerce. Filled with evocative black-and-white imagery and crackling with authentic, street-smart dialogue, Simmons and Hughes capture and bring to life this haunting urban tale.

This upbeat, one-of-a-kind collection brings the Def poets -- as featured in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show and popular HBO television program -- to life on the page. Among them: Suheir Hammad, Beau Sia, Steve Colman, Stacyann Chin, Mayda del Valle, Georgia Me, Poetri, and other well-established and up-and-coming Slam artists who have forever changed the face of poetry and offer a fresh, exuberant, insightful, and comedic look at who we are as Americans today.

Back in the day, sex, drugs, and Run-DMC ruled. New York City during the 1980s was a breeding ground for experimental artists, from Andy Warhol to Jean-Michel Basquiat to Madonna. Among them: Crow Shade, a drug-addicted hustler who manages to convince an A-list gallery owner that he is a "real" artist -- and has three stolen paintings to prove it. With a facility that surprises even himself, Crow successfully plays out the role of a downtown visionary, affording him with all of the money, dope, and women he could dream of. But how high can Crow fly before he's knocked down and dragged out? What are the boundaries between art and life? When does deception end and obsession begin? Written with an unerring ear for real-world conversational rhythms, Three Days as the Crow Flies keeps readers engaged, restless, and in awe of Crow's underground adventures through the now-legendary New York art world.