Brother Epistles
On a Philadelphia street in 1992, Shanda McManus’s brother Monir was killed in a drive-by shooting. Three decades later, still haunted by his murder, McManus traces her brother’s life through their upbringing in North Philadelphia, Monir’s teen fatherhood and stint in the U.S. Army to support his young sons, and finally, his participation in the drug trade. In Brother Epistles, a series of intimate letters, McManus writes as both sister and physician, blending social commentary, memory, and collective history to lament the fragility of Monir’s life while demanding an American reckoning for the socioeconomic structures responsible for so many young Black men dying through homicide. A heartbreaking conversation between a sister and her brother, leavened with humor, family love, and unconquerable Black joy, Brother Epistles is a powerful meditation on Black identity, the criminalization of Black boys, and the devastating ripple effects of a tragic loss on the loved ones left behind.
ISBN: 978-1-952897-51-1
162pg
Forthcoming on June 23, 2026
Shanda McManus, born and raised in Philadelphia, earned her B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.D. from Thomas Jefferson Medical College. Her writing has appeared in Intima Journal of Narrative Medicine, Midnight & Indigo, Bellevue Literary Review, and swamp pink. In 2021, Shanda was named a PEN America Emerging Voices fellow in Creative Nonfiction, and in 2023, she was a fellow at Baldwin For The Arts. Shanda has practiced family medicine for over 20 years and is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, where she teaches Narrative Medicine.