Amy Elias’s Book Selected for Hyperallergic’s Favorite Books of 2025 List

January 23, 2026 by

January 23, 2026

Denbo Center for Humanities & the Arts Director Amy Elias’s book, Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin (Duke UP, 2025) has been selected to appear on Hyperallergic’s favorite books of 2025 list!

Hyperallergic is an online arts magazine based in Brooklyn, New York. The publication was cited by the TED blog as one of “100 Websites You Should Know and Use” in 2007 and 2013, and in 2018, Nieman Reports noted that Hyperallergic rivaled print art journalism.

Speculative Light emerged from work done by Elias in collaboration with the Knoxville Museum of Art and the estate of Beauford Delaney, as well as the series of programs held at the Denbo Center featuring Delaney and his work. The Denbo Center is so thrilled that the book, which includes the work and collaboration of so many at UT and in the Knoxville arts community, is supporting the legacy of Beauford Delaney and his Knoxville origins.