In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers was co-edited with Ras Baraka and proclaimed “a new black consciousness movement,” in response to the Black Power and Black Arts movements of the 1970s and 1980s. More than 50 writers contributed to the book including Elizabeth Alexander, Gordon Chambers, Tony Medina, and Willie Perdomo. His second book recognize was his first complete volume of poetry, published in 1995. In 1997, he followed with Keepin’ it Real: Post MTV Reflections on Race, Sex and Politics, his first solo full-length volume, a collection of essays. Powell’s 2000 Anthology, Step into A World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature is a collection of work by more than 100 writers. Entries included pieces from Malcolm Gladwell, Daphne Brooks, Erin Aubrey, Scott Poulson-Bryant, Junot Diaz, Christopher John Farley, John Keene, Victor D. La Valle, Phylis Alesia Perry, and Bernardine Evaristo. In 2002, he returned as editor for Who Shot Ya?: Three Decades of Hip Hop Photography. It was the first major pictorial history of hip-hop culture, featuring more than 200 photographs by Ernie Paniccioli. A series of essay and poetry collections followed: Who's Gonna Take The Weight? Manhood, Race, and Power in America also published in 2002; Someday We'll All Be Free in 2006; and No Sleep Till Brooklyn, New and Selected Poems in 2008. His 2008, The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life edited with contributions from Lasana Omar Hotep, Jeff Johnson, Byron Hurt, Dr. William Jelani Cobb, Ryan Mack, Kendrick B. Nathaniel, and Dr. Andre L. Brown and a foreword by Hill Harper, tackled issues related to political, practical, cultural, and spiritual matters, and ending violence against women and girls. In 2009, following the presidency of George W. Bush, Powell looked at America in the age of Barack Obama and questioned the long-term viability of a truly progressive, multicultural political coalition in his book of essays called, Open Letters to America. His next volume, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and the Ghost of Dr. King, addressed the news headlines and the concerns of the times from the killing of Trayvon Martin to the Occupy Wall Street protests, the Penn State sex scandal. Powell released a memoir, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood, in 2015. According to Kirkus Reviews, “The author’s story is powerful and unsparing. By the end, his narrative bears witness not only to the life