APR

16

12:00pm

WW24: George M. Johnson | SPECIAL | SESSION 1 | Steven L Mandeville-Gamble & BrandElsa Pereira, Hosts

By UCR Writers Week

George M Johnson, Award-Winning Black Non-Binary Writer, Author, and Executive Producer located in the LA area. New York Times Bestselling Young Adult memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue, Salute to Excellence Award by the National Association of Black Journalists – We Are Not Broken

Free book by George M. Johnson to the first 50 people at the in-person reading.

(Choose from All Boys Aren't Blue or We Are Not Broken)

LIVE in Interdisciplinary South (INTS) 1128 

Register for Virtual attendance https://www.crowdcast.io/c/zo06t9aribrm

ALL BOYS AREN'T BLUE

In a series of personal essays, a prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults. All Boys Aren't Blue is his debut. Speak with him on Twitter at @IamGMJohnson.

WE ARE NOT BROKEN

George M. Johnson, activist and bestselling author of All Boys Aren't Blue, returns with a striking memoir that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory. This is the vibrant story of George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul—four children raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early brushes with racism, memorable experiences at the family barbershop, and first loves and losses. And with Nanny at their center, they are never broken. George M. Johnson capture the unique experience of growing up as a Black boy in America, and their rich family stories—exploring themes of vulnerability, sacrifice, and culture—are interspersed with touching letters from the grandchildren to their beloved matriarch. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, this personal account is destined to become a modern classic of emerging adulthood.

…………………………………………………………………………….

Join us for the 47th annual UCR Writers Week Festival!

https://www.crowdcast.io/@ucr-writers-week

47th UCR Writers Week Festival is a Live/Hybrid Virtual Festival 

held virtually on Crowdcast, with some simultaneous LIVE events.

All Events are Free to Attend and All are Welcome!

Please check each event for forum details and join us on UCR Campus

for all the LIVE events held in Interdisciplinary South INTS 1128

See Kiosk for Parking information at Parking 1 on West Campus, off University.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
Department of Creative Writing hosts the annual festival

Writers Week is the longest-running, free literary event in California and features literary giants of our day alongside those at the start of promising careers. writersweek.ucr.edu

Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Director, Writers Week
Distinguished Professor

Tom Lutz
Publisher, Los Angeles Review of Books
Distinguished Professor 

Director, Writers Week

…………………………………………………………………………….

SPECIAL THANKS

The 47th Writers Week 2024 is made possible by support from UCR Department of English; UCR Department of Music; UCR Department of Sociology; UCR Department of Media and Cultural Studies; African Student Programs (ASP); UCR Department of Political Science;  UCR Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production; UCR Department of Religious Studies; Holstein Family and Community Chair In Religious Studies, Pr. Melissa Wilcox; Asian Pacific Student Programs; Poets & Writers; Associate Professor and Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair of Creative Writing and English, Pr. Alex Espinoza; UCR  Center for Ideas and Society; California Center for Native Nations; UCR LGBT Resource Center; Native American Student Programs (NASP), Joshua Gonzales, Director; Dr. Clifford Trafzer, Distinguished Professor of History and Rupert and Jeanette Henry Costo Chair in American Indian Affairs; UCR Library; College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Dean’s Office; the Ratliff Family Creative Writing Endowment Fund; our partner the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB), and is hosted by the UCR Department of Creative Writing.

…………………………………………………………………………….

Book purchases
Attendees may purchase books at live events from our own campus B & N bookstore (order online here). Cellar Door Books is our recommended local independent store. Be sure to stop by their page.

…………………………………………………………………………….

Information: writersweek@ucr.edu & allisonh@ucr.edu

• FB UCR Writers Week
• FB UCR Writers Resist
• IG @ucrwritersweek
• Twitter @ucrwritersweek
• Twitter #ucrwritersresist  

…………………………………………………………………………….

UCR Native Student Programs Directed UCR Land Acknowledgement 

https://nasp.ucr.edu
We at UCR would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water, and air: the Cahuilla [ka-wee-ahh], Tongva [tong-va], Luiseño [loo-say-ngo], and Serrano [se-ran-oh] peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present, and future. Today this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including UCR faculty, students, and staff, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. 

…………………………………………………………………………….

The Writers Week emblem, designed from the Agave americana ‘Marginata’ in our local flora, was created to demonstrate our support for initiatives that create a more sustainable campus, community, and state that includes indigenous plans on campus and region. We also support the work of the UCR Office of Sustainability, UCR Botanic Gardens and UCR R’Garden https://rgarden.ucr.edu