National Book Foundation Presents:

Reckoning with Resistance

National Book Award Longlisters Hanif Abdurraqib (Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest, Nonfiction) and Camonghne Felix (Build Yourself a Boat, Poetry) discuss what resistance means to them—in their own writing, in contemporary literature, and in 2020. Moderated by Dr. Eve L. Ewing, sociologist of education and author of 1919 and Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side.

About the Authors:

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from the east side of Columbus, Ohio. His latest books are Go Ahead In The Rain and A Fortune For Your Disaster.

Camonghne Felix, M.A. is a poet, a writer, speaker, and political strategist. She received an M.A. in Arts Politics from NYU, an MFA from Bard College, and has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, and Poets House. Her first full-length collection of poems, Build Yourself a Boat (Haymarket Books), was longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Awards. Her debut was also a 2017 University of Wisconsin Press Brittingham and Pollak Prize finalist and a 2017 Fordham University Poets Out Loud semi-finalist. Camonghne was the Director of Surrogates & Strategic Communications at Elizabeth Warren for President, and is now the VP of Strategic Communications at the agency Blue State.

About the Moderator:

Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a sociologist of education and a writer from Chicago. She is the author, most recently, of the poetry collection 1919 and the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side. Her first book, the poetry collection Electric Arches, received awards from the American Library Association and the Poetry Society of America and was named one of the year's best books by NPR and the Chicago Tribune. She is the co-author (with Nate Marshall) of the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. She also currently writes the Champions series for Marvel Comics and previously wrote the acclaimed Ironheart series, as well as other projects. Ewing is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and many other venues.

About the Introducer:

Natalie Green is the Public Programs Manager at the National Book Foundation. Before joining the Foundation, Natalie was the Manager of Los Angeles Programs at PEN America. She holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from UCLA where she managed Westwind, UCLA’s Journal of the Arts, and wrote and edited for The Daily Bruin.

Presented by the National Book Foundation

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Books available through local, indie book seller Charis Books & More

A Fortune for Your Disaster and Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib and Eve L. Ewing

Build Yourself a Boat by Camonghne Felix

Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side and Electric Arches by Dr. Eve L. Ewing