Who: Kimberly Drew, Jenna Wortham, Raquel Willis, Naima Green
What: Livestream Unbound discussion
Where: BAM / Greenlight Bookstore
When: Monday, December 7, $15 ($45-$50 with book), 7:00
Why: BAM’s ongoing literary program, “Unbound,” copresented with Greenlight Bookstore, goes virtual with the launch of Black Futures (Penguin Random House, $40). Edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, the book features contributions from Alicia Garza, Alexandra Bell, Hank Willis Thomas, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Zadie Smith, Dawoud Bey, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Kara Walker, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Amy Sherald with Kehinde Wiley, and dozens of other creators, divided into such chapters as “Power,” “Joy,” “Justice,” “Ownership,” and “Legacy.” In their introduction, Drew and Wortham explain, “‘The Black Futures Project’ started a few years ago as a Direct Message exchange on Twitter and has evolved into a shared desire to archive a moment. In developing Black Futures, we sought to answer the question: What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?” The book explores that idea through photography, essays, recipes, screenshots, poetry, memes, social media posts, paintings, song lyrics, and other prismatic text and imagery. You can hear an excerpt from the book here.
On December 7 at 7:00, writer, curator, influencer, and activist Drew and culture writer and Still Processing podcast host Wortham will be joined by transgender artist and activist Raquel Willis (whose “Welcome to the Trans Visibility Era” is included in Black Futures) and artist Naima Green (who contributed “Documenting the Nameplate” with Azikiwe Mohammed) to talk about the book, which is nonlinear and is meant to “provoke you, entice you, enrage you, spark joy, and call you to action.” Tickets are $15, or $45-$50 with a copy of the book, depending on whether you can pick it up in person or need it shipped; a portion of the ticket revenue will be split between BAM and the Campaign Against Hunger, a Brooklyn-based emergency food and community support organization that advances equity for the underserved, helping “build self-determination, engaging in grassroots activism, and investing in civic life,” which is needed now more than ever during the Covid-19 crisis.