Boston Book Festival: Memoir: Finding Your Way as a Black Person in a White World

About this event

Join three writers as they discuss their different, difficult, and fascinating paths. As one of the few Black women to obtain a PhD in physics in the United States, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein encountered more than a few bumps on the road to becoming a cosmologist. Her memoir, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, is described in a starred review in Publishers Weekly as “a resonant paean to the beauties of the cosmos and a persuasive appeal for solutions to injustices in science.” Brian Broometells a raw coming-of-age story in Punch Me Up to the Gods. Described in numerous glowing reviews as “electrifying,” “staggering,” and “brilliant,” it creatively employs Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool” as a framing device. Kim McLarin, in James Baldwin’s Another Country Bookmarked, uses the themes of Baldwin’s novel to mirror her own experiences with life, love, and creativity. As Shelf Awareness writes in its starred review, McLarin “seamlessly traverses the boundaries of literary criticism, personal essay and cultural critique.” Kelley Chunn, principal of cause marketing firm Kelley Chunn & Associates, will lead the conversation. Sponsored by Arbella Insurance Foundation.