The 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival

On Saturday, April 24, 2021, Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research will host the 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival. This event will be held virtually to protect the safety of our community.

The #AntiracistBookfest is the first and only book festival that brings together, showcases, and celebrates the nation’s leading antiracist writers and helps to prepare the writers of tomorrow. Panels are topically organized with two authors and a moderator. There will also be workshops for writers facilitated by leading book editors and literary agents. The National Antiracist Book Festival is a ticketed event. All proceeds from ticket sales will go towards the work of the BU Center for Antiracist Research.

The 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival was originally scheduled for April 25, 2020, and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic to Saturday, April 24, 2021.

Accessibility: ASL interpreters will be available on a select panel each hour from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Media Contact: Event is by RSVP. Media members are required to RSVP. Please contact antiracistcenter@bu.edu

 

AUTHOR LINEUP

Pulitzer Prize finalist Albert Woodfox – Author of SOLITARY: A Biography

Co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter Alicia Garza – Author of THE PURPOSE OF POWER: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

NYU law professor Alina Das – Author of NO JUSTICE IN THE SHADOWS: How America Criminalizes Immigrants

New York Times bestselling author Anand Giridharadas – Author of WINNERS TAKE ALL: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

Celebrated novelist Angie Cruz – Author of DOMINICANA

#1 New York Times Bestselling author Brené Brown – Author of YOU ARE YOUR BEST THING: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience

New York Times bestselling author Brittney Cooper – Author of ELOQUENT RAGE: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

New York Times bestselling author Carole Lindstrom – Author of WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS

#1 New York Times bestselling author Celeste Ng – Author of LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE

New York Times bestselling author Chanel Miller – Author of KNOW MY NAME

New York Times bestselling author Charles King – Author of GOD OF THE UPPER AIR: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century

The Nation sports editor Dave Zirin – Author of PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF SPORTS IN THE UNITED STATES: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play

Award-winning George Washington University professor David J. Silverman – Author of THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving

National Book Award finalist David Treuer – Author of THE HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE: Native America from 1890 to the Present

National Book Award finalist Deesha Philyaw – Author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES

New York Times bestselling author Eddie S. Glaude Jr. – Author of BEGIN AGAIN: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

Nationally recognized social justice philanthropy expert Edgar Villanueva – Author of DECOLONIZING WEALTH: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance

New York Times bestselling author Emily Bazelon – Author of CHARGED: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration

Award-winning University of Minnesota professor Erika Lee – Author of AMERICA FOR AMERICANS: A History of Xenophobia in the United States

Award-winning Blogger and writer Feminista Jones – Author of RECLAIMING OUR SPACE: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets

New York Times bestselling author Heather C. McGhee – Author of THE SUM OF US: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

ESPN senior writer Howard Bryant – Author of FULL DISSIDENCE: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi – Author of STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar – Author of THIS IS WHAT AMERICA LOOKS LIKE: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman

PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award winner Imani Perry – Author of BREATHE: A Letter to my Sons

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson – Author of RED AT THE BONE

National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds – Author of STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Educators for Mumia coordinator and Baruch College professor Johanna Fernández – Author of THE YOUNG LORDS: A Radical History

Poor People’s Campaign leader Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove – Author of REVOLUTION OF VALUES: Reclaiming Public Faith for the Common Good

National Book Award finalist Kali Fajardo-Anstine – Author of SABRINA & CORINA

Immigrant rights advocate Karen González – Author of THE GOD WHO SEES: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong

National Book Award finalist Karla Cornejo Villavicencio – Author of UNDOCUMENTED LIVES: The Untold Story of Mexican Migration.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor – Author of RACE FOR PROFIT: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership

Andrew Carnegie Medal Award winner Kiese Laymon – Author of HEAVY

New York Times bestselling author Kiley Reid – Author of SUCH A FUN AGE

Women’s March co-organizer Linda Sarsour – Author of WE ARE NOT HERE TO BE BYSTANDERS: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie Bunch — Author of A FOOL’S ERRAND

Provost’s Distinguished professor at Georgetown Marcia Chatelain – Author of FRANCHISE: The Golden Arches in Black America

Anchor of NPR’s Latino USA Maria Hinojosa – Author of ONCE I WAS YOU: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America

UC Irvine Professor of Law Mehrsa Baradaran – Author of THE COLOR OF MONEY: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

Award-winning editor and novelist Michael Zapata – Author of THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU

Award-winning blogger and writer Mikki Kendall – Author of HOOD FEMINISM: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

New York Times bestselling author Min Jin Lee – Author of PACHINKO

National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Mira Jacob – Author of GOOD TALK

Whiting Award winner Mitchell S. Jackson – Author of SURVIVAL MATH: Notes on an All-American Family

New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone – Author of DEAR JUSTYCE

Acclaimed political theorist Nicholas Buccola – Author of THE FIRE IS UPON US: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America

Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award finalist Noliwe Rooks – Author of CUTTING SCHOOL: The Segrenomics of American Education.

PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award Winner Paul Ortiz – Author of AN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINX HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

New York Times bestselling author Resmaa Menakem – Author of MY GRANDMOTHER’S HANDS: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize winner Rion Amilcar Scott – Author of THE WORLD DOESN’T REQUIRE YOU

Son of Baldwin creator Robert Jones Jr. – Author of SON OF BALDWIN: The Prophets

Kirkus Prize winner Saeed Jones – Author of HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES

Guild Literary Complex Prize winner Sahar Mustafah – Author of THE BEAUTY OF YOUR FACE

National Book Award winner Sarah Broom – Author of THE YELLOW HOUSE

Co-host of ABC’s The View Sunny Hostin – Author of I AM THESE TRUTHS: A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Living Between Worlds

Founder of #Metoo Tarana Burke – Author of YOU ARE YOUR BEST THING: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience

New York Times bestselling author Tiffany Jewell – Author of THIS BOOK IS ANTI-RACIST: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange – Author of THERE THERE

Carnegie Medal winner Valeria Luiselli – Author of LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE: A novel

Scholar-Activist and writer Yaba Blay – Author of ONE DROP: Shifting the Lens on Race

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Executive Director Zach Norris – Author of WE KEEP US SAFE: Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities

 

WRITERS’ WORKSHOP LINEUP

Editor, Little Brown Books for Young Readers – Alvina Ling

Literary Agent – Anjali Singh

Literary Agent – Ayesha Pande

Editor, One World, PRH – Chris Jackson

Editor, Beacon Press – Gayatri Patnaik

Editor, Kokila (PRH) – Namrata Tripathi

Literary Agent – Regina Brooks

Literary Agent – Tanya McKinnon

Editor, Amistad, HC – Tracy Sherrod

Vice President, Executive Editor, Little Brown – Vanessa Mobley

 

SCHEDULE (AUTHOR PANELS & WRITERS’ WORKSHOP)

9 a.m.

On Mothers & Daughters with Celeste Ng and Sarah Broom.

On Trauma with Resmaa Menakem and Albert Woodfox.

On Bringing People Together with Alicia Garza and Ilhan Omar.

On Knowing When You Have a Great Book Idea with Vanessa Mobley and and Gayatri Patnaik.

 

10 a.m.

On Mothers & Sons with Imani Perry and Kiese Laymon.

On Envisioning Anew with Lonnie Bunch and Rion Amilcar Scott.

On Memoir with Sunny Hostin and Maria Hinojosa.

On Developing a Successful Book Proposal with Anjali Singh and Regina Brooks.

 

11 a.m.

On a New America with Heather McGhee and Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

On Indigenous Peoples History with David Treuer and David Silverman.

On Immigrant Stories with Angie Cruz and Michael Zapata.

On Acquiring a Literary Agent with Ayesha Pande and Tanya McKinnon.

 

12 p.m.

On Love and Hate with Kiley Reid and Deesha Philyaw.

On Latinx Activism with Johanna Fernández and Paul Ortiz.

On Segregation with Noliwe Rooks and Mehrsa Baradaran.

On the Undocumented with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio and Valeria Luiselli

 

1 p.m.

On Sexual Violence with Chanel Miller and Kali Fajardo-Anstine.

On Immigration History with Alina Das and Erika Lee.

On Intellectual Warfare with Charles King and Nicholas Buccola.

On Securing a Children’s Book Contract with Namrata Tripathi and Alvina Ling (to be confirmed)

 

2 p.m.

On Decolonizing Wealth with Anand Giridharadas and Edgar Villanueva.

On Talking Race with Mira Jacob and Tiffany Jewell.

 

3 p.m.

On Islamophobia with Linda Sarsour and Sahar Mustafah.

On Racial Capitalism with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Marcia Chatelain.

On Race and Sport with Howard Bryant and David Zirin.

On the Making Of A Revolutionary Book with Chris Jackson and Tracy Sherrod.

 

4 p.m.

On Teaching Antiracism with Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.

On Mass Incarceration with Emily Bazelon and Zach Norris.

On Christ & Justice with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Karen González.

On Refuge with Tommy Orange and Robert Jones Jr.

 

5 p.m.

On the Politics of Love with Min Jin Lee and Jacqueline Woodson.

On Black Masculinity with Saeed Jones and Mitchell Jackson.

On Teaching Justice with Carole Lindstrom and Nic Stone.

On Shame Resilience with Tarana Burke, Brene Brown, and Yaba Blay.