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Sisters in Reading and The Literary Expo

Saturday night:

Went out to Upper Marlboro, MD, for the Sisters in Reading Book Club meeting. It was great! The ladies were hilarious and very down to earth. There were a lot of diverse opinions about my novel, and I loved the chance to talk about a lot of the different themes.

But damn Upper Marlboro was far, LOL.

Click here for pictures from the event.

***

Then on Sunday, I was on the panel for the Literary Expo that the Deltas from Federal City Alumnae Chapter sponsored. This is the event with none other than Nikki Giovanni. Although there were some bumps at the beginning that threatened to make my inner O-Ren Ishii come out, by the time I spoke, it was all good. :-)

Here are the pictures and here are my remarks:

I am Rashid Darden and my novel is LAZARUS, the story of Adrian Collins, a college sophomore who deals with issues of identity and sexuality while pursuing membership in a college fraternity – all while maintaining his first serious same-gender relationship.

Before I go further, I would like to thank the Federal City Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., for sponsoring the 2005 Literary Expo. Both independent and traditional authors rely on such events to promote literature to our communities, so thank you for creating a forum that showcases our talents.

I would also like to thank all of the other authors here today for being not only my inspiration, but the inspiration of their colleagues and countless aspiring authors out there.

I wrote LAZARUS because I wanted to create art that serves as a vehicle for discussion as well as social change. I follow in the footsteps of other pioneering gay black authors such as James Baldwin, Bruce Nugent, Samuel Delaney, E. Lynn Harris, and James Earl Hardy. You will find my writing to be the next logical step in the evolution of gay black writers. Like my predecessors, I am unafraid to force the issues. Same gender loving black men and women are here, have always been here, and will always be here. We have stories to be told and taboos to continue to break. The first taboo on my checklist was the notion of gay men in college fraternities.

LAZARUS starts at the beginning of Adrian’s Sophomore year. He is emotionally distant from his mother and has an absentee father. His only family is his best friend Nina. Though he is quite active on campus, he still feels alone until he meets the man who becomes his first serious boyfriend. Savion is two years older, a senior, and a poet – everything that Adrian could ask for.

Life becomes complicated when Adrian pledges a fraternity. He inevitably gets pulled in two different directions: keeping his boyfriend happy while following the orders of his big brothers. If Adrian is outed during the process, he will have to choose between the great loves of his life: his man or his brothers.

LAZARUS is a novel that has resonated with those who are members of black fraternities and sororities as well as those who aspire to be. It has touched gay men and woman who are members of our organizations as well as those who are heterosexual but just had no idea.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this story with you. Please come talk to me after the expo to discuss independent publishing or any of the issues I raise through LAZARUS.

Thank you!

Special thanks to my mom, stepfather, grandma, Cylia, Storme, Michael-Christopher, and Nikki for showing up and supporting!

Posted by Rashid on November 21, 2005 4:56 PM

Comments

Commented by Frederick Smith on November 22, 2005 2:46 PM

Commented by Fratman1906 on November 22, 2005 5:55 PM

Commented by N4R on November 23, 2005 1:53 AM

Commented by ashon on November 26, 2005 10:13 AM

Commented by Faraji on November 27, 2005 12:34 AM

Commented by Diddy Really? on November 28, 2005 11:12 AM

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