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Prince Shakur & Quartez Harris in Conversation

Celebrating James Baldwin at 100

Join us for this engaging conversation between two of Ohio's celebrated authors and poets, Prince Shakur and Quartez Harris, in honor of the 100th anniversary of James Baldwin's birth.

We're celebrating the life, work, and legacy of the iconic writer, activist, and thinker James Baldwin as we commemorate his 100th birthday, which would have been August 2, 2024. Prince Shakur and Quartez Harris have both been profoundly impacted by the life and work of James Baldwin. Join us for this engaging conversation between two of Ohio's celebrated authors and poets in honor of the 100th anniversary of James Baldwin's birth.

Prince and Quartez will be signing books following their conversation. Thank you to Gramercy Books for partnering with us and making onsite books available for purchase. Purchase your books ahead of the program, 10% of online book sales through Gramercy's Centennial Author Series page will be donated to the Bexley Community Author Series Fund at the Bexley Community Foundation. 

About the Authors:

Prince Shakur is a queer, Jamaican-American author, journalist, videomaker, and activist recognized by the NY Times. He has written op-eds in Teen Vogue, features on the impacts of policing, and cultural essays exploring black icons like Bob Marley and Huey Newton. In 2017, his video series "Two Woke Minds" won the Rising Star Grant from GLAAD. As an organizer, he brought Black Lives Matter to his university campus, supported the migrant caravan, and served as a lead organizer with the Black Queer and Intersectional Collective in Columbus, OH. Prince also co-wrote, produced, and acted in an upcoming short film about two childhood friends facing their past before a significant event.

His work, whether literary, visual, or grassroots, is steeped in his commitment to black liberation, prison abolition, and queer resilience.

His debut memoir, WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO BE GOOD, charts his political coming of age, and has been hailed as a “scorching, nonlinear journey through a Black man’s search for self” by Kirkus Reviews.

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Residing in Cleveland, Ohio, Quartez Harris was once a second-grade teacher in Cleveland Public City Schools. Harris was the Ohio Poetry Association's 2021 Poet of the Year. Harris is the author of We Made It To School Alive, a full-length collection of poems published by Twelve Arts Press, and Nothing, But Skin, a poetry collection published in 2014 by Writing Knights Press. He is the first recipient of the Barbara Smith Writer-In-Resident at Twelve Literary Arts and a 2020 Baldwin House Fellow. His poetry and ideas have been featured in The Plain Dealer, Ideastream, and City Club of Cleveland. Harris is represented by McKinnon Literary Agency and his upcoming book, Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer - a picture book biography for young readers that explores Baldwin's youth and what drove him to be a writer, is due out in early 2025.

Registration required. Join us in person, or live stream this program on BPL's YouTube channel.

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