Hop top it! Award-winning author and MacArthur genius Kiese Laymon is paying a visit to the Kleinhans stage for the season finale of Just Buffalo Literary Center’s BABEL author series later today, April 25th.
Laymon, a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi, is the author of the award-winning memoir Heavy, the groundbreaking essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and the genre-defying novel Long Division. In his observant, often hilarious work, Laymon battles with the personal and the political: race and family, body and shame, poverty and place. His savage humor and clear-eyed perceptiveness have earned him comparisons to Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alice Walker, and Mark Twain.
Kiese Laymon, Writer, 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Houston, TX – Photo credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
“From the first moment that I read the jaw-stopping opening pages of Heavy, I knew that we had to bring Kiese Laymon to BABEL,” commented Barbara Cole, Executive & Artistic Director. “I’ve recommended this book—and especially the audiobook which is so moving to hear in Laymon’s own voice—to countless people. Laymon speaks to anyone who has ever felt the weight of family history or society’s expectations. Anyone who feels weighed down by the challenges of changing themselves or the larger world won’t want to miss Laymon’s powerful storytelling and insights.”
Laymon’s memoir Heavy won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, the Best Audiobook Award, and was named one of the Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. A personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable—an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family.
“Oh my god. Heavy is astonishing. Difficult. Intense. Layered. Wow. Just wow.” — Roxane Gay, author of Hunger.
This event—the season finale of BABEL—also coincides with Just Buffalo’s Civil Writes Project which seeks to shine the spotlight on Black writers, promote anti-racism, and open conversations about equity through literature..
Tickets, which also include a virtual link for the option to watch from home, are available to the general public for $40; $35 with library card; $10 with student ID. Patron VIP tickets, which include an author reception before the event, are $100.
Doors & VIP Patron Receptions at 7:00 p.m. | Events at 8:00 p.m.8:00 pm
Click here for additional information and tickets.
PLANNING ON WATCHING FROM HOME?
If you choose to watch from home instead of attending in-person, the virtual link will be sent to you from babel@justbuffalo.org.
You must be signed up for the Just Buffalo Newsletter in order to receive the virtual link. (To sign up, opt-in during the checkout process, or use the form in the footer of the website.)
Ticket purchases made after 3:45pm EDT on October 26 will not receive a livestream link. But don’t worry if you miss it—you will also be granted access to a password-protected event recording, which will be emailed to you within 48 hours of the event.
Click here to purchase VIRTUAL ONLY TICKETS
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