Virtual Event: Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts

Update

This event has been rescheduled from February 8, 2022.

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes TRACEY MICHAE'L LEWIS-GIGGETTS—acclaimed author of eighteen books and host of the podcast HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae’l—for a discussion of her latest book, Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration. She will be joined in conversation by writer, lawyer, and entrepreneur MEENA HARRIS, founder of the groundbreaking Phenomenal brand and author of Ambitious Girl.

Contribute to Support Harvard Book Store

While payment is not required, we are suggesting a $5 contribution to support this author series, our staff, and the future of Harvard Book Store—a locally owned, independently run Cambridge institution. In addition, by purchasing a copy of Black Joy on harvard.com, you support indie bookselling and the writing community during this difficult time.

About Black Joy

When Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts wrote an essay on Black joy for The Washington Post, she had no idea just how deeply it would resonate. But the outpouring of responses affirmed her own lived experience: that Black joy is not just a weapon of resistance, it is a tool for resilience.

With this book, Tracey aims to gift her community with a collection of lyrical essays about the way joy has evolved, even in the midst of trauma, in her own life. Detailing these instances of joy in the context of Black culture allows us to recognize the power of Black joy as a resource to draw upon, and to challenge the one-note narratives of Black life as solely comprised of trauma and hardship.

Black Joy is a collection that will recharge you. It is the kind of book that is passed between friends and offers both challenge and comfort at the end of a long day. It is an answer for anyone who needs confirmation that they are not alone and a brave place to quiet their mind and heal their soul.

Praise for Black Joy

“Black Joy meditates, and really levitates, the Black sensory and the Black sensual to stratospheric heights. Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts wields curiosity like a scalpel, revealing shards of liberation and unexpected heterotopias while loving us ferociously.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy and Long Division

“Black Joy is a vulnerable declaration and embodied affirmation of Black love, Black liberation, and, of course, Blackity Black joy!” —Rachel Ricketts, activist & author of Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy

“Black Joy is a glorious gift to Black folks. Intimate, engrossing, and deeply resonant, Lewis-Giggetts' essays form a loving blueprint for healing and nourishing our minds and our spirits. An essential read for all of us who are trying to get free.” —Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies