All About My New Book!!

Behind the Book: BEHIND THE BOOK!

Yesterday, on social media, I revealed the cover of my new book: BE A REVOLUTION: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too. It’s such a beauty and I’m so excited.

But since so many of you have been here with me through the final stages of writing this book, I figured I’d give y’all the inside scoop! So here we go: all about my new book!

A picture of the cover of my upcoming book, Be A Revolution. Out in stores January 30,2024. Isn’t it beautiful?

This book was born from wanting to turn a place of frustration into a place of hope. The year is 2020 and - need I say more? Ok, I will say more. The year was 2020 and after tears of writing about the brutality of white supremacy, I was tired. Like, bone-marrow-deep tired. I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to break my heart open once again to write out all this pain only to hear people say, “Thanks for making me cry. Too bad there’s nothing little ole me can do about all this racism.”

I was done. And I believe I had announced as much to just about anybody who would hear me. I was not going to write another book like this for many years, if I could help it.

But then I decided that I didn’t want to go out like that. If I was going to take my long-fantasized about hiatus to write bad murder mysteries (it’s still happening folks) I wasn’t going to leave in such a place of pain. I wanted to write from a place of joy, I wanted to go out honoring the people who have gotten me - and so many others - through these years. And I wanted to write a book that would make it very difficult to say, “Too bad there’s nothing little ole me can do about all this racism.”

And so the idea for Be A Revolution was born. And for the next three years I spent countless hours with dozens of movement workers all across the country. In these pages you’ll find people working at the intersections of systemic racism and education, art, the environment, abolition, gender justice, business, disability justice and more. People doing amazing things in sometimes surprising places. People who are changing the world, even if we might not know their names - yet. I feel honored to be able to introduce you to some of them and so grateful for the generosity of their time and thoughts that they were able to share with me. And I’m excited to show you how you can find your own place in this beautiful revolution.

This project changed me, deeply. It was the most challenging writing project I’ve ever embarked upon. It has forever changed how I see community, how I see love, how I see revolution, and how I see myself in it all. And I know it can do the same for you.

So yeah, you should pre-order this book! It’s probably the most impactful thing you can do to support my work right now. Pre-orders mean so much to the success of a new book. And also, you’re just gonna want to have this in your hands, like, as soon as it is available, right?

In the world of newness, my partner Gabriel Teodros released his latest album just a few weeks ago and if you haven’t listened yet, you really, really should. It’s been amazing to watch him work on this the last few years. He’s collaborated with some of the most talented folks to create an album that is a JOURNEY, y’all. This album takes on love, loss, and rebuilding in such beautiful ways. It’s by far his most ambitious and creative project to date. It’s personal and political and poetic. It’s so beautiful. I’m so unbelievably proud to be married to this brilliant and beautiful human. This is maybe my favorite song on the album right now:

But every song is so unique, you’re gonna have to listen to the whole thing a bunch of times. Bandcamp, Apple Music/iTunes, Spotify