QTPoC Spolight and Book Recs

Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.Gaynor leads theGrio's political team alongside White House Correspondent and D.C. Bureau Chief April D. Ryan, covering the White House, Capitol Hill, and national politics. Notably, his work in Washington helped lead to theGrio becoming the first Black-owned digital news outlet to get a designated seat in the White House press briefing room. Gaynor has appeared on Cheddar TV, Revolt Black News, and Fox Soul’s “The Tammi Mac Show.” Forbes recognized Gaynor as one of the “10 Black LGBTQ+ Figures And Activists to Know.”

As a Black, queer journalist, Gaynor understands the power of diversity and visibility, which is why he counts it as a privilege to represent Black and LGBTQ+ communities in political spaces where diversity has not historically been embraced. Living up to theGrio’s African meaning of “storyteller,” he is passionate about telling stories that inform and humanize Black and queer experiences.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Gaynor is a proud HBCU graduate of Morehouse College and a graduate of Columbia University School of Journalism.

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February 2023 

Monthly Book Recommendations

QTPoC authors will be the highlight in this section. Make sure to learn about them and read their work.

Check out LBGTQ+ Services online library for more QTPoC Books

 Title: The Black Flamingo

 Author: Dean Atta

Pronouns: He/Him

  Tags: Black, British, Gay, Jamaica, Poetry, Queer Men, Teen

  Author Description: 

Dean Atta is an award-winning Black British author and poet of Greek Cypriot and Jamaican heritage. He is a Malika's Poetry Kitchen member, National Poetry Day ambassador and LGBT+ History Month patron. Dean's books have been praised by the likes of Bernardine Evaristo, Benjamin Zephaniah and Malorie Blackman. His poems have been highly commended by the Forward Prizes for Poetry and shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition. (Learn More Here)

Brief Book Description: Michael is a mixed-race gay teen growing up in London. All his life, he’s navigated what it means to be Greek-Cypriot and Jamaican—but never quite feeling Greek or Black enough. As he gets older, Michael’s coming out is only the start of learning who he is and where he fits in. When he discovers the Drag Society, he finally finds where he belongs—and the Black Flamingo is born.

 

Unspeakable Love

Title: Black Boy Out of Time

Author: Hari Ziyad

Pronouns: He/They

Tags: Black, Memior, African American, Muslim, Queer, Queer Men

Author Description: 

 Hari Ziyad (he/they) is a certified Death Doula, screenwriter, the bestselling author of Black Boy Out of Time (Little A, 2021) and the creator and former Editor-in-Chief of RaceBaitr. Originally from Cleveland, OH, they received their BFA in Film and Television from New York University, and they currently reside in Los Angeles, CA.

Their writing has been featured in Vanity FairThe GuardianHuffington PostGawkerOutEbonyMicPaste Magazine, AFROPUNK, in the peer-reviewed academic journal Critical Ethnic Studies, and in the anthology co–edited by Michael Dumas, Ashley Woodson and Carl Grant entitled The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education, among other publications .

(Learn More Here)

Brief Book Description:  An eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way. One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio

 Title: Black Cake

 Author: Charmaine Wilkerson

Pronouns: He/Him

  Tags: Black, Fiction, Novel

  Author Description: 

Charmaine Wilkerson is a Caribbean-American writer currently based in Italy. Her debut novel Black Cake is a New York Times bestseller, a #ReadWithJenna book club pick, and the inspiration for the Hulu screen series of the same name. Charmaine is a former US news and communication professional whose award-winning short fiction has appeared in various anthologies and magazines. Charmaine is represented by Madeleine Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.. (Learn More Here)

Brief Book Description: We can't choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become? In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder.