African-American, Latino, and Asian-American writers tell their own stories of coming of age, coming out, and coming home.
About the book: The new book, For Colored Boys, addresses longstanding issues of sexual abuse, suicide, HIV/AIDS, racism, and homophobia in the African American and Latino communities, and more specifically among young gay men of color. The book tells stories of real people coming of age, coming out, dealing with religion and spirituality, seeking love and relationships, finding their own identity in or out of the LGBT community, and creating their own sense of political empowerment.
This collection includes writers who are African American, Latino, Asian American, British, and Jamaican. Their ages span over five decades from young to old, and they represent all parts of the country and a wide cross-section of occupations, including students, published authors, recording artists, reality TV stars, military veterans, doctors, and lawyers.
We hope their stories will educate, empower, and inspire you.
From Rod 2.0:
The publication of the book is timely. A new survey was released this week that found a shocking 43 percent of Black gay youth have considered or attempted suicide as a result of issues related to their sexual orientation. More than a quarter of Black gay youth say they have experienced anti-gay bullying. Almost one in ten have been sexually or physically abused.
"There are 44 pieces from 42 authors, including 37 African-Americans, 3 Latinos, 1 Asian-American, 1 Canadian and 1 British writer," Keith Boykin told R20. "The contributors' ages range from 23 to 63. We have at least 5 writers in their 20s."
Many of the names should be familiar to R20 readers. For Colored Boys includes contributions from myself, Darian Aaron, Jamal Brown, Topher Campbell, Wade Davis, Kenyon Farrow, L. Michael Gipson, James Earl Hardy, DeMarco Majors, David Malebranche, B. Scott, Rob Smith, Kevin E. Tayor, Craig Washington, Tim'm West, Nathan H. Williams and Emanuel Xavier. The anthology will include nine poems. In addition to Keith Boykin, the editors include young filmmaker Mark Corece and author/scholar Frank Leon Roberts.
Pre-order the book here.
Book Release: July 2012