Graffiti
The editors of Graffiti gave the contributors a special challenge: to write in a way that centers neither "whiteness" nor "anti-whiteness”, that is not limited by their struggle, their oppression, or how their characters will be received by the white imagination. To create a literary safe space of creative play far removed from the white gaze. A place where POC can focus on one another in solidarity.

 The results are joyous and mind-expanding. Contributors to Graffiti include American Book Award-winner Tongo Eisen-Martin, award-winning fantasy author L. Penelope, award-winning writer Vickie Vértiz, alongside Kirin Khan, Gary Dauphin, Sarah LaBrie, Alycia Pirmohamed, Kanika Punwani, and many other acclaimed writers. It features a foreword by poet and novelist Elmaz Abinader, and an introduction by novelist Nayomi Munaweera.

 Through poetry, short stories, and essays, the works in Graffiti expose lives that move in unexpected ways, rendering characters who don’t fit the cultural tropes we cling to. Graffiti shows what writers-of-color do when they are given permission to scribble, scrawl, romanticize, and speculate, without being politicized or exoticized.

 I love the originality of the voices in Graffiti, the brave new writers I've discovered here, in addition to several I admired already. I love the concept of writing beyond whiteness, being unconcerned about any gaze other than our own. Kudos to the editors for collecting work that is at once meaningful and playful. I hope this book will find its way into the hands of many readers. It just might transform them. Mashallah! —Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of The Forest of Enchantments

 The voices in Graffiti howl with a collective energy and strength that is unmatched. These writers have the capacity to both tear you apart and heal you in one fell swoop. Each piece offers an opportunity for us to examine the ways in which communities of difference can band together to create a space for a revolution to take shape and flourish. Graffiti isn’t just a brilliantly composed collection, it is an absolutely essential one. I feel fundamentally changed after having read this powerful anthology. —Alex Espinoza, author of Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime

 Graffiti springs forth like an anthem from a future, where, unaware of the white gaze and ethnic codification, people of color are one. —Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us

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Graffiti
The editors of Graffiti gave the contributors a special challenge: to write in a way that centers neither "whiteness" nor "anti-whiteness”, that is not limited by their struggle, their oppression, or how their characters will be received by the white imagination. To create a literary safe space of creative play far removed from the white gaze. A place where POC can focus on one another in solidarity.

 The results are joyous and mind-expanding. Contributors to Graffiti include American Book Award-winner Tongo Eisen-Martin, award-winning fantasy author L. Penelope, award-winning writer Vickie Vértiz, alongside Kirin Khan, Gary Dauphin, Sarah LaBrie, Alycia Pirmohamed, Kanika Punwani, and many other acclaimed writers. It features a foreword by poet and novelist Elmaz Abinader, and an introduction by novelist Nayomi Munaweera.

 Through poetry, short stories, and essays, the works in Graffiti expose lives that move in unexpected ways, rendering characters who don’t fit the cultural tropes we cling to. Graffiti shows what writers-of-color do when they are given permission to scribble, scrawl, romanticize, and speculate, without being politicized or exoticized.

 I love the originality of the voices in Graffiti, the brave new writers I've discovered here, in addition to several I admired already. I love the concept of writing beyond whiteness, being unconcerned about any gaze other than our own. Kudos to the editors for collecting work that is at once meaningful and playful. I hope this book will find its way into the hands of many readers. It just might transform them. Mashallah! —Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of The Forest of Enchantments

 The voices in Graffiti howl with a collective energy and strength that is unmatched. These writers have the capacity to both tear you apart and heal you in one fell swoop. Each piece offers an opportunity for us to examine the ways in which communities of difference can band together to create a space for a revolution to take shape and flourish. Graffiti isn’t just a brilliantly composed collection, it is an absolutely essential one. I feel fundamentally changed after having read this powerful anthology. —Alex Espinoza, author of Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime

 Graffiti springs forth like an anthem from a future, where, unaware of the white gaze and ethnic codification, people of color are one. —Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us

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Overview

The editors of Graffiti gave the contributors a special challenge: to write in a way that centers neither "whiteness" nor "anti-whiteness”, that is not limited by their struggle, their oppression, or how their characters will be received by the white imagination. To create a literary safe space of creative play far removed from the white gaze. A place where POC can focus on one another in solidarity.

 The results are joyous and mind-expanding. Contributors to Graffiti include American Book Award-winner Tongo Eisen-Martin, award-winning fantasy author L. Penelope, award-winning writer Vickie Vértiz, alongside Kirin Khan, Gary Dauphin, Sarah LaBrie, Alycia Pirmohamed, Kanika Punwani, and many other acclaimed writers. It features a foreword by poet and novelist Elmaz Abinader, and an introduction by novelist Nayomi Munaweera.

 Through poetry, short stories, and essays, the works in Graffiti expose lives that move in unexpected ways, rendering characters who don’t fit the cultural tropes we cling to. Graffiti shows what writers-of-color do when they are given permission to scribble, scrawl, romanticize, and speculate, without being politicized or exoticized.

 I love the originality of the voices in Graffiti, the brave new writers I've discovered here, in addition to several I admired already. I love the concept of writing beyond whiteness, being unconcerned about any gaze other than our own. Kudos to the editors for collecting work that is at once meaningful and playful. I hope this book will find its way into the hands of many readers. It just might transform them. Mashallah! —Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of The Forest of Enchantments

 The voices in Graffiti howl with a collective energy and strength that is unmatched. These writers have the capacity to both tear you apart and heal you in one fell swoop. Each piece offers an opportunity for us to examine the ways in which communities of difference can band together to create a space for a revolution to take shape and flourish. Graffiti isn’t just a brilliantly composed collection, it is an absolutely essential one. I feel fundamentally changed after having read this powerful anthology. —Alex Espinoza, author of Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime

 Graffiti springs forth like an anthem from a future, where, unaware of the white gaze and ethnic codification, people of color are one. —Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781879960985
Publisher: Aunt Lute Books
Publication date: 10/15/2019
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tamika Thompson is a writer, producer, and journalist. Her writing has been published by, or is forthcoming in, The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Huffington Post, Glass Mountain, and Literary Orphans, among others. She has attended the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. She was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, worked for several years in both New York and Los Angeles, and currently lives in Chicago with her husband and two children. 

Table of Contents

Editors' Note i

Foreword Nayomi Munaweera iii

Your Spot on the Wall: Introduction Elmaz Abinader vii

Gra-fe'te poetry Devi S. Laskar 1

Birthday Spells fiction Monique Quintana 3

The Face Reader fiction Bhaskar Caduveti Rao 11

In Public fiction Kirin Khan 19

Poetry Alycia Pirmohamed

Letter to My Body 29

We Have the Endings 31

Twisted Wood 33

My Life is a Tapestry nonfiction Ramy El-Etreby 35

Suicide Jacq fiction Gary Dauphin 41

Nilscape fiction Laura Lucas 59

Winning Prizes for Just Living nonfiction Vickie Vértiz 71

Unburning the Body poetry Natalie Graham 77

Stranded nonfiction Pallavi Dhawan 79

Loop fiction L. Penelope 83

Poetry Tongo Eisen-Martin

Cut A Hand From A Hand 91

May we all refuse to die at the same time 95

Channels to fall asleep to 99

The Girl and the Moth fiction Lin Y. Leong 101

On Writing nonfiction Sarah LaBrie 115

Poetry Cynthia Alessandra Briano

To Maria, Mi Fea, Love, Jesse 121

To Jesse, Love, Maria Guadalupe A. 123

In a Hard Man's Town fiction Tamika Thompson 127

Poetry Kay Ulanday Barrett

While looking at photo albums 143

Rhythm is a Dancer, Again 145

Sister nonfiction Kanika Punwani 147

Contributor Biographies 163

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