Writers Bloc and Eso Won Books Present
Dr. Elizabeth Alexander and Kevin Merida on The Trayvon Generation
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
6:00PM PST
Free Virtual Event
Free registration here. To purchase a copy of The Trayvon Generation, support local bookstores and purchase it from Eso Won Books.
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Dr. Elizabeth Alexander is a decorated author, essayist, and President Obama’s 2009 Inaugural Poet. In late June of 2020 in the most profound moments of the pandemic and social rebellion, she published a great piece in The New Yorker called “The Trayvon Generation,” about what Black young people face in America. That New Yorker essay went viral, and Dr. Alexander expanded that terrific article into a book of the same name.
The Trayvon Generation speaks to the ever-present reality of race as the center of a Black young person’s American experience. Black young people– or The Trayvon Generation, as she refers to them– live in a prism of brutality and violence, no matter what their circumstances might be, no matter how privileged they might be. She draws on history, cultural expression, and social attitudes to reflect on the present, and future, of Black youth. Dr. Alexander wrote and read “Praisesong for the Day” for Barack Obama’s 2012 inauguration, has collected innumerable prizes for her books, and is currently the President of the Mellon Foundation.
In conversation with Kevin Merida. Kevin Merida is the new Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times. Before coming to the LA Times, he was head of ESPN’s Editorial Board, and he was editor in chief of the acclaimed ESPN division, The Undefeated, and ran its investigative news division. He also served as Managing Editor at The Washington Post.
Author photo credit: Djeneba Aduayom
Kevin Merida photo credit: Kirk McKoy
