How Award-Winning Debut Memoirist Prince Shakur Writes

#PodcastersForJustice

Award-winning, queer, Jamaican-American writer, videographer, activist, and debut memoirist, Prince Shakur, spoke to me about James Baldwin's legacy, writing towards his father's murder, and his latest, "When They Tell You To Be Good."

Prince Shakur is a freelance journalist, videomaker, and New York Times recognized organizer whose debut memoir, When They Tell You To Be Good, is about his "political coming of age in Obama and Trump’s America." It is a Powell's Holiday Pick for 2022 and a TIME, Poets & Writers, Publishers Weekly, them, The Week, Debutiful, and Book Riot Best “Book of Fall.”

Described as an exploration of "... his radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings," the memoir won the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award and has earned him residencies with Sangam House, La Maison Baldwin, The Studios of Key West, and The Atlantic Center for the Arts. 

As a freelance journalist Shakur has penned numerous op-eds, essays, and features in Teen Vogue, Daily Dot, CodaStory, Cultured Magazine, AfroPunk, and more. His writings have been used in university classrooms, including Nikkita Oliver’s Prison Abolition course offered at the University of Washington.

Stay calm and write on ...

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In this file Prince Shakur and I discussed:

• How he hustled as a young freelance journalist
• The black, queer, activist experience
• Why he feels the need to push past the notion of "bearing witness"
• What it's like to navigate anti-blackness abroad
• The urgency of artwork in the face of death
• Why artist residencies and grants are so important for writers
• And a lot more!

Show Notes:

• princeshakur.com
• When They Tell You To Be Good by Prince Shakur (Amazon)
• Prince Shakur on Instagram
• Prince Shakur on Twitter
• Kelton Reid on Twitter

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