WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO BE GOOD by Prince Shakur makes TIME’s “Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2022 List!” Congratulations, Prince!
TIME writes: “In his searing debut memoir, When They Tell You To Be Good, writer and activist Prince Shakur reckons with his self-actualization in a world inherently hostile to his identities as a queer, Black radical in America. Starting with his experiences as the young son of Jamaican immigrant parents in Ohio, Shakur details his struggles with familial homophobia and the aftermath of his father’s murder. In college, he finds community and political organizing that speak to his values, but realizes there is no easy answer to structural oppression in the U.S; his travels around the world both during and after college reveal to him that the prejudice he has experienced is not exclusively American, though his trips to Ferguson, Mo., where he protested for Black Lives Matter, and to the Dakotas, where he stood alongside activists at Standing Rock, were among his most meaningful. The story of Shakur’s life is a deeply personal reflection that celebrates self-discovery in the face of intergenerational trauma and a violent colonial legacy.”
Examining a tangled web of race, trauma, and memory, WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO BE GOOD shines a light on what we all must ask of ourselves—to be more than what America envisions for the oppressed—as Shakur compels readers to take a closer, deeper look at the political world of young, Black, queer, and radical millennials today.
Prince Shakur is a queer, Jamaican-American freelance journalist, cultural essayist, videomaker, traveler, and NY Times recognized organizer. His writings range from op-eds in Teen Vogue to features on the violent impacts of policing and cultural essays that delve into black icons, like Bob Marley or Huey Newton. He is a 2021 Hurston/Wright Crossover Award recipient and has earned residencies with Sangam House, Twelve Arts, Studios of Key West, Norton Island, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and La Maison Baldwin. He is the host of The Creative Hour Podcast and his website can be found here. Prince is represented by Chelene Knight and Samantha Haywood.