I am excited to share an upcoming guest lecture for my (under)graduate seminar, Black Messiah: Tuesday February 24, 2026 at 1p EST, we will host a conversation with Dr. Karla FC Holloway on Octavia E. Butler’s short story, “Bloodchild.” Check the link 👇🏾 to register as this event will be on Zoom:

With all this talk about Toni Morrison, I thought I would add to the conversation but not like you would hope . . . 👀 Last semester for my Minor Morrison seminar, I tasked my students with making book covers for the final project. And so, I give you Recitatif, A Mercy, and God Help the Child.*

Before Rosa Parks . . . Her story is an anecdote I often share during book events for #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social) as a way to chart the long history of the phrase. #RIP

I am excited to share my most recent @bombmag.bsky.social feature when I interviewed Terence Nance on his album, V O R T E X, and how it is a part of an ever-evolving continuum of his aesthetic work, an extension of his (random) acts of flyness—check the link below! bombmagazine.org/articles/202...

Black Messiah was approved as a graduate course in November 2024; I taught it once before as an undergrad course and was excited to reframe it for a new environment. Then I thought, I will do something funky and teach the same class as an undergrad and grad course to see what through lines await.

Roberta Flack taught Richard Smallwood when she was a public school teacher in DC. They both came through Howard’s Music Department, admittedly at different times. I just invoked his name this summer at the Library of Congress, and he surfaces in Be Real Black for Me (@dukepress.bsky.social).

Gratitude to Baldwin & Co. bookstore for sharing the second part of our collaboration where Corey J. Miles and I converse about #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social) while in New Orleans. As well, thanks to those who attended this event, both friends and enemies. What?! 👀 youtu.be/3kRPwrcbG0Q

Although this conversation with Corey Miles happened earlier this year, the timeliness of its posting last week felt like it could not arrive sooner, even with me forgetting that I referenced the recently departed. Issa Vibe for Stay Black and Die. youtu.be/-1TsydT4AWo

Today!

Monday!

I am pleased to share a few upcoming events: Sunday, November 2, 2025, I will moderate an author panel at Toronto International Festival of Authors with authors Souvankham Thammavongsa & Ian Williams. Then on November 3, 2025, my American Literature survey, Kind of Blue, will host Sampada Aranke.

Be bless . . . and buy Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius. www.dukeupress.edu/stay-black-a...

My fourth-year seminar, Minor Morrison, will host @kinohi.bsky.social this Monday for his lecture: What Comes Before the Haunting?: Toni Morrison’s Late Style in A Mercy. Check the Qualtrics link👇🏾 to register. (And apologies for the late arrival of this announcement due to the holiday.)

Simply unbelievable. And to think about what was coming in his honor in the near future . . . 🥺😔 There are no words but this was my offering, once. For @markanthonyneal.bsky.social: www.newblackmaninexile.net/2014/12/the-...

If you are in or around Toronto next Wednesday, October 15, 2025, from 12-2p, you are invited to attend an important upcoming event at the Centre for the Study of the United States.

This Monday, October 6, 2025 at 3p, I am pleased to host Shaun Myers, Assistant Professor of English at University of Pittsburgh, for her lecture “Re-reading ‘Recitatif’ Through the Archive.” This lecture coincides with the seminar Minor Morrison in the Department of English, University of Toronto.

#latepost Gratitude for presenting on Marvin Gaye, from #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social), at the Library of Congress for Black Music Month. Being invited to a space that hosted Toni Morrison and others gave me wings! Check👇🏾 for links to my lecture and Library blog interview + more photos:

Tonight with DJ B-Sharp! And there may still be spots to RSVP so check the link: www.eventbrite.com/e/a2b-vinyl-... See you then!

Tonight with @jenishawo.bsky.social! And still time to RSVP! www.eventbrite.com/e/stay-black... @dukepress.bsky.social

Wednesday night talk at Eaton by Professor I Augustus Durham on his book “Stay Black and die: On Melancholy and Genius “ that includes a fascinating chapter on Marvin Gaye.

Come through, y’all!

For Black August, I am elated to share a two-day collaboration—h/t Aryn Bussey and Nina Ligon—with The Eaton DC: Wednesday, August 20 @ 7p, I and @jenishawo.bsky.social, Senior Editor at The Atlantic, will converse about #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social). www.eventbrite.com/e/stay-black...

In June, I was grateful to collaborate with the Center for Spiritual Imagination to inaugurate its Audio Divina series with “How Much a Dollar Cost” from To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. www.spiritualimagination.org

@dem8z.bsky.social speaking to what Roberta Flack called “tryin’ times” as she quotes Frederick Douglass and invokes 1987, an important year for me.

Today at Library of Congress. Thanks to @dcsuburbanite.bsky.social for this profile in @wcp.bsky.social, especially as an event among a host of others in DC during/for WorldPride and Black Music Month. washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7653... Also, I have two tickets available for anyone who would

Next week . . .

Tonight! Check below for more information—hope to see you then 👍🏾

This Wednesday! Register here: www.spiritualimagination.org/events/medit...

🎶 Join us on May 28 @ 7p for “Meditation is a Must” Our inaugural session explores Kendrick Lamar’s “How Much a Dollar Cost” through Audio/Musica Divina. I. Augustus Durham (@dukepress.bsky.social) will offer insights to deepen our reflection. Register👇🏾: spiritualimagination.org/events/meditat…

One month away! Although tickets are sold out, if you are in/around DC on June 5 and think you can attend, let me know since I got it like that. 🙃 @dukepress.bsky.social

Excited for tomorrow! Check the link in the OP for program details and registration—see you then!

If you can, see it as Coogler has prescribed. Also: Let the right one in . . .

Next week! Register at the QR code or here if there’s still availability: tisch.nyu.edu/cinema-studi... In an effort to keep things fresh as spring is here, or approaches 🤔, I will be presenting some new work.

If you are in or around NY on April 25, come through to this daylong symposium at NYU where I will be presenting work—maybe something new!—alongside a panel of fellow thinkers. I will share further details as they emerge. 👍🏾

And for my next trick— Be Real Black for Me: About the Matter of Roberta Flack. Under contract with @dukepress.bsky.social How it is going vs how it continued vs how it started You have to understand it feels like I have been writing with and against time . . . This is a project that has been

A decade later and it still does work for me. #ToPimpaButterfly

Although it is a ways out, I have collaborated with the Library of Congress for a Black Music Month event related to Marvin Gaye and #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social). Tickets are available today so if you are in/around DC June 5, 2025, it’d be great to see you! www.loc.gov/item/event-4...

February has come and gone but some events of note: *I was a guest of the High Table at Massey College as a new black faculty member at Toronto. *My interview for Arts & Sciences at UofT to discuss my arrival and #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social) www.artsci.utoronto.ca/news/i-augus...

Rest well. *cues up “Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”*

Today. After many dangers, toils, and snares, I made it to AZ so come through! grassrootzbookstore.com @dukepress.bsky.social

Last week, I (@dukepress.bsky.social) and Erica Cardwell (@feministpress.bsky.social) were treated most hospitably by @anotherstoryto.bsky.social. We had a fantastic conversation about maternal grieving, black art, the craft of writing, and process—here’s to another joint event for our next books! 🫶🏾

If you are in Phoenix, AZ next Friday at 5p MST, come through Grassrootz Books and Juice Bar (grassrootzbookstore.com) as I and Aaron Mallory of Arizona State dialogue about #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social). Let the occasion be the perfect matinee for your Valentine’s dinner reservation. 😉

I am grateful to have moderated Historically Speaking on the occasion of Ida B. Wells minting on the quarter; crafting and asking questions ranging from Wells as historical figure to the ambivalence around black women on currency, I count our discussion wide-ranging: www.youtube.com/live/zltD6EO...

Today. Erica and I. (@feministpress.bsky.social; @dukepress.bsky.social) 7p at @anotherstoryto.bsky.social www.eventbrite.ca/e/i-see-the-...

@anotherstoryto.bsky.social Erica Cardwell (@feministpress.bsky.social) and I. (@dukepress.bsky.social) January 31, 2025 @ 7p Register here: www.eventbrite.ca/e/i-see-the-...

I count it serendipity that Bilal dropped his @npr.org Tiny Desk to begin the week and I can end it with our interview in @bombmag.bsky.social—shout out to Nicole Hegeman for facilitating this and to you, Dear Reader, for the engagement. More soon . . . bombmagazine.org/articles/202...

These next few weeks, I am collaborating on two intriguing programs: 1/23, 7p ➡️ Historically Speaking: Commemoration of Ida B. Wells’s minting on the quarter at NMAAHC & 1/31, 7p ➡️ I See the Moon: Joint book event with Erica Cardwell at @anotherstoryto.bsky.social Come through!

New Orleans welcomed me back last weekend with open arms—thanks to Baldwin & Co. for its immense hospitality; @coreyjmiles.bsky.social for his wise engagement with #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social); and all those who attended from near and far who are dear to me. Content coming soon!

While MLA tends to be strict, if you can get in to hear me talk Beloved and algebra, have at it. BUT attending Baldwin Books should be no problem: Come see me + @coreyjmiles.bsky.social Saturday as we vibe on #StayBlackandDie! Details 👇🏾 and hope to see you then! www.eventbrite.com/e/i-augustus...

Despite the state of the world, New Orleans remains a special place to me. That said, I hope you can see me and @coreyjmiles.bsky.social next week as we discuss #StayBlackandDie (@dukepress.bsky.social) at Baldwin Books & Co. Details 👇🏾 and see you then. www.eventbrite.com/e/i-augustus...