She's on her way!
I'm beyond excited (crying) to share that THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT is now available for pre-orders!
Absolutely obsessed with our cover by the incomparable @anerbananers !
Big, big, big thanks to the team at @kaepernickpublishing & @kaepernick7 (as always)
"Bridges" arrives April, 2024. Hit the link in my bio to order yours! 🖤
PUB DAY! Tomorrow Maps has officially arrived! 🖤🧭💫🌄🥲🗺💌
Overflowing with joy & gratitude rn. Thanks so much to the Hunger Press team, my poetry professors at Wes, everyone who pre-ordered or is planning to order the book, MY FRIENDS who inspired so many of the poems in this collection (and the last one too for that matter). This is some of my most vulnerable writing to date and sharing it makes me feel all types of ways: scared, excited and mostly very free. Hope y'all love it ❤️🔥
Can't believe I finally get to announce this big, BIG news: my debut picture book, THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT will be published by @kaepernickpublishing illustrated by @anerbananers and edited by the phenomenal Traci Todd. It's an honor, a privilege, an absolute dream to tell Yuri's story and I couldn't be blessed with a more wonderful team and home for the project. Enormous gratitude to Colin and the team at Kaep Pub - your enthusiasm, care and passion for Yuri's legacy has made me feel so secure and welcome every step of the way. None of this would be possible without my incredible agent Noah and Verve - thank you for working so hard and thinking of everything and helping me through this very new and thrilling process. Traci and Anastasia, I'm so excited to work with and learn from you both. And I just can't wait to share this story with the world! THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT is officially on its way ❤️❤️❤️
I loved my uncle so so so much. He was my first best friend. My favorite person in the world (always, but especially when I was little, when the days I got to spend with him were the best of my life). I was his biggest fan.
He was beloved by everybody. He was brash and loud and opinionated and sweet. He was one of the most new york people I ever met. Like some people just embody NY to me and he was one of them. I don't have the words to articulate why he exemplified that, but maybe it was because he could talk to anybody, from any walk of life, and still always sound like himself. He just seemed like he belonged everywhere, and not because he could code switch or adjust to his environment, but because all environments adjusted to him. Akira, man I'm sorry you had to die in Jersey. I know you probably felt some type of way about that.
He spoiled me and kenji like it was his life's mission and let us break the rules in the most fun ways. Go to Max Brenners and get the chocolate pizza and the fondue AND three different kinds of cocoa. Then when I was a teenager he pretended to be horrified by my getting older but he was also my confidant and occasional co-conspirator. Like, when I complained to him that the bouncers at Bar None wouldn't let me in, he went and bought them a round of thank you drinks. But then when i got my fake ID taken at Barcade he stopped by the next night and tried to get it back for me. He didn't necessarily want me to grow up but he always watched over me as i did.
Every time we talked he told me he was proud of me. I don't think I ever hung up the phone without hearing him say that. But I was so proud to be his niece. I remember taking my friends to Ippudo in high school and he would wave at us from the open kitchen and send our table half the menu and take like 90% off our bill. He made us feel so special. Everyone in my family is passionate about food but I think he's the reason i love restaurants.
He was the coolest cool uncle ever. I wish we had more photos and more time together. Akira, we love you forever. I hope wherever you are, you can eat whatever you want again ❤️
Interviewed my dad @serge1fc (designer, streetwear pioneer, graffiti writer, Harlemite, coolest guy i know) for my substack Gourd Reports!
We visited the @metcostumeinstitute show "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" then sat down to discuss his brand PNB Nation, Black dandyism & the ways in connects to & diverges from streetwear and how growing up in NYC determined his art, politics & passion for fashion.
Link in my bio if you want to read!
I am so honored to be featured (amongst unbelievable company!) in "We Are Each Other's Liberation," an anthology of Black & Asian feminist solidarities from @haymarketbooks , created by @blackwomenradicals and @aafc.nyc and edited by the brilliant @drjaimeeswift@latebloomer.info & Rachel Kuo!
This collaboration means a lot & goes deep for me! From being invited in by my fellow bandung resident @latebloomer.info , to contributing pieces I originally wrote for @abolition_is and @denshoproject , to getting to see my name in a Haymarket anthology (a dream publisher!!), being a part of this beautiful book has allowed me to nurture cherished connections in a way I'm very grateful for.
"We Are Each Other's Liberations" will be published on October 14th and is available for pre-order now!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY, "THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT" !!!
Sorry for a million photos I just wanted to share all these sweet moments from my stops in LA and Oakland last week. I will never stop feeling grateful for the outpouring of love and support and encouragement I've received this year - from my families, from communities of folks who loved Yuri, from everyone who bought and read Bridges, all the teachers, students, librarians, podcasters, event programmers, organizers and fellow writers who wanted to use the book for its intended function, as a tool for teaching children how to resist and how to bravely engage with an unjust world and build towards a new one. All my love and gratitude to the team at @kaepernickpublishing especially @djtonedef & @kaepernick7 & Traci Todd, my fabulous illustrator @anerbananers & wonderful agent @ndb456 you guys changed my life ❤️
