And If I Die Before I Wake: George M. Johnson with Maggie Tokuda-Hall

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Co-presented with Marcus Books

Journalist and activist George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue, their bestselling, critically acclaimed YA “memoir-manifesto” about growing up Black and queer, has been, since its 2020 publication, a source of solace and support for young people. It’s also consistently been at or near the top of the ALA and PEN America’s lists of the most challenged and banned books. Undeterred, Johnson continues to practice their fearless form of truth-telling, this time in their first memoir for adults, And If I Die Before I Wake. Here Johnson relates a traumatic 15 years in their life—navigating an HIV diagnosis, alcoholism, loss, and those disheartening and frightening book bans—while relying more than ever on the love of friends, family, and community and finding, against the odds, their most authentic self. In conversation with children’s and young adult author Maggie Tokuda-Hall, co-founder of…