When They Tell You to Be Good by Prince Shakur
A TIME, Washington Post, Amazon, BuzzFeed, Poets & Writers, Lambda Literary, Publishers Weekly, them, The Week, Book Riot, Philadelphia Inquirer, Book and Film Globe, AllArts, and Debutiful Best Book of Fall
Winner of the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award
A Library Journal and Okayplayer Best Memoir of 2022
Prince Shakur’s debut memoir brilliantly mines his radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings.
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781953534934
- Page Count
- 304
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 5½ x 8½
- Imprint
- Tin House
Meet the Author
Prince Shakur
A TIME, Washington Post, Amazon, BuzzFeed, Poets & Writers, Lambda Literary, Publishers Weekly, them, The Week, Book Riot, Philadelphia Inquirer, Book and Film Globe, AllArts, and Debutiful Best Book of Fall
Winner of the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award
A Library Journal and Okayplayer Best Memoir of 2022
Prince Shakur’s debut memoir brilliantly mines his radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings.
After immigrating from Jamaica to the United States, Prince Shakur’s family is rocked by the murder of Prince’s biological father in 1995. Behind the murder is a sordid family truth, scripted in the lines of a diary by an outlawed uncle hell-bent on avenging the murder of Prince’s father. As Shakur begins to unravel his family’s secrets, he must navigate the strenuous terrain of coming to terms with one’s inner self while confronting the steeped complexities of the Afro-diaspora.
When They Tell You to Be Good charts Shakur’s political coming of age from closeted queer kid in a Jamaican family to radicalized adult traveler, writer, and anarchist in Obama and Trump’s America. Shakur journeys from France to the Philippines, South Korea, and elsewhere to discover the depths of the Black experience, and engages in deep political questions while participating in movements like Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock. By the end, Shakur reckons with his identity, his family’s immigration, and the intergenerational impacts of patriarchal and colonial violence.
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.
Winner of the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award
A Library Journal and Okayplayer Best Memoir of 2022
Prince Shakur’s debut memoir brilliantly mines his radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings.
After immigrating from Jamaica to the United States, Prince Shakur’s family is rocked by the murder of Prince’s biological father in 1995. Behind the murder is a sordid family truth, scripted in the lines of a diary by an outlawed uncle hell-bent on avenging the murder of Prince’s father. As Shakur begins to unravel his family’s secrets, he must navigate the strenuous terrain of coming to terms with one’s inner self while confronting the steeped complexities of the Afro-diaspora.
When They Tell You to Be Good charts Shakur’s political coming of age from closeted queer kid in a Jamaican family to radicalized adult traveler, writer, and anarchist in Obama and Trump’s America. Shakur journeys from France to the Philippines, South Korea, and elsewhere to discover the depths of the Black experience, and engages in deep political questions while participating in movements like Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock. By the end, Shakur reckons with his identity, his family’s immigration, and the intergenerational impacts of patriarchal and colonial violence.
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.
Praise for When They Tell You to Be Good
-
“Magnetic.”
TIME -
“Explores his childhood as a queer child of Jamaican immigrants in 2000s Ohio, his travels in response to America’s failure to ‘deliver me what I deserved as a young and curious Black person’ and his reckonings with colonial and patriarchal violence.”
The New York Times -
“Demonstrates a talent for self-examination, not to mention literary prowess. . . . His confidence and self-awareness enable him to identify life lessons in the moment.”
Washington Post
About the Imprint
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