East City Bookshop welcomes Laura Pegram and Susan Muaddi Darraj to discuss Sing the Truth: The Kweli Journal Short Story Collection.

Note on Format: This hybrid event will have both an in-person component with limited seating as well as a virtual broadcast via Zoom Webinar, which will be audio-only. Both in-person and virtual attendees will be able to pose questions to the author during audience Q&A.

ABOUT SING THE TRUTH

A powerful must-read collection of bold BIPOC voices. All proceeds support The Kweli Journal’s mission to nurture emerging writers of color and foster a vibrant literary community.

“As the editor of the groundbreaking journal Kweli, Laura Pegram has introduced us to many of the finest writers of the contemporary literary landscape. In this new, monumental anthology, Pegram has gathered several of these writers, welcoming us to a luminous community in the word.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois

Hailed as “The Paris Review of BIPOC literature,” The Kweli Journal has been a launching pad for many of today’s most celebrated writers. Kweli—“truth” in Swahili—marks its fifteenth anniversary with this luminous collection edited by founder Laura Pegram. These vivid narratives explore the devastation of leaving home and the struggle to adapt to reimagined lives, lost loves, distant families, and buried pasts, deepening our understanding of the human experience.

Featuring works from acclaimed authors Naima Coster, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Daphne Palasi Andreades, Susan Muaddi Darraj, and others, this anthology stands as a testament to voices too often overlooked in contemporary literature.

"The stories in this collection serve as windows into diverse communities while inviting readers of all backgrounds to engage with and appreciate the richness of our cultures." —Edwidge Danticat, from the foreword of Sing the Truth

Laura Pegram, founding editor and publisher of The Kweli Journal, is a multi-hyphenate artist whose work is influencing a new generation of writers. She is an author, educator, and jazz vocalist who teamed with acclaimed jazz pianist Donald Smith in cabaret performances. She is also a painter whose richly hued murals are part of several private collections. She was mentored by the poet-activist June Jordan, who taught her that the sky was her ceiling. She lives in Manhattan.

Susan Muaddi Darraj is the author of American Book Award–winner A Curious Land and was a finalist for a Palestine Book Award. A United States Artists’ Ford Fellow and past winner of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Award, she is also the author of Farah Rocks, the first children’s book series to feature a Palestinian American character. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and teaches at Harford Community College and Johns Hopkins University.