“Even after all this, there was no clear playbook for young Black gay men coming up in this world. There was no hip-hop-and-R&B soundtrack of back-to-back bangers to be their chorus, no Gabrielle Union subplot or Taye Diggs line to sum it all up. T.D. Jakes and Steve Harvey hadn’t written a relationship book for them. Iyanla couldn’t fix their lives. All they got was barely two seasons of ‘Noah’s Arc’ and Chiron crying about a hand job on the beach.”
— Aaron Foley, Boys Come First
Hello Family,
Meet Aaron Foley (he/him), a member of the inaugural Lit 16 class.
A Detroit native and a senior editor at PBS Newshour, Aaron is the founding director of the Black Media Initiative at the Center for Community Media at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Previously, he was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, chief storyteller for the City of Detroit, and editor of BLAC Detroit Magazine. He is also an author and veteran freelance journalist, having contributed to This American Life, The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review and more.
Boys Come First is his debut novel.
Here’s what Deesha Philyaw had to say about it:
”Aaron Foley's fantastic debut is a hilarious and heartfelt story of friendship, family, longing, and lust, wrapped in a beautiful love letter to Detroit. You can't help but root for Millennials Dominick, Remy, and Troy in all their messy magnificence. Fans of Terry McMillan and E. Lynn Harris especially will rejoice at Foley's smart, evocative prose. I devoured this book. And bonus: Reading Boys Come First made this Gen Xer feel just a little bit cooler.”
And here are my thoughts on it:
“Uproarious, sharp, sober, biting, bumpy, bruising, hip, and real. Aaron Foley's Boys Come First moves along with a graceful self-assurance, spot-on characterizations, and a genuine assessment of the extraordinary, yet mundane plight of Black queer men—how we must navigate the world, protect ourselves from violence and cruelties, construct our own safe spaces, and stitch together community from the strands of chosen family. This book is so brutally honest that it's hard to believe that it's fiction.”
Be sure to tune in to see Aaron, and three other members of the Lit 16, read and converse at the First Quarter Fire-Circle, courtesy of Loyalty Books:
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
7:30 p.m. ET
To register, please visit: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/lit16
We hope to see you there!
You can purchase copies of Boys Come First at the Loyalty Books Lit 16 Reading site. Follow Aaron on Instagram and Twitter.
In the spirit of community over competition, the Lit 16 is our way of using our platforms to shine a light on emerging writers whose art has impacted, inspired, and moved us in ways that we wanted to honor and share with you.
We could have easily created a Lit 64; there are so many fantastic recent works that we adore. Unfortunately, for many reasons, we are unable to accommodate that large of a scope. However, we do encourage all of our artistic peers to advance toward the directive set forth by the iconic and legendary Ancestor Toni Morrison: “If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
Be sure to follow the #Lit16 hashtag on social media and subscribe to Witness to stay up-to-date on upcoming Lit 16 events. Thank you so very much for joining us in celebration.
The Lit 16: Honoring sixteen emerging literary artists whose works are changing the game.
Blessings upon blessings,
Robert