Lit 16: Meet Dr. Steven W. Thrasher
Author of THE VIRAL UNDERCLASS: THE HUMAN TOLL WHEN INEQUALITY AND DISEASE COLLIDE
“Viruses have the potential to help us make a world predicated upon love and mutual respect for all living things, not just in the here and now, but across time and space.”
– Steven W. Thrasher, The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide
Hello Family and welcome new subscribers!
Meet Dr. Steven W. Thrasher of the Lit 16. Dr. Thrasher holds the inaugural Daniel Renberg Chair at Northwestern's Medill School, the first journalism professorship anywhere to focus on LGBTQ research. He is also on the faculty of Northwestern's Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing.
An interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Thrasher is an internationally recognized expert on race, social epidemiology, and the criminalization of disease. He has written about the HIV/AIDS, Covid-19, and monkeypox epidemics for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and BuzzFeed News, as well as in numerous scholarly journals.
His first book, The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, won the 2022 POZ Best in Literature award for the best depictions of HIV/AIDS in literature. It was also longlisted for the American Library Association's 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Literature and the 2023 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies.
Here’s what MacArthur Fellow Kiese Laymon, author of the award-winning memoir Heavy, had to say about Dr. Thrasher’s book:
“The Viral Underclass marks the beginning of a new epoch in cultural work. Steven Thrasher has utilized and finely crafted theory, memoir and reportage to show us what we've been doing the first few years of this century.”
Be sure to tune in to see Dr. Thrasher, and three other members of the Lit 16, read and converse at:
The Lit 16: Third-Quarter Fire Circle Virtual Readings
Mahogany Books
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
7 p.m. ET
To register, please visit: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/lit16
We hope to see you there!
You can purchase copies of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide at the Mahogany Books Lit 16 site. Follow Dr. Thrasher on Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you for your support.
Blessings upon blessings,
Robert
What is the Lit 16?
In the spirit of community over competition, the Lit 16 reading series is how Deesha Philyaw, Kiese Laymon, and I decided to use 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.
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