Lit 16: Meet Zain Khalid

Author of BROTHER ALIVE

“Occasionally a dimness introduced itself, and I’d find a nervous shape looming like a question in my periphery. Brother was not frightening, not then. He’d take on recognizable forms: bugs, birds, foxes, stags, cats, the occasional farrago of two or more species. Though his sensations were housed within mine, they remained distinct, and in their center was a pervasive hunger.”

— Zain Khalid, Brother Alive

Hello Family,

Meet Zain Khalid of the Lit 16. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, n+1, The Believer, Astra Magazine, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and elsewhere. He is also the fiction editor at The Drift. His debut novel, Brother Alive (Grove Atlantic), is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize for best first book in any genre and was named a best book of 2022 by Library Journal and other outlets.

Here is what I had to say about Zain’s book:

“Brother Alive is a rigorously intelligent, wholly sensitive, and quietly rebellious work of art, with prose as profound as it is beautiful. What an inspiring examination of the waywardness of life and the grounding of love this story is. What a wise, thoughtful writer Zain Khalid is. What a gift to humanity this book is.”

Be sure to tune in to see Zain, 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

You can purchase copies of Brother Alive at the Mahogany Books Lit 16 site. Follow Zain on Twitter.

We hope to see you there. And 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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