There were people before you who were just like you, and had many of those same issues and struggles and crises… And they paved the way for you so that you wouldn’t have to go through those many same things.
—George M. Johnson on People.com
New York Times bestselling author of the memoir-manifesto, and “one of the most-banned books in the country” ☛ALL BOYS AREN’T BLUE [pub: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)], George M. Johnson is back with their second book ☛FLAMBOYANTS: THE QUEER HARLEM RENAISSANCE I WISH I’D KNOWN [pub: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)]. According to People, “the author hopes that when young readers pick up the book, which features greats like Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston and Ma Rainey, they’ll be inspired to do further research on their own.” This gorgeous and important book, “for young adults who deserve to understand who these people were and get to explore worlds that they didn’t know existed” illustrated by über-talented Charly Palmer is out today.
Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known Synopsis From MacMillan Publishers:
In Flamboyants, George M. Johnson celebrates writers, performers, and activists from 1920s Black America whose sexualities have been obscured throughout history. Through 14 essays, Johnson reveals how American culture has been shaped by icons who are both Black and Queer – and whose stories deserve to be celebrated in their entirety.
Interspersed with personal narrative, powerful poetry, and illustrations by award-winning illustrator Charly Palmer, Flamboyants looks to the past for understanding as to how Black and Queer culture has defined the present and will continue to impact the future. With candid prose and an unflinching lens towards truth and hope, George M. Johnson brings young adult readers an inspiring collection of biographies that will encourage teens today to be unabashed in their layered identities.
