Tuesday, May 11, 7:00 PM, Zoom
Ibi Zoboi was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her novel American Street was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of Pride and My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, a New York Times bestseller, and Punching the Air with co-author and Exonerated Five member, Yusef Salaam. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America. Raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three children.
Pride is a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice. Set in Bushwick, a working-class neighborhood on Brooklyn, NY’s north side, the book is about the life of Afro-Latino girl Zuri Benitez. As her Bushwick neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, her life is turned upside down when the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street. Throughout the novel, Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against heady magic of first love.
Ibi's Books
- Punching the Air (2020)
- Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America (2019)
- My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich (2019)
- Pride (2018)
- American Street (2017)
Related Links
- "Ibi Zoboi: Pride Grows in Brooklyn (Publishers Weekly)
- "Ibi Zoboi: At the Intersection of Broke and Broken" (BookPage)
- "Punching The Air Tells A Story Of Hope Behind Bars" (NPR)
- Ibi Zoboi On Brooklyn Gentrification and How Motherhood Informs Her Work" (The Culture Trip)
- Ibi Zoboi Brings Distinctive New Voices To Life In My Life As An Ice Cream Sandwich (Audible)