For World Pride and Black Pride\, join the Library and Loyalty Bookstores for a discussion about writing and portrai ture with George M. Johnson and Twiggy Pucci Garç\;on. The afternoon will begin with a discussion of Johnson's new book Flamboyants: The Q ueer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known. \; \;Following the exploration of LGBTQ icons from the Harlem Renaissance\, audience members will be invited to walk across the street to view and enjoy Timothy Greenf ield-Sanders's portrait of Garç\;on at the National Portrait Gallery.&nbs p\;
\nCopies of Flamboyants will be availabl e for sale and signing. \;
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\nFr om the \;New York Times&ndash\;bestselling author of \;All Boys Ar en&rsquo\;t Blue \;comes an empowering set of essays about Black and Q ueer icons from the Harlem Renaissance.
\nIn \;Flamboyants\, George M. Johnson celebrates writers\, performers\, and activists fr om 1920s Black America whose sexualities have been obscured throughout his tory. Through 14 essays\, Johnson reveals how American culture has been sh aped by icons who are both Black and Queer &ndash\; and whose stories dese rve to be celebrated in their entirety.
\nInterspersed with personal narrative\, powerful poetry\, and illustrations by award-winning illustra tor Charly Palmer\, \;Flamboyants \;looks to the past for understa nding as to how Black and Queer culture has defined the present and will c ontinue to impact the future. With candid prose and an unflinching lens to wards truth and hope\, George M. Johnson brings young adult readers an ins piring collection of biographies that will encourage teens today to be una bashed in their layered identities. \;
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\nGeorge M. Johnson \;(they/them) is an E mmy nominated\, award-winning\, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. They have written on race\, gender\, sex\, and culture for \;Essence\, \;the Advocate\, BuzzFeed News\, \;Teen Vogue\, and mo re than forty other national publications. George has appeared on BuzzFeed &rsquo\;s AM2DM as well as on MSNBC. They are also a proud HBCU alum twice over and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity\, Incorporated. Their deb ut memoir\, \;All Boys Aren&rsquo\;t Blue\, was a \;New York Times \;bestseller and garnered many accolades. It was the second-most bann ed book of 2022 in the United States\, according to the American Library A ssociation. For their work fighting book bans and challenges\, the Nationa l Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) honored George with its Free Speech Defender Award\, and \;TIME \;Magazine named them one of the &ldqu o\;100 Next Most Influential People in the World.&rdquo\; While writing th eir memoir\, George used he/him pronouns. Originally from Plainfield\, New Jersey\, they now live in Los Angeles\, California.
\nWith a Southe rn upbringing\, Twiggy Pucci Garç\;on is a proud no n-binary member of the LGBTQ+ community. They are a director\, producer an d activist who found support in the ballroom community at a very crucial m oment in their life. For more than 15 years\, Twiggy has been a cultural p ractitioner who aims to increase creative and sociopolitical agency of LGB TQ+ youth. \;They are the International Mother of the Legendary House of Comme des Garç\;on\, the Chief Ambassador for the Center for Blac k Equity\, and Co-Founder of All Tea\, No Shade Productions alongside NY T imes Bestselling author George M. Johnson.
\nIn film and television\ , their directorial debut short documentary film\, MNM was awarded at film festivals worldwide and will be released on the Criterion Channel. Twiggy is a former Consulting Programmer for Outfest\, Newfest\, and Outfest Fus ion and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Doc Society. They w ere awarded the Concordia Fellowship for directing in 2024. Twiggy served as a consultant and runway choreographer on Ryan Murphy&rsquo\;s Emmy nomi nated hit FX series\, \;POSE. Twiggy and the team behind the \;ALL BOYS AREN&rsquo\;T BLUE dramatic reading were awarded the GLAAD Special R ecognition award and were nominated for a 2024 Daytime Emmy. Twiggy was a featured subject in Timothy Greenfield-Sanders&rsquo\; HBO documentary fea ture film \;The OUT LIST \;and is the co-writer and participant in the Sundance-selected\, award-winning documentary\, \;KIKI \;(Dir ected by Sara Jordenö\;). Twiggy is in development with a new feature- length documentary film.
\n\nSponsored by the DC Public L ibrary Foundation and the Capital Pride Alliance in partnership with Loyal ty Bookstore
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