JESUSDEVIL: THE PARABLES | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Jul 12, 2023 6:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Jul 12, 2023 6:00 pm
14th & V
“[Alexis] said that what she was currently writing was called afiction, something that was coming through her that was not built as a linear story of generated characters, but as a revealed poetics of gathered and ever-changing spirit.… As she sent me the JesusDevil parables she had written to that point, I read them immediately and asked for more. I felt like I had won a literary lottery for my soul.†—adrienne maree brown, from the foreword
Evocative and experimental, JesusDevil is a nonlinear tale of Black life and spiritual expression. Writing in a style she calls “afiction,†Alexis De Veaux expands and moves beyond traditional narrative, following the adventures of Fhill, a black, queer spirit who has taken human form. Neither male nor female, Fhill moves fluidly and disruptively across concepts of identity, passing through the nine “parables†that comprise this text. Examining aspects of what it means to be Black and human—from a nonhuman perspective—Fhill’s liminal nature redefines social and literary categories, exploring social constructions of blackness as well as themes of desire, memory, sex, revenge, and more. A daring new work and crowning achievement from a veteran storyteller, Alexis De Veaux shows out in this new addition to the Emergent Strategy series.
Alexis De Veaux is joining us on the Busboys stage to share her afictious novel with special guest Ethelbert Miller. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event in person, and De Veaux will be available for signing following the program.
If you’re tuning in from home, copies of the book will be available for purchase on Eventbrite. Make sure to order your copy before we’re out of stock! Your purchase of the book includes shipping anywhere in the United States via USPS.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of JESUSDEVIL will be available for purchase before, during, and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Alexis De Veaux is a black queer feminist independent scholar whose internationally known work is published in six languages. She has been publishing fiction, poetry, plays, memoirs, and children’s literature since 1973, and her work is anthologized in numerous collections. De Veaux is the author of Yabo and Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde; and was tenured faculty at the University at Buffalo, Department of Women’s Studies, for more than twenty years, mentoring a new generation of interdisciplinary scholars of black, feminist, and queer studies.
E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist and author of two memoirs and several poetry collections. He hosts the WPFW morning radio show On the Margin with E. Ethelbert Miller and hosts and produces The Scholars on UDC-TV which received a 2020 Telly Award. Miller is Associate Editor and a columnist for The American Book Review. He was given a 2020 congressional award from Congressman Jamie Raskin in recognition of his literary activism, awarded the 2022 Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and named a 2023 Grammy Nominee Finalist for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. Miller’s latest book is How I Found Love Behind the Catcher's Mask, published by City Point Press.
