An Event for Both Readers and Writers Alike!

This event is a combined author talk and writers workshop all in one! Whether you are just interested in learning about the book "Sing the Truth", or you have questions about how to write your next story, this will be the perfect event for you.

A powerful must-read collection of bold BIPOC voices. All proceeds support The Kweli Journal’s mission to nurture emerging writers of color and foster a vibrant literary community."It gave me great pleasure to read this beautiful collection of important, diverse, sometimes heartbreaking, and always moving stories; it had the extra benefit of introducing me to several authors whom I’d never read before and whose work I’ve started to seek out. Highly recommended." —Nancy Pearl, acclaimed librarian, bestselling author, and literary critic“With this new collection of short stories, we are once again the beneficiaries of brilliant prose that dances off the pages and into our hearts. I’m proud to be in the chorus praising SING THE TRUTH.” —Monique Greenwood, co-founder of Go On Girl! Book Club and owner of Akwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns“As the editor of the groundbreaking journal Kweli, Laura Pegram has introduced us to many of the finest writers of the contemporary literary landscape. In this new, monumental anthology, Pegram has gathered several of these writers, welcoming us to a luminous community in the word.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBoisHailed as “The Paris Review of BIPOC literature,” The Kweli Journal has been a launching pad for many of today’s most celebrated writers. Kweli—“truth” in Swahili—marks its fifteenth anniversary with this luminous collection edited by founder Laura Pegram. These vivid narratives explore the devastation of leaving home and the struggle to adapt to reimagined lives, lost loves, distant families, and buried pasts, deepening our understanding of the human experience.Featuring works from acclaimed authors Naima Coster, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Daphne Palasi Andreades, Susan Muaddi Darraj, and others, this anthology stands as a testament to voices too often overlooked in contemporary literature."The stories in this collection serve as windows into diverse communities while inviting readers of all backgrounds to engage with and appreciate the richness of our cultures." —Edwidge Danticat, from the foreword of Sing the Truth

Laura will be joined by journalist and fiction writer Josie Abugov

Laura Pegram, founding editor and publisher of The Kweli Journal, is a multi-hyphenate artist whose work is influencing a new generation of writers. She is the editor of Sing the Truth short story anthology, which features work by acclaimed authors Naima Coster, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Susan Muaddi Darraj, LaToya Watkins and others. She is an author, educator, and jazz vocalist who teamed with acclaimed jazz pianist Donald Smith in cabaret performances. She is also a painter whose richly hued murals are part of several private collections. She was mentored by the poet-activist June Jordan, who taught her that the sky was her ceiling. She lives in Manhattan.

Josie Abugov is a journalist and fiction writer. She won the 2024 PEN America/DAU Prize for best debut short story, originally published in The Sewanee Review. Her fiction has also been published in KWELI and is forthcoming elsewhere. She graduated from Harvard University in 2023, where she received the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for academic excellence for her senior thesis on a Louisiana Supreme Court case and the Le Baron Russell Briggs Fiction Prize for best undergraduate story. During the day, she is a reporter in New Orleans.

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