Black Existentialism: Autumn Leaves and Other Space Oddities
Greenwood Rising is excited to announce another installation of Books for Thought! Join us as Quraysh Ali Lansana will interview Julian Thomas to discuss the relevance of his poetry book today, his experiences in the acting industry as an African American from a Tulsa native's perspective, and how to inspire change. Book sales and signings will be available.
ABOUT OUR AUTHOR & FEATURED BOOK
Julian Thomas is a poet, actor, audiobook narrator, and youth mentor from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is currently promoting his new book, Black Existentialism: Autumn Leaves and Other Space Oddities. Julian is best known for his roles in season 1 of the hit show Hunters, ABC's For Life, and his appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He has narrated over 20 audiobooks, including Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth by Clyde W. Ford, Hack Your Bureaucracy by Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai, and We Matter: Athletes and Activism by Etan Thomas.
ABOUT OUR MODERATOR
Quraysh Ali Lansana is author of over twenty books in poetry, nonfiction and children’s literature. Lansana is Applied Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing and Media Studies at the University of Tulsa and an alumnus of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. He was formerly a Lecturer in Africana Studies at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa where he also served as Director of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. Lansana is Executive Producer of KOSU/NPR’s Focus: Black Oklahoma monthly radio program, which is a recipient of a 2022 duPont-Columbia Award, a 2022 NAACP Image Award, a 2022 Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists Award and was a Peabody Award nominee. Lansana is also the recipient of a 2022 Emmy Award, a 2022 Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Award and a 2022 National Educational Telecommunications Association Public Media Award for his roles as host and consultant for the OETA (PBS) documentary film “Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 Years Later.” Lansana is a three-time International Regional Magazine Award-winning Contributing Editor for Oklahoma Today magazine. A former faculty member of both the Writing Program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, Lansana served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University from 2002-2012 and was Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing there until 2014. His most recent books include Killing the Negative: A Conversation in Art & Verse (with Joel Daniel Phillips), Opal’s Greenwood Oasis, the skin of dreams: new and collected poems, 1995-2018, The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience & Change Agent) and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop. Forthcoming titles include a children’s biography of Ralph Ellison, a memoir on the last decade of his mentor, Miss Gwendolyn Brooks, and a series of books on the Black Rodeo. Lansana’s work appears in Best American Poetry 2019. He is a founding member of Tri-City Collective and serves on the Board of Directors of the Philbrook Museum of Art, Oklahoma Humanities and the Tulsa Press Club. Lansana is a Curatorial Scholar for The Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art and a Curatorial Board Co-Chair for the Ragdale Foundation. He is a Cave Canem Fellow and a member of the first cohort of the Culture of Health Leadership for Racial Healing Fellowship.