WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU BLACKER A Memoir in Essays

Damon Young’s deep, gravelly voice rolls through one’s ears like a musical bass line that one does not want to stop. Whether delivering jokes or speaking about how he struggled with the loss of loved ones, his voice commands attention and delivers catharsis time and again. From growing up in Pittsburgh to becoming a successful writer to navigating the politics of race in the ages of Obama and Trump, Young reconciles his Blackness, his sexuality, his family, and his success despite living in a culture preternaturally determined to make him an outsider. Both his words and his delivery will engage listeners and give them a more profound sense of what it means to be Black in a white culture, even for successful people of color. L.E. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2019]