Join us on Wednesday, September 27 at 7pm PT when Lawrence Lindell celebrates the release of his book, Blackward, with Gaia WXYZ at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online at the link below
https://youtube.com/live/m7lAH4MyHZs?feature=share
About Blackward
Black, weird, awkward and proud of it. Welcome to the club!
Tired of feeling like you don’t belong? Join the club. It’s called the Section. You’d think a spot to chill, chat, and find community would be much easier to come by for nerdy, queer punks. But when four longtime, bookish BFFs—Lika, Amor, Lala, and Tony—can’t find what they need, they take matters into their own hands and create a space where they can be a hundred percent who they are: Black, queer, and weird.
The group puts a call out for all awkward Black folks to come on down to the community center to connect. But low attendance and IRL run-ins with trolls of all kinds only rock everybody with anxiety. As our protagonists start to question the merits of their vision, a lifetime of insecurities—about not being good enough or Black enough—bubbles to the surface. Will they find a way to turn it around in time for their radical brainchild, the Blackward Zine Fest?
Lawrence Lindell’s characters pop from the page in playful Technicolor. From mental health to romance, micro—and macro—aggressions to joy, our crew tackles everything life throws at them in this heartwarming tale about building a place to belong and the power of community.
About Lawrence Lindell
Lawrence Lindell is an artist, musician, and educator from California who works in many artistic disciplines, including comics, music, illustration, and mixed media. He is the cofounder of Laneha House.
About Gaia WXYZ
Gaia WXYZ (pronounced “wise”) is a Black, mixed race nonbinary multimedia artist, cartoonist, and musician from South Florida, currently living in Oakland, CA. They create autobiographical comics about being Black and Queer that branch out into the genres of science fiction and surrealism. In 2020 they received a Master’s of Fine Arts in Comics from CCA’s MFA in Comics program. One year later they taught the first-ever comic art class at UC Berkeley. They have tabled at numerous comic and zine festivals, and participated in panels at San Diego Comic-Con, San Francisco Zine Fest and Queers & Comics Conference in New York. They were included in the ground-breaking LGBTQ+ comics documentary No Straight Lines. This past year their comic The Tale of Daisy and Gaia was selected for the 2022 Art on Market Street Project; their work was on display in MUNI bus shelters from the Ferry Building to Civic Center. Gaia is quickly becoming a respected voice in the comics world, an their sci-fi autobiography comic SupaClusta is slated for release sometime in the near future.
Black, weird, awkward and proud of it. Welcome to the club!