Hard to Read presents RAISED
with Brontez Purnell, Michelle Tea, Nicola Knight, and Tzef Montana
Tuesday, July 11th at 7pm at The Standard, Hollywood / Free
In celebration of artist, musician, and choreographer Brontez Purnell’s new novel, Since I Laid My Burden Down, edited by Michelle Tea and the Feminist Press, Hard to Read presents an evening of readings on places we've grown up. Readers Purnell, Tea, Nicola Knight, and Tzef Montana will take us to Alabama, early adolescence, AA, North Hollywood, Athens, church, and likely, to bed.
Hosted by Fiona Alison Duncan, this is part of The Standard's monthly reading series HARD to READ.
SINCE I LAID MY BURDEN DOWN by BRONTEZ PURNELL
"A complex. . .look at one man’s experience of being black, queer, smart, soft, tough, artistic, and constantly in motion between rural and urban cultures." —Kirkus Reviews
DeShawn lives a high, creative, and promiscuous life in San Francisco. But when he’s called back to his cramped Alabama hometown for his uncle’s funeral, he’s hit by flashbacks of handsome, doomed neighbors and sweltering Sunday services. Amidst prickly reminders of his childhood, DeShawn ponders family, church, and the men in his life, prompting the question: Who deserves love?
A raw, funny, and uninhibited stumble down memory lane, Brontez Purnell’s debut novel explores how one man’s early sexual and artistic escapades grow into a life.
Brontez Purnell
An uninhibited exploration of growing up gay in 1980s Alabama.