"I'm Karen From The Book!"
One Last Book Tour (?)
If you've read My Life in the Sunshine, you're likely familiar with Karen, a woman I believe to be the ancestor of the man who enslaved my paternal ancestors. Karen and I first connected through email in 2018, and I documented our unconventional relationship in an essay for NPR’s Code Switch that fall. The essay served as a catalyst, leading me to connect with close cousins and my aunt on my father's side, and ultimately becoming a significant part of my life story in Sunshine. Karen lives not far from Austin, Texas, a city I've visited twice in the past two years for SXSW. Despite our continued email correspondence, we had never spoken until my book event last week at the University of Texas in Austin.
Karen and her husband, Larry arrived at my Austin hotel precisely as planned, and we chatted for about an hour. I kept waiting for it to feel awkward or heavy, but it never did. It felt like we’d known each other for years and we were just catching up. We talked about the many concerts Karen and Larry had seen when Austin was a smaller town (Hendrix! Santana!), about our shared history, and about what it would mean if Karen took a DNA test and we learned if we’re truly related.
Later that evening, seated at a communal bar table, my friend Laura posed the question I knew someone would inevitably ask: "How do you know each other?" Both Karen and I exchanged smiles before I responded in the only way I could think of, "That's a complicated question." Karen chimed in with pride:
“I’m Karen from the book!”
Laura lit up, high-fived Karen, and confirmed what I’ve known for five years: Karen and I still don’t know if we’re actually related. But our relationship transcends traditional family because we’ve allowed it to; we’ve decided that it matters.
My Life in the Sunshine was published 16 months ago and I’m still running around talking about myself. I’m having a great time, and most importantly, I continue to meet interesting people everywhere I go. Next week might be the most hectic run of them all. There’s nothing else on the calendar after these dates, and this could be the final run. If you live in or have friends/family in any of these fine cities, please spread the word.
Two of my favorite albums of 2023 were released this week: I Killed Your Dog by Brooklyn’s L’Rain, and Bite The Hand That Feeds by Atlanta’s Upchuck. I like both of these albums far too much to try to describe them, so please just take a few minutes and watch the videos below.
Interview magazine documented my recent conversation with The Cure’s founding drummer Lol Tolhurst around his book GOTH. We were definitely talking about Tommy Lee, not Tommy Lee Jones, as the piece claims. It’s not our entire conversation, but you can read some great highlights below.
October is back to school month for me. I’m excited to speak at several universities and a few other venues, including Jack White’s Third Man Records in Detroit, where I’m hoping to record my conversation with Ann Delisi live to vinyl. Some events are during the day, so please check local listings. Most events are free and open to the public. Details and updates can always be found HERE.
Tue Oct 17: Tucson, AZ / University of Arizona / Tucson Humanities Festival
Wed Oct 18: Los Angeles, CA / UCLA
Thu Oct 19: Detroit, MI / Third Man Records, in conversation with Ann Delisi
Fri Oct 20: Madison, WI / Wisconsin Book Festival
Wed Oct 25: Durham, NC / Duke University, in conversation with Mark Anthony Neal
My memoir My Life in the Sunshine is out now. I’d love it if you picked up a copy at your local independent bookstore. It’s also available at all the big places, and for your Kindle as well. There’s an audiobook that I spent 20 hours of my life reading (it’ll only take 7 hours to listen). You can listen to the 5-minute intro for free on Spotify.
I hope to see you somewhere soon.
Nabil Ayers / Brooklyn