Flamboyants

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

“A triumphant.” Shelf Awareness, starred review

“Flamboyants is not merely a much-needed history lesson, and it’s certainly not standard biographical fare. Johnson puts these figures in conversation with each other and with the present, enriching each essay with personal anecdotes delivered in a witty, conversational tone, and with cultural criticism that draws a direct through line from the Harlem Renaissance to Black queer culture today… Flamboyants suggests that we must see those who came before us as whole people to have any hope of making sense of our present.” –BookPage, starred review

“Johnson (All Boys Aren’t Blue) combines incisive prose commentary, skewering verse, and revealing memoir in this collection of abridged biographies of Harlem Renaissance-era Black queer luminaries…. Palmer (The Legend of Gravity) combines background textures resembling subway maps and skyscrapers with canvas portraiture to produce graphic and hyperrealistic imagery that harkens to the Harlem Renaissance while maintaining contemporary appeal.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A sincere and beautifully illustrated ode to queer Black figures who shaped the Harlem Renaissance.” –Kirkus

“Punctuated with vibrant paintings and expressive poetry…Through divulging details about how queerness affected their lives, Johnson paints pictures of important people who should serve as a beacon to Black queer people, as they do to the author.” –Booklist

George M. Johnson (they/them) is an Emmy nominated, award-winning, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. Their debut memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue, was a New York Times bestseller and garnered many accolades. It was the second-most banned book of 2022 in the United States, according to the American Library Association. For their work fighting book bans and challenges, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) honored George with its Free Speech Defender Award, and TIME Magazine named them one of the “100 Next Most Influential People in the World.” Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, they now live in Los Angeles, California.

Charly Palmer (he/him) is a graphic designer, illustrator, and the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award winner for Mama Africa! As a child, he was fascinated by Ezra Jack Keats’s illustrations for The Snowy Day, which inspired Charly’s own use of color and geometric shapes. He studied art and design at the American Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute, both in Chicago.

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