Brooklyn Author Series: Jas Hammonds "We Deserve Monuments" with Jacqueline Woodson

"A pull-your-heart-out-with-its-teeth novel. . .[these] characters feel like real people, and so their big love, aches, and humor feel real too. Though the prose, plot, themes, and characters are expertly executed, Avery, the protagonist, carries the voice. Queer kids, Black kids, biracial kids — and everyone else — will find so much of themselves in her." – Chicago Review of Books

Author Jas Hammonds will discuss her new novel We Deserve Monuments (available November 29 from Roaring Brook Press) with guest facilitator, author Jacqueline Woodson. This book launch event is sponsored by Brooklyn Community Pride Center and Cafe con Libros, an intersectional Feminist community bookstore and coffee shop.

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Family secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in We Deserve Monuments, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations.  What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?  Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.  While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.  As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty's health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she's built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.

About the Author

Jas Hammonds was raised in many cities and in-between the pages of many books. They have received support for their writing from Lambda Literary, Sundress Academy of the Arts, and the Highlights Foundation. They are also a grateful recipient of a MacDowell James Baldwin Fellowship. We Deserve Monuments is their debut novel.

About the Conversation Partner

Jacqueline Woodson is the author of many books for young people and adults. She is the recipient of a number of awards including a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, and a 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming was a National Book Award winner. Adult novels include Red At The Bone and Another Brooklyn.

Space is limited!

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ABOUT THE BROOKLYN AUTHOR SERIES

We’re looking for more opportunities to spotlight LGBTQ+ Brooklyn-connected authors in our Crown Heights space. If you have a new book coming out, and you think it would appeal to our audience, reach out to Jere Keys at jkeys@lgbtbrooklyn.org to discuss.