Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, author of My Monticello (2021), will read from her collection of short stories and field questions at 黑料正能量鈥檚 Writers Read program on Tuesday, March 19.聽

A finalist for the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Fiction, My Monticello appeared on many 鈥淏est of鈥� lists, including The New York Times鈥� 鈥溾�� and Time鈥檚 鈥�.鈥� One of its short stories, 鈥淐ontrol Negro,鈥� was anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2018, guest edited by Roxane Gay and read live by LeVar Burton. 

Its title story, 鈥淢y Monticello,鈥� is set in an apocalyptic near-future Charlottesville, Virginia, which is overrun by a white, racist militia. Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson, leads her neighbors to take refuge in the historic, abandoned plantation house of her ancestors. 

In a for The Washington Post, Anissa Gray writes that My Monticello 鈥渋s, quite simply, an extraordinary debut from a gifted writer with an unflinching view of history and what may come of it.鈥� Johnson, an alumna of James Madison University, worked as a public school art teacher for 20 years. She lives in Charlottesville as a full-time writer.

The next morning, Johnson will speak at Convocation on Wednesday, March 20, at 10:10 a.m. at Common Grounds Coffeehouse. A book signing will follow both events, which are free and open to the public.

The events are presented by 黑料正能量 Language and Literature with the 黑料正能量 Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.