Trymaine Lee Author Talk and Book Signing

A deeply personal exploration of the generational impact of guns on the Black experience in America

A few years ago, Trymaine Lee, though fit and only 38, nearly died of a heart attack. When his then five-year-old daughter, Nola, asked her daddy why, he realized that to answer her honestly, he had to confront what almost killed him—the weight of being a Black man in America; of bearing witness, as a journalist, to relentless Black death; and of a family history scarred by enslavement, lynching, the Great Migration, the also insidious racism of the North, and gun violence that stole the lives of two great-uncles, a grandfather, a stepbrother, and two cousins.In this powerful narrative, Lee weaves together three strands: the long and bloody history of African Americans and guns; his work as a chronicler of gun violence, tallying the costs and riches generated by both the legal and illegal gun industries; and his own life story. With unflinching honesty he takes readers on a journey, from almost being caught up in gun violence as a young man, to tracing the legacy of the Middle Passage in Ghana through his ancestors’ footsteps, to confronting the challenges of representing his people in an overwhelmingly white and often hostile media world, and most importantly, to celebrating the enduring strength of his family and community.In A Thousand Ways to Die, Lee answers Nola and all who seek a more just America. He shares the hard truths and complexities of the Black experience, but he also celebrates the beauty and resilience that is Nola’s legacy.

IN THE TRADITION OF COATES AND DYSON: A powerful combination of memoir, journalism, and witness

MAJOR AUTHOR PLATFORM: Lee received a Pulitzer Prize as part of a team that covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Emerging Journalist of the Year prize from the National Association of Black Journalists, and a Sidney Hillman Award for his role in breaking the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012.

BELOVED MEDIA PERSONALITY: Lee has a strong audience following and is extremely well connected.

EVER TOPICAL: Each year more than 1 million years of potential life are lost due to gun deaths. A recent study found that for every 100 African-American women in the US, there are only 83 African-American men-the rest incarcerated or dead.

A PERSONAL STORY: Lee and his family have been deeply touched by gun violence. His great uncle was lynched; his grandfather, stepbrother, and two cousins lost their lives too soon.

TRYMAINE LEE is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy award winning journalist and correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. He’s the host of the “Into America” podcast where he covers the intersection of Blackness, power, and politics. A contributing author to the “1619 Project”, he has reported for The New York Times, the Huffington Post, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A Thousand Ways to Die is his first book.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

1030 Elysian Fields Ave, 1030 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, United States