'Heavy: An American Memoir': A Reading and Conversation with Kiese Laymon + Mark Anthony Neal

'In Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon explores his family's relationship to sexual violence, food and language. In the course of the exploration, he finds his mother, his identity as a son and memories he spent a lifetime concealing. During this event, Laymon reads a chapter from his forthcoming memoir and participates in a discussion with the audience and the moderator, Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal. This program is presented as a partnership between Duke's Forum for Scholars and Publics and Scalawag , a Durham-based magazine about politics and culture in the American South, whose editor Danielle Purifoy, introduced the event, which was held at the Hayti Heritage Center.'