Black Lives Matter.

A note from Jessica:

Here at The Manuscript Academy, we're all about real, authentic conversations that accomplish something important. Here are some resources to help you get started on becoming a better ally--how to support your friends, have difficult conversations with your relatives, and learn more about the cultural moment happening right now. (It's our hope that history books will remember this as the moment it all, finally, got better.) This is all a long, ongoing process, and as you'll hear, we are still on our own journeys. We're doing our best, and sharing what we've learned along the way.

A note from Julie:

Along with the rest of the country, we watched helplessly as the murder of George Floyd ignited our country. As always at the Manuscript Academy, we asked ourselves, “How can we help?” Join us for this podcast where Jessica gives advice on the best way to support our Black writers and friends during this difficult time, great podcasts to listen to, and more. Julie will talk books by Black writers that she really enjoyed (and that you must immediately put on your list) and great books for kids by Black writers brought to us via school librarian and author Cameron Rosenblum.

We discuss some of our favorite recent books by Black authors: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, A Good Kind of Trouble - Lisa Moore Ramée, and You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson.

Then we head into a first pages podcast with a page by the talented RAOWordplay.

You can find some of our favorite books, podcasts, articles, and more here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iDYcpGaD_NEIpm3CzS5zuGVnTwaBtDCXXgryJ3Boq_8/edit?usp=sharing