News
PAPERBACK: THE CONFESSION OF COPELAND CANE
Fall 2023
The Northern California Book Award Winner for Fiction: THE CONFESSION OF COPELAND CANE, is coming to PAPERBACK this October! We're so excited to share its brand new cover by @JayaNicely with art by Sung Jik Yang. Now available for preorder!
ALTA JOURNAL RELEASE EVENT: ISSUE 23
May 30 2023
The special report confronts California’s staggering inequality by exploring the state’s community college system. A professor who has taught at nine of the system’s campuses, Norris has “come to see it all as one vast, multi-perspectival prism through which to view the state of our state.”— Eliza Gislason
EAST BAY EXPRESS (EBX) | NATIVE SON|BY LOU FANCHER| AUTHOR KEENAN NORRIS ON CHICAGO, OAKLAND AND THE MIGRATIONS OF HISTORY
April 12, 2023
In his latest book, Oakland writer Keenan Norris journeys to the Windy City in search of his roots.
BIONEERS CONFERENCE| Can Storytellers Help Save The World?| LALEH KHADIVI, KEENAN NORRIS & Andri Snær Magnason
April 8, 2023
In times of crisis, societies look to their storytellers to understand and process the challenges and to peek around corners to see pathways that purely rational analyses simply can’t fathom.
PBS | CHICAGO TONIGHT: BLACK VOICES | By Erica Gunderson | ‘Chi Boy’ Examines Chicago’s Place in Black American History
March 11, 2023
For young Black boys and men, Chicago can be a cradle and a crucible, a place where they can encounter both endless inspiration and endless despair.
THE INDYPENDENT|REVISITING THE GREAT MIGRATION|BY ELEANOR J. BADER
February 9, 2023
….this is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read
Mercury News | We’re all going to die but it’s OK
January 17, 2023
The enduring hope of dystopian and apocalyptic sci-fi
IAIA | MFACW Evening Reading Series: Readings by Pam Houston, Esther Belin, and Keenan Norris
January 10, 2023
CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS| YOUR FAVORITE BOOK WITH KEENAN NORRIS
December 12, 2022
Our guest is Keenan Norris, author of the recent Chi Boy: Native Sons and Chicago Reckonings. This book combines elements of memoir, essays, and journalism to paint a portrait of the growth of Chicago told through the narratives of Black men.
ALTA ASKS LIVE | Oakland’s Poet Laureate Ayodele Nzinga
April 20, 2022
“Your voice was a bolt of lightning. It threw me up against the wall,” Keenan Norris told Ayodele Nzinga on Alta Live of his first encounter with her work as the spoken word poet WordSlanger.
Blacklandia Events Series | Keenan Norris and The Confession of Copeland Cane
February 7, 2022
The Adroit Journal | By Tommy Mouton | A Conversation with Keenan Norris
January 2022
I started writing the book in 2015—in part spurred on by the police murders of Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Laquan McDonald, and numerous other unarmed Black people.
48 hills | Excellent reads that grabbed hold and shook us in 2021
January 4, 2022
Black food history, wildlife encounters, basketball heroes, and more transformed our thought patterns last year.
SF Public Library African-American Center | Author: Keenan Norris in conversation
November 6, 2021
LOCUS | Ian Mond Reviews The Confession of Copeland Cane by Keenan Norris
October 6, 2021
The Confessions of Copeland Cane poses the question: when is a dystopia not a dystopia?
East Bay Express (EBX) | A Strange Alchemy: Keenan Norris brings deep listening, dystopia and hope in latest novel
August 25, 2021
In a conversation with Oakland-based writer Keenan Norris about his new novel, The Confessions of Copeland Cane, there is agreement that deep listening is a complex, underrated skill.
SFGATE | By Amelia Williams | Keenan Norris’ New Novel, ‘The Confession Of Copeland Cane,’ Imagines An East Bay Dystopia
July 11, 2021
This is probably the last thing you want to do right now, but bear with me.
Skylight Books Podcast Series | In Conversation with Tongo Eisen-Martin
July 15 2021
Set in East Oakland, California in a very near future, The Confession of Copeland Cane introduces us to a prescient and contemporary voice, one whose take on coming of age in America becomes a startling reflection of our present moment.
Franklin Park Reading Series | Matt Bell, Jeanne Thornton, Keenan Norris, and Brooks Sterritt
July 12 2021
Loyalty Bookstore | Keenan Norris and Victor LaValle for The Confession of Copeland Cane
June 18, 2021
Copeland Cane V, the child who fell outta Colored People Time and into America, is a fugitive...
The Oaklandside | Keenan Norris’ latest novel depicts a near-future dystopian Oakland
June 14, 2021
“The Confession of Copeland Cane” is a cautionary tale of what could be in store if gentrification, racism, and inequality continue unchecked.
INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN | NORRIS REFLECTS ON GROWING UP IN THE INLAND EMPIRE
April 8, 2021
In a virtual “conversation” last fall for Alta between the two writers, [Susan] Straight called “One Coyote” “an absolutely perfect evocation of that place and that time.”
WORDS, BEATS & LIFE | Street Lit Symposium
October 26, 2020
Words, Beats & Life’s Festival features the Street Lit Symposium.
CSUMB | Toni Morrison Authors Conversation Series
October 10, 2020
The Center for Black Student Success invites you to join a conversation with novelist, essayist, and professor Keenan Norris.
CLEMMONS FAMILY FARM | Alone Together
September 26, 2020
In these historic times, COVID19, police brutality, racism and civil unrest may increase our feelings of stress and loneliness.
After a few minutes I armored myself for the cold and walked outside, into the chilly, nearly unlit night. Two porch lights shone from homes across the paved road. I picked the first, closest one and as I climbed the porch steps and knocked on the door, a voice from the darkness began to yell at me.
GODDARD COLLEGE | COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS | FALL 2017
Fall, 2017
In the 1990s, Street Lit became a phenomenon that was controversial yet rooted in the urban African American experience. Best-selling authors like Omar Tyree were the forerunners in the modern day storytelling of Street Lit. This November Scarecrow Press is publishing Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape edited by emerging novelist and scholar Keenan Norris. Recently, co-contributor Kimberly Fain had a conversation with Omar and Keenan about the history of Street Lit and the importance of the genre.
HUFFPOST | By Matthew Lynch, Contributor | The Definition of Street Lit With Omar Tyree & Keenan Norris
November 11, 2013
LARB: Los Angeles Review of Books | PODCAST #46: Keenan Norris, "Brother and the Dancer"
October 28, 2013
Colin Marshall speaks with Keenan Norris about his debut novel, Brother and the Dancer, a coming-of-age tale about two young African Americans in the San Bernardino Valley.