An Evening with damali ayo
Featured in world-wide publications including Harpers, the Village Voice, Salon.com, the Washington Post, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, Redbook Magazine, The O'Reilly Factor, and Book TV, damali ayo engages audiences to think, feel, and heal through difficult community and personal challenges ranging from race, gender, sexual assault, and sexual orientation to spirituality, chronic illness, the creative process, healing, music, and even trash.
She is the author of two books, How to Rent a Negro (2005) and Obamistan! which are playful yet biting satirical examinations of race relations. How to Rent a Negro was acclaimed as "one of the most trenchant and amusing commentaries on contemporary race relations." It was granted a 2005 Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book Awards from the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Obamistan! Land without Racism: Your Guide to the New America (2010)debunks the myth of a post-race world.
A frequent speaker at college campuses, ayo also is a contributor to four other books, has done several stories for NPR, including as a contributor to the reboot of the historic This I Believe radio series, and she is a member of "The Black Panel" in Baratunde Thurston's How To Be Black (2012), among other activities and associations.
damali ayo’s Athenaeum talk is co-sponsored by the PSR Subcommittee on Campus Climate.
Food for Thought: Podcast with damali ayo