Join us for a celebration with author Julian Randall for his new book, The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit, at Haymarket House with host Gabriel Ramirez and readings from George Abraham and Itiola Jones. 

The Dead Don’t Need Reminding is a braided story of Julian Randall’s return from the cliff edge of a harrowing depression and his determination to retrace the hustle of a white-passing grandfather to the Mississippi town from which he was driven amid threats of tar and feather. Pulsing with life, sharp, and wickedly funny, The Dead Don’t Need Reminding is Randall’s journey to get his ghost story back.

***This in person event will be live-streamed through Haymarket Books. Register through Ticket Tailor to receive a link to the video conference on the day of the event. We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speaker and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.***

Semicolon books will be on site to sell books and following the program we will have a book signing and reception with light refreshments. 

Julian Randall Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black poet from Chicago. A recipient of multiple fellowships, including a Pushcart Prize. He holds an MFA from University of Mississippi. His writing appears in New York Times Magazine, POETRY, Marvel Comics and The Atlantic. Julian is the author of Refuse (Pitt, 2018), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award, The Pilar Ramirez Duet (Holt Books for Young Readers), The Chainbreakers (HBYR, 2024) and The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: Essays (Bold Type Books, 2024). He can be found at @JulianThePoet and on his website JulianDavidRandall.com.

Gabriel Ramirez is a Queer Afro-Latinx writer, performer, and educator. Ramirez’s work has appeared in Muzzle Magazine, the Adroit Journal, and elsewhere.

George Abraham (they/he) is a Palestinian-American poet. They are the author of Birthright (Button Poetry, 2020), and the chapbooks: the specimen’s apology (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019) and al youm (TAR, 2017). He is currently Executive Editor of the Whiting Award winning journal Mizna. Their collaborations include co-editing a Palestinian poetry anthology with Noor Hindi (Haymarket Books, 2025), and a performance art project titled EVE with Fargo Tbakhi.

I.S. Jones is an American / Nigerian poet and essayist. She has received support in the form of fellowships, retreats, and residencies from Hedgebrook, Brooklyn Poets, Sewanee’s Writers Conference, Callaloo, Bread Loaf, and The Watering Hole. For the last three years, she served as the Director of the Watershed Reading Series with Art + Literature Laboratory. Her chapbook Spells of My Name (2021) was selected by Newfound for their Emerging Poets Series. I.S. Jones is a 2023 Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Scholar. She is currently an instructor with Brooklyn Poets, a reader for Poetry Magazine, and is at work on her debut full-length collection of poems. 

This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books, Semicolon Books and Bold Type Books. While all our events are freely available if you are able to purchase a ticket that will support our ongoing programming work.