Conversation with Arriel Vinson and Leah Johnson

Event Details

About the Authors

Arriel Vinson is a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow and Midwesterner who writes about being young, Black, and in search of freedom. She earned her MFA in fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. Her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in Kweli Journal, Catapult, The Rumpus, Waxwing, and others. Arriel is a Tin House YA Scholar, Highlights Foundation scholarship recipient, and 2020 Walter Grant recipient. Under the Neon Lights, a YA novel-in-verse, is her debut. You can connect with her on social media at @arriwrites and find her work at www.arriwrites.com. 

 Leah Johnson (she/her) is an eternal Midwesterner and author of award-winning books for children and young adults. Her bestselling debut YA novel, You Should See Me in a Crown, was a Stonewall Honor Book, was the inaugural Reese’s Book Club YA pick, and named one of TIME‘s 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. She is also the author of the Lambda Literary Award finalist Ellie Engle Saves Herself and editor of the USA Today bestselling middle grade anthology Black Girl Power, among others. When she’s not writing, you can find her at Loudmouth Books, her Indianapolis-based independent bookstore that specializes in highlighting the work of marginalized authors and uplifting banned or challenged books.