ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeffrey Blount is an award-winning author of two novels, Almost Snow White, winner of the 2013 USA Best Book Awards, and Hating Heidi Foster, winner of the 2013 Readers Favorite Book Award for young adult literature.

He is also an Emmy award-winning television director. During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of Meet The Press, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, The Chris Matthews Show and major special events. Jeffrey speaks on issues of race, social justice and writing. He's also an award-winning scriptwriter for films on display in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. Born and raised in Smithfield, Virginia, he now lives in Washington, DC. 

ABOUT THE BOOK - THE EMANCIPATION OF EVAN WALLS

“If you aren’t already ‘woke,’ you will be after reading this book.”—Mary Batten, author of Aliens from Earth

EVAN WALLS IS TERRIFIED by the birth of his first child because he doesn’t want her to suffer the isolation he had as a child. Seeing his torment, his wife, Izzy, prods him to explain. He tells of being a black child growing up in the racially charged 1960s. Inspired to overcome the racism and class status imposed on blacks, he dreams of a life bigger than that lived by most everyone he knows in the small Virginia town of Canaan. He is resented by friends and family for desiring a life better than theirs. Among the smartest in his class, Evan becomes a target of white kids threatened by the forced integration of their schools. Caught in a crossfire of hate from whites and his own people, who question whether he is black enough, Evan is often alone and bewildered. Only the love of his great grandmother, Mama Jennie, and his mentor, Bojack, keeps him on track. Together, they help Evan find perspective and peace.