PRESS RELEASE
Oni Press is proud to announce the publication of the next book by Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History creator Joel Christian Gill, detailing his upbringing and relationship to the violence that surrounded it.
Fights is Joel Christian Gill’s visceral and deeply affecting memoir chronicling his youthand coming of age as a poor Black child in a chaotic southern landscape of rough city streets and foreboding backwoods during the crack cocaine boom of the 1980s.
“Oni is incredibly proud to include Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence as a lead title in our 2020 slate” says senior editor Shawna Gore. “Joel tells his story with astonishing nuance and clarity–the story of the troubled and conflicted boy he once was, told by the brave and compassionate man he became. Fights is an important and imposing book, both in size and what it aspires to reach in its readers.”
Propelled into a world filled with uncertainty and desperation, young Joel is pushed toward using violence to solve his problems by everything and everyone around him. But fighting doesn’t always yield the best results for a confused and sensitive kid who yearns for a better, more fulfilling life than the one he was born into.
“Fights is the hardest thing I’ve ever done” says Joel Christian Gill. “However, I felt like documenting the abuse and trauma survived could help others in similar situations. As much as this is personal and terrifying I feel like there is someone out there who will benefit from hearing my story.”
Fights details the young adult life of creator Joel Christian Gill, told through a conversation with his son, bringing him face to face with the decisions he made out of necessity, and how these choices shaped him as a man and a father himself. This must-read memoir arrives in stores in January 2020, and deserves a place on the bookshelves of every parent.
