Black Friend

Essays

BY ZIWE

Ziwe made a name for herself staring interviewees in the eye and asking, “How many Black friends do you have?” She’s an expert at making people squirm, coming right out and asking the tough questions about race and racism that our culture has made white people experts at dancing around.

In The Book of Ziwe, she turns this incisive perspective on the culture at large, with her signature blend of devastating bluntness and incredible warmth that keeps her guests coming back. Throughout the book, Ziwe mixes bite–sized moments of insight with longer essays that take a range of forms, from serious distillations of cultural phenomena to a transcript of “A Conversation with a Cancelled White Person,” and even a Choose Your Own Adventure–style piece about navigating race in everyday life.

Personal and funny, but also challenging and engaging, The Book of Ziwe tackles questions about race and racism head on, approaching the issue in a manner that evokes the way it comes up in the real world—not through deliberate studies of history and theory, which are so important, but in an awkward conversation at a party or a yikes comment from a coworker in the break room. The book lives in the moment of discomfort that can be the most truly educational way of unlearning biases. Plus, like everything Ziwe does, it will startle you with how much it makes you laugh.

Ziwe is the executive producer and star of the eponymous late–night variety show ZIWE on Showtime. She has also written for Desus & Mero, Dickinson, and Our Cartoon President, and she created the iconic Instagram Live show Baited. She lives in Brooklyn.

Selling Points

THE BOOK FOR THE NEXT MOMENT: Serious, educational works about antiracism, such as How to Be an Antiracist and White Fragility, have taken over the bestseller lists. Ziwe’s book will be the perfect next step for the people flocking to those books: It goes beyond a theoretical understanding of racism to show readers how it functions in their day–to–day lives and the pop culture landscape.

EXPLODING ONTO THE SCENE:

Ziwe is the host of Showtime’s Ziwe.Over the last year, she has also guest–starred on HBO’s Succession, sold out shows at Brooklyn’s Bell House, and joined Pete Davidson as the face of the brand Rowing Blazers.

IMMEDIATE EXCITEMENT: Within 24 hours of Ziwe announcing her book deal, she was flooded with enthusiasm from the likes of Gabrielle Union, Janelle Monáe, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, Keep It host Ira Madison III, publisher and former National Book Foundation director Lisa Lucas, and thousands of others. In the first day, Abrams received press requests from New York magazine and The New Yorker

SPECIFICATIONS

* 240 pages

* WIDTH: 5 1/2" - 140mm

* HEIGHT: 8 1/4" - 210mm

* Hardcover with jacket

PUB MONTH: OCTOBER 2023

HUMOR, POP CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT

ISBN 978-1-4197-5634-4

US $26.00