Punk Rock, Social Change and Anti-Racism: Conversation and Double Book Release

The Institute of the Arts and Sciences presents a special conversation and double book release with authors James Spooner, Chris L. Terry, and John Malkin. Books will be available for purchase by the authors.

Black Punk Now (Soft Skull – October 31, 2023) by James Spooner and Chris L. Terry is an anthology of contemporary nonfiction, fiction, illustrations, and comics that collectively describe punk today and give punks—especially the Black ones—a wider frame of reference. With strong visual elements integrated throughout, this smart, intimate collection is demonstrative of punk by being punk itself: underground, rebellious, aesthetic but not static—working to decenter whiteness by prioritizing other perspectives.

Punk Revolution! – An Oral History of Punk Rock Politics and Activism (Rowman & Littlefield – June 15, 2023) by John Malkin is based on interviews with 200 international musicians, writers and activists exploring the ways that punk rock has taken on militarism, patriarchy, white supremacy, the police, settler colonialism, the climate crisis and more.

James Spooner is an award-winning graphic novelist, filmmaker and tattoo artist. His debut graphic novel, The High Desert is the 2023 recipient of the American Library Association’s Alex Award and the Cartoonist Studio Prize. Pantheon has recently acquired his forthcoming second memoir, set for publication in 2025. Spooner directed the seminal documentary Afro-Punk and co-founded the AfroPunk Festival, which currently boasts audiences in the hundreds of thousands around the world.

Chris L. Terry is the author of the novel Black Card, one of NPR’s best books of 2019. Terry’s debut novel Zero Fade was on Best of 2013 lists by Slate and Kirkus Reviews. Born in 1979 to a Black father and white mother, Terry spent his late teens and early twenties touring as the vocalist for different Richmond, Virginia punk bands. He has a Creative Writing MFA from Columbia College Chicago, and now lives and teaches in Los Angeles. His recent work has appeared in Pitchfork, Stereogum, Razorcake, Very Smart Brothas/The Root, Catapult and theLAnd Magazine.

John Malkin lives in Santa Cruz and is a musician, activist, journalist and UCSC Community Studies graduate. His previous books are Sounds of Freedom: Musicians on Social Change and Spirituality (2005) and The Only Alternative: Christian Nonviolent Peacemakers in America (2008). His interviews and writings have been published widely including in The Sun, Sojourners, Adbusters, Punk Planet, Razorcake, Z Magazine, Shambhala Sun, Tricycle, Film International, The Santa Cruz Sentinel and Santa Cruz Good Times. Malkin produced the 1991 documentary Santa Cruz Responds to the Gulf War. He’s hosted a weekly interview-based radio program for 25 years and currently can be heard on Thursdays at noon PST on KZSC 88.1 FM / kzsc.org.

ADMISSION
- Free and open to the public

PARKING
- Free parking is available at the Institute of Arts and Sciences Galleries.
- Accessible parking on High Rd.