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Essays
by William Evans, Omar Holmon
The creators of the popular website Black Nerd Problems bring their witty and unflinching insight to this engaging collection of pop culture essays on everything from Mario Kart and The Wire to issues of representation and police brutality across media.
When William Evans and Omar Holmon founded Black Nerd Problems, they had no idea whether anyone beyond their small circle of friends would be interested in their little corner of the internet. But soon after launching, they were surprised to find out that there was a wide community of people who hungered for fresh perspectives on all things nerdy, from the perspective of #OwnedVoices.
In the years since, Evans and Holmon have built a large, dedicated fanbase eager for their brand of cultural critique, whether in the form of a laugh-out-loud, raucous Game of Thrones episode recap or an eloquent essay on dealing with grief through stand-up comedy. Now, they are ready to take the next step with this vibrant and hilarious essay collection, which covers everything from X-Men to Breonna Taylor with insight and intelligence.
A much needed and fresh pop culture critique from the perspective of people of color, Black Nerd Problems is the ultimate celebration for anyone who loves a blend of social commentary and all things nerdy.
"Evans and Holmon, cofounders of the website Black Nerd Problems, bring their pop culture criticism to this wide-ranging, compulsively readable debut collection...This hugely entertaining, eminently thoughtful collection is a master class in how powerful—and fun—cultural criticism can be." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Evans and Holmon examine a broad swath of the popular-culture landscape, from anime and video games to comic books and movies, mixing social commentary and insight with the sheer love of the true fan…[The] authors reach far and wide across fan culture and use a pleasing blend of humor and pathos to connect readers to the material. An exercise in pop culture criticism that is simultaneously funny, thoughtful, and provocative." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Hilarious and thought-provoking essays that read like talking to a friend." - School Library Journal
"Omar and Will are the best of the best at dissecting pop culture." - Kari Byron, bestselling author of Crash Test Girl, host of Crash Test World, and former host of Mythbusters
"Reading Black Nerd Problems will fill you with joy and give you hope for the future of geek culture. If you dig writing that is authentic, enthusiastic, and cynicism-free, this BNP collection will be your jam. I promise." - Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One
This information about Black Nerd Problems was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
William Evans is an author, speaker, performer, and instructor known for founding the Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam and cofounding the popular website Black Nerd Problems. He has been a national finalist in multiple poetry slam competitions and was the recipient of both the 2016 Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant and the 2018 Spirit of Columbus Foundation Grant. The Callaloo and Watering Hole fellow is the author of three poetry collections and currently lives with his family in Columbus, Ohio. He is an MFA candidate at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Omar Holmon lives as he writes, one nerd reference at a time. Recognized by Rutgers University as a distinguished Alumnus Poet, he is the author of the poetry collection We Were All Someone Else Yesterday and cofounder of the website Black Nerd Problems. Omar's voice is one that makes a home across numerous demographics. Like A Beautiful Mind but with more comic book and movie quotes, Omar is able to find the correlation between pop culture and any body of work, using humor in his social commentary to make serious points.
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