Award-winning writer Mia McKenzie announced as keynote speaker for Reunion/Commencement 2015 Dinner
Reunion and Commencement 2015 events will be held June 18-21, 2015.

Antioch College announced today that award-winning writer Mia McKenzie will serve as the keynote speaker on Friday, June 19, for the College’s Reunion and Commencement Dinner.

Creator of Black Girl Dangerous, a multi-faceted forum for the literary and artistic expression of queer and trans people of color, McKenzie’s work promotes understanding of issues from race and queerness to class and gender—areas of relevance and passion for Antioch students and alumni. McKenzie, a self-described black feminist and queer, provides a fresh, witty and insightful viewpoint that encourages readers to look deeper when contemplating these topics.

McKenzie’s first novel, “The Summer We Got Free,” won the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction. Her second book, also entitled “Black Girl Dangerous,” is an educational tool currently used in many colleges and universities across the country. McKenzie’s work has also won awards and grants, such as the 2009 Astraea Foundation Writers Fund Award and the 2011 Leeway Foundation Transformation Award. In addition, her stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review and make/shift.

Her work has been published in The Guardian and Colorlines, quoted on The Melissa Harris Perry Show and recommended by The Root, Feministing, Angry Asian Man and Crunk Feminist Collective, to name a few.

McKenzie’s Keynote address will be held on Friday, June 19, 2015. Tickets must be purchased in advance. To learn more about the combined Reunion/Commencement 2015: “From Civil Rights to Social Justice,” visit alumni.antiochcollege.org/reunion2015.