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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: PRITTY
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Savannah
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:M.F.A. candidate, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Educator, artist, researcher, and writer. Founder, Healing By Any Means, LLC.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, Octobert 1, 2023, review of Pritty.
Publishers Weekly, October 9, 2023, review of Pritty, p. 72.
School Library Journal, December, 2023, Amy Shaw, review of Pritty, p. 96.
ONLINE
WSAV, https://www.wsav.com (November 13, 2023), Shawn Watkins, “‘Pritty’: More Than a Book about Queerness,” author interview.
Keith F. Miller, Jr. is an award-winning educator, artist, and researcher who studies healing literacies and their role in supporting BIPOC communities in healing, growing, and thriving through trauma. The founder of Healing By Any Means, LLC, Keith’s work powers people, projects, and healing-centered research in service of systems and narrative change through the arts. He is an executive producer of Pritty: The Animation and current M.F.A candidate in creative writing at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY.
‘Pritty’: More than a book about queerness
by: Shawn Watkins
Posted: Nov 13, 2023 / 03:39 PM EST
Updated: Nov 13, 2023 / 03:39 PM EST
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SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Not a coming-out story, the novel “Pritty” is set in Savannah and follows the journey of two Black boys who are navigating how to love one another as well as themselves.
“‘Pritty’ is a mirror, it provides us with this opportunity to look into what we really believe, what we can be for ourselves and for others,” said author Keith Miller.
Keith F. Miller Jr, 35, grew up in Westside Savannah and considered himself a quiet kid who felt invisible, so he observed the world around him.
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Leading out of the corporate world and finding himself fascinated by sociology, he graduated with a degree in dance and gender studies. He was later discovered by a modeling agency in New York, where he went to live and model at the age of 21.
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But he soon became discontent with that industry noting:
“The beauty industry is about determining who is and isn’t beautiful,” said Miller. “Growing up in the Deep South as a darker-skinned boy, I had my fair share of trying to navigate colorism and figuring out my own value.”
Keith Miller Jr. Instagram
That experience sparked conversations discussed in “Pritty” about unique beauty, valuing self-worth and expressing love.
The two protagonists of the story are Jay and Leroy.
“Jay, who we describe as a soft soul in a world of concrete, who is a junior in high school trying to discover himself outside of his brother, who is a charming athletic boy,” said Miller.
Leroy, on the other hand, Miller describes as “a really powerful embodiment of how the Deep South breeds our boys and that’s tough.”
Leroy is someone who speaks with his fists because that is what he learned to do as someone who was taught to “be a man.”
The story interestingly follows how both boys handle deep family secrets, racism and a connection they don’t have words for.
“A lot of the novel is them trying to figure this out, understanding what does it mean to be seen for the first time by someone, and how you navigate that first,” said Miller.
Not a coming-out story
“What makes pretty really special is there is no such thing as coming out,” said Miller. “There is no rejection of who you like and who you love. There is no question.”
Told from both boys’ perspectives, the story doesn’t follow the coming-out trope but on the depth of love and what it is like to be seen.
“We’ve been given a gift with the LGBTQ+ symbolism of different identities,” said Miller.
“Pritty” Animation Thumbnail
While teaching community youth, Miller found that many queer Gen Zers had no problem with being who they are, but struggled with connection and healing from heartbreak.
“They are asking me different questions, it wasn’t can I exist? It was how do I love?” said Miller.
“‘Pritty’ is in response to that and understanding that coming of again process is learning, how am I worthy of love? Who is worthy of our love?”
Representation of unconventional love is paramount to the world of ‘Pritty,’ pushing past conversations of living.
With topics of race and representation of queerness geared toward the younger generations, Miller responded to threats of book banning.
Are Gen Zers proud to be American?
“‘Pritty’ checks every box that will absolutely get it banned,” said Miller. “If it is banned, it is actually considered a compliment.”
Miller says he does not expect schools to embrace a text that moves further than where our society is now.
When he first experienced love, he had no words for it and couldn’t identify a way of expressing that.
“I wrote the novel because I was trying to figure out what was I experiencing and what were the words I was trying to figure out,” said Miller.
The book
“Pritty” Book Cover
Miller is thinking of making this story a series in partnership with Harper Collins Publishing.
“My goal is to be present, whether it be virtual or in person, to continue to keep these conversations going,” said Miller.
As part of their Gift Pritty Campaign, anyone can nominate someone who believes need the hope and message of the book can get it. The campaign will roll out after the book is released.
“‘Pritty’ is a bridge, it gives you language, it gives you understanding, even though this book is absolutely centered on the trauma and healing that is Black culture,” said Miller.
“You do not have to be Black, you do not have to be brown to understand what it means to love, and to lean on culture as a healing ingredient to what you are.”
Offered wherever books are sold, “Pritty” will be available on Nov. 14, and you can also see the animated short here.
MILLER, JR., Keith F. Pritty. 416p. HarperTeen. Nov. 2023. Tr $ 19.99. ISBN 9780063264922.
Gr 9 Up--Miller's ambitious debut novel about queer Black boys in Savannah, GA, defies genre categorization. Part teenage love triangle, part conspiracy thriller, part identity narrative, and part gang violence retribution story, it races chaotically to its conclusion and ultimately leaves readers unfulfilled and vaguely confused. The novel alternates between two first-person narrators--Jay and Leroy--as they recount their burgeoning love story amid the backdrop of a community gang war orchestrated by unknown forces. Despite the presence of gang violence, the Savannah described herein is almost completely alien to reality: a utopia where Black queer boys and girls face almost no homophobia from their teenage peers or members of the community, despite openly pursuing each other. It seems too pervasive to not be deliberate, as if the author is attempting to create a parallel universe where these bigotries don't exist. However, the author's decision to gloss over the struggles of Southern queer people with homophobia is puzzling when it is revealed through plot events that bigotry is anything but absent from this fictional Savannah. VERDICT Full of beautiful prose and characters who laugh in the face of toxic masculinity, Miller's debut has a lot of promise--especially in terms of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ representation--but uneven pacing and overly complicated plotlines keep it from its full potential.--Amy Shaw
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Shaw, Amy. "MILLER, JR., Keith F.: Pritty." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 12, Dec. 2023, p. 96. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A779118717/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=51cce1bb. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Miller, Jr., Keith F. PRITTY HarperTeen (Teen None) $19.99 11, 14 ISBN: 9780063264922
The dangers of love letters, honest feelings, and trying to do right by your community are on full, gay display in this duology opener.
Bookish high school junior and diehard romantic Joseph "Jay" Dupresh is used to feeling invisible, but a number of boys around the K-Town neighborhood of Savannah are showing interest lately, including sweet but rough-around-the-edges Leroy. While Jay focuses on writing love letters on commission as his growing side hustle (and some just for himself), Leroy's family affiliation with the Black Diamonds puts both boys at risk, forcing them to hit pause right when things start to heat up. Despite their reputation and even Jay's assumptions, the BDs are primarily a grassroots cooperative that happens to be made up of gangsters looking to protect and take ownership of their community. While Jay narrates his chapters with vulnerability and a delicate touch, Leroy provides contrast in both language and imagery from the peripheries of gang life. Together, they paint a rich, dynamic image of Black queer boyhood in a vividly depicted Southern community. The teens' will-they-won't-they romance is accompanied by the presence of a healthy number of other handsome queer boys and the life-threatening intrigue of a community violently turned against itself before discovering the real enemy. These storylines make for a compelling debut that impressively balances the sweet and the suspenseful.
Queer Black boy joy at its juiciest. (Fiction. 12-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Miller, Jr., Keith F.: PRITTY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A766904139/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fc567832. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Pritty
Keith F. Miller Jr. HarperTeen, $19.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-326492-2
Booksmart 17-year-old Jay Dupresh has one goal: get a full-ride scholarship to Northwestern to honor his older brother, who gave up his college dreams to help support their financially struggling family. On top of his collegiate desires, however, Jay also struggles with the need to be accepted and liked. After a charged encounter with 18-year-old Leroy, the younger brother of the Black Diamonds gang's leader, who intervenes when homophobic bullies target Jay, the two develop an electric friendship that soon blossoms into tentative courtship. Meanwhile, Leroy is wrestling with his own challenges: a run-in with a biased teacher sees Leroy on the verge of expulsion, so he recruits Jay's help in applying for a GED program. But when an unexpected attack leaves both boys injured, it becomes evident that there are greater threats to their fledgling relationship than a mutual fear of rejection. Miller's debut is laudable for its intimate portrayal of a Black community combatting systemic violence by creating their own institutions of support via the Black Diamonds, whose initially intimidating outward reputation begets a collaborative organization devoted to protection. Moreover, Miller sketches a panorama of queer Black characters who, even under threat, not only survive but thrive. Ages 1 3-up. (Nov.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"Pritty." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 41, 9 Oct. 2023, p. 72. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A770540061/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=106cd5f4. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.