Damon Young is writer, critic, humorist, and professional black person. He’s a co-founder and editor in chief of the blog VerySmartBrothas — called “the blackest thing that ever happened to the internet” by The Washington Post — and a columnist for GQ.com.
In his provocative and humorous memoir What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker (HarperCollins), Young explores the ever-shifting definitions of what it means to be Black and male in America.
For Young, existing while Black is an extreme sport. In fact, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker chronicles his efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him. NPR Weekend Edition noted that “His essays are pointed, ruminative, often barbed and funny reflections on how the fact of his skin color has posed particular lifelong challenges, questions, and anxieties.”