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Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)? Jay Ellis, star of HBO’s Insecure, tells the story of growing up with an imaginary best friend you will never forget.
DC Public Library, in partnership with Mahogany Books is excited to host star of HBO's Insecure Jay Ellis as we celebrate the release of his debut memoir, Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)? This humorous memoir charts Ellis' unforgettable journey from adolecence to adulthood, told in the roast-you-with-love voice of your closest homey! Moderating the afternoon's conversation will be New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds!
This program is sponsored by the DC Public Library Foundation.
Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)?
Jay Ellis, star of HBO’s Insecure, tells the story of growing up with an imaginary best friend you will never forget—part Dwayne Wayne from A Different World, part Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air—in this hilarious, vulnerable memoir.
What to do when you’re the perpetual new kid, only child, and military brat hustling school to school each year and everyone’s looking to you for answers? Make some shit up, of course! And a young Jay Ellis does just that, with help from his imaginary friend, Mikey.
A testament to the importance of invention, trusting oneself, and making space for creativity, Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)? is a memoir of a kid who confided in his imaginary sidekick to navigate parallel pop culture universes (like watching Fresh Prince alongside John Hughes movies or listening to Ja Rule and Dave Matthews) to a lifetime of birthday disappointment (being a Christmas-season Capricorn will do that to you) and hoop dreams gone bad.
As his imaginary friend morphs into adult consciousness, Ellis charts an unforgettable story of looking inward to solve to some of life’s biggest (and smallest) challenges, told in the roast-you-with-love voice of your closest homey.
Born in Sumter, South Carolina, to a military family, Jay Ellis spent his childhood inventing new personas for every town he landed in. Too many to count. After college, he realized the NBA wasn’t good enough for him and he didn’t want to crush other players’ dreams as he dominated the league so he decided to take his one-man show to Hollywood, where he got his start on BET’s The Game. Now an accomplished actor, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, Ellis is best known for his role as Lawrence on HBO’s Insecure, for which he won an NAACP Image Award. He appeared alongside Tom Cruise, flying jets through the skies, in the Oscar-nominated film in Top Gun: Maverick. When he’s not on set filming he spends the majority of his days cleaning up the messes that his daughter’s imaginary friend “Jack” made. Karma.
Jason Reynolds is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books for children and young adults. He is best known for his novels All American Boys (co-written with Brendan Kiely), the Track series, and Long Way Down, which received Newbery, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Honors. Among Jason’s many accolades, he was named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress for 2020-2022. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.
James Baldwin's view on the artist's responsibility parallels the mission of libraries to illuminate and broaden perspectives. By providing access to a wide array of literature and information, libraries empower individuals to become more conscious of societal issues and engage critically with the world around them. In celebration of his 100th birthday, DC Public Library is honoring James Baldwin's legacy as a literary icon and champion for civil rights with recommended reads, resources where you can learn more about his life and the issues he fought so passionately for and more. Learn more about the celebration.
AGE GROUP: | Adults | 13 - 19 Years Old (Teens) |
EVENT TYPE: | Know Your Power | Author Talk |
