BooksRace
‘exene chronicles’ is the black punk’s daring odyssey
At its core, punk rock is a multicultural affair that whiteness (in the form of Nazi skinheads) ruined. Author Camille A. Collins challenges that in an arresting tribute to the Black punk experience in her debut YA novel “The Exene Chronicles.” The story follows Lia, a fourteen-year-old Black girl traversing the chaotic and rampantly racist punk rock world of 1980’s Southern California, in search of her missing friend Ryan.
As one of the only Black kids in her San Diego suburb of Coronado, Lia tackles that isolating world by sending letters and poems to Exene Cervenka, punk rock high-priestess and frontwoman for legendary LA punk band X — someone she feels can relate to her feeling of disenfranchisement in a space that is supposed to be her own. With the sounds of X serving as the high-intensity soundtrack to her journey, Lia deep dives into a world filled with spikes, confrontations and shifting alliances that make up the counterculture.
Collins self-published the book in 2011, which was featured on the original AFROPUNK site many, many moons ago. The Exene Chronicles has now experienced a rebirth, as the novel was picked up by a publisher, Yasss Sis, and is now available anywhere you get your books.
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