From the creator of Elle’s “Eric Reads the News,” a heartfelt and hilarious memoir-in-essays about growing up seeing the world differently, finding unexpected hope, and experiencing every awkward, extraordinary stumble along the way.
Purchase your copy here.
Back Cover Copy of Here for It:
R. Eric Thomas didn’t know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went—whether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city—he found himself on the outside looking in.
In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Thomas reexamines what it means to be an “other” through the lens of his own life experience. He explores the two worlds of his childhood: the barren urban landscape where his parents’ house was an anomalous bright spot, and the Eden-like school they sent him to in white suburbia. He writes about struggling to reconcile his Christian identity with his sexuality, the exhaustion of code-switching in college, accidentally getting famous on the internet (for the wrong reason), and the surreal experience of covering the 2016 election for Elle online, and the seismic changes that came thereafter. Ultimately, Thomas seeks the answer to these ever more relevant questions: Is the future worth it? Why do we bother when everything seems to be getting worse? As the world continues to shift in unpredictable ways, Thomas finds the answers to these questions by reenvisioning what “normal” means and in the powerful alchemy that occurs when you at last place yourself at the center of your own story.
Here for It will resonate deeply and joyfully with everyone who has ever felt pushed to the margins, struggled with self-acceptance, or wished to shine more brightly in a dark world. Stay here for it—the future may surprise you.
About R. Eric Thomas:
R. Eric Thomas (he/him/his) is a playwright and a Senior Staff Writer for Elle.com where he writes “Eric Reads the News,” a daily current events and culture column. His writing has appeared in The New York Times multiple times as well as Man Repeller, Philadelphia Magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is also the long-running host of The Moth StorySlam in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia and has appeared multiple times on The Moth Radio Hour. For his playwriting, Eric won the 2016 Barrymore Award for Best New Play and the 2018 Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award; his work has been seen on stages around the country. HERE FOR IT is his first book. He lives in Baltimore with his extraordinary husband, Rev. David Norse Thomas, and their ever-growing collection of succulents. Find more at rericthomas.com
