Julian Aguon brings his powerful words to Brooklyn
The activist-lawyer-writer is traveling almost 8,000 miles to celebrate the launch of his inspiring new book Sept. 15th at the Brooklyn Museum
Julian Aguon is not your average lawyer. The human rights and environmental activist from Guam talks of “beauty” and “tenderness” with the same importance as justice. He quotes Audre Lorde just as readily as he quotes the decision in Rice v. Cayateno, which he says “laid dangerous doctrinal groundwork” for colonized peoples. He’s working to protect them; on a mission that combines art and warmth with the “cold precision” of the law. And talking with him, you get the sense that he’s just getting started.
Aguon’s latest book, No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies, comes off the heels of him being named a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for his essay “To Hell With Drowning” – an account of the people of Oceania’s struggle against the effects of climate change – published last year in the Atlantic. His new book, set to launch this week, is a slim 128-page “lyric essay,” featuring as much poetry as it does prose. It’s a moving, invigorating and deeply personal call to action from a man who has been working to combat some of the most important issues facing our world today; a deeply profound collection, centered on his experience growing up queer and indigenous in Guam.
On September 15th, he’ll be coming to Brooklyn, traveling almost 8,000 miles from his home, to celebrate the launch of his new book with a special event at the Brooklyn Museum – a reading and conversation between the author and V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), a Tony Award-winning playwright, activist, and performer best known for her Obie Award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues.