Filter by:

The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Angie Thomas

Young Black people need stories about how their dreams, voices, and lives matter. How do we tell those stories?

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Concrete Rose and The Hate U Give

Now Playing

Turning Emotion into Effective Change

Now Playing

There’s Power in Compassion

Now Playing

Diverse Books Build Empathy

Now Playing

The Hate U Give Official Trailer (2:18)

Now Playing

Meet Angie Thomas: Bestselling Author & Hip-Hop Aficionado (2:29)

Now Playing

What Inspired The Hate U Give? (2:29)

Now Playing

Celebrating the Importance of Libraries (2:00)

Now Playing

Author’s Corner with Angie Thomas

Lavin Exclusive Speaker

ANGIE THOMAS’ debut novel, The Hate U Give, has spent more than three years on The New York Times bestseller list, where it was joined by her second novel, On the Come Up, and now her third, Concrete Rose. Blockbuster books and two major film adaptations have amplified Thomas’ clear, crucial voice when we need it most—to #BlackLivesMatter protesters, igniting real change in the fight for racial justice, and through the chaos of a global pandemic that disproportionately hurt people of color. Her keynotes are powerful, urgent, necessary, and most importantly, hopeful.

“As we continue to fight the battle against police brutality and systemic racism in America, The Hate U Give serves as a much needed literary ramrod.”— Jason Reynolds, bestselling co-author of All American Boys

For its “pointed examinations of gun violence, racial profiling, and political activism,” Angie Thomas’The Hate U Give has become an instant masterwork of the YA genre: called “a stunning, brilliant, gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time” by The Fault in Our Stars author John Green. Part of a 13-house publishing auction, the novel is now a major motion picture and Amazon’s Audible named it one of their 10 Best Audiobooks of the decade. The Hate U Give explores the world of sixteen-year-old Starr Carter: a girl who walks a careful line between her upper-crust prep school and the poverty-stricken neighborhood where she grew up. But when she witnesses a police officer shooting her best friend Khalil—an unarmed youth—Starr is plunged into even more uncertainty. Thomas’ latest book, Concrete Rose—chosen as one of Amazon’s best YA books of the year—tells the story of Maverick Carter, Starr’s father. “Of all characters who really just stayed with me, Maverick was at the top of that list,” Thomas tells People. The novel chronicles Maverick’s journey from 17-year-old kid to young father, and explores themes of teen pregnancy, police bruality, and the prison system as a form of modern-day slavery. “I’m also excited to show this bonding between father and son. So many people assume that Black kids, especially Black kids in the hood, don’t have fathers. And that’s a lie. So many of them do.”

Thomas’ second novel, On the Come Up, follows a talented teen rapper, Bri, and explores what it means to be young and black in America, when freedom of speech isn’t always free. It “feels like an event of political urgency,” says The Times, “a love letter to hip hop, to family, to Michael B. Jordan…to any pop culture that holds a mirror so that kids like Bri can see themselves too.” It was named to many 2019 year-end best of lists, including those byVariety, Glamour, and Chapters Indigo, and was also named one of the year’s best YA titles by Kirkus Reviews. The film version of On the Come Up was developed by Paramount, with Thomas herself producing, and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.

Her upcoming trilogy Nic Blake and the Remarkables is a fun, suspenseful contemporary fantasy series for middle grade readers, inspired by African American history and folklore. Rick Riordan, bestselling author of Percy Jackson, called it “nothing short of a triumph.”

Angie Thomas is the recipient of the William C. Morris Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and was nominated for the Michael L. Printz Award and the Coretta Scott King Award. She is the inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. Born, raised, and still residing in Jackson, Mississippi—and a former teen rapper—she holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in hip hop.

Lavin Exclusive Speakers

Angela Duckworth

Author of Grit, the #1 New York Times Bestseller | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Science of Success

Daron Acemoglu

2024 Nobel Prize Winner | 3rd Most Cited Economist in the World | MIT Institute Professor | Bestselling Co-Author of Why Nations Fail and Power and Progress

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-Winning 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius

Greg Hoffman

Nike's Former Chief Marketing Officer | Author of Emotion by Design

Nicholas Thompson

CEO of The Atlantic | Former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED

Speech Topics

Literature

The Hate U GiveFinding Your Activism and Turning the Political into the Personal

In this talk, Angie Thomas traces the development of her captivating debut, The Hate U Give—and in so doing, speaks to the heart of race, activism, and social change in America today. She explains why young black people need to see themselves in fiction—especially as they are forced to see themselves, traumatically and routinely, as the victims of discrimination, poverty, and police brutality. She demonstrates why we need more compelling depictions of black girls in art, often lost in discussions of black youth in general. She argues for writing that can turn the merely political into the deeply personal: a way to inspire action and speaking truth to power. And she makes audiences see, and feel, why empathy is more powerful than sympathy—and when done right, that fiction can help us find our voice, or lend it to others. Ultimately, Angie Thomas is the young, outspoken writer ready to hit three truths home: that life fuels art, art mirrors life, and books can change lives.

Music

Hip Hop as News, Mirror, and Narrative ArtExploring Urban America’s CNN

Before we witnessed the killing of Oscar Grant—and before we watched the Rodney King footage—hip-hop groups like NWA were telling America what was really happening on the streets. As Chuck D of Public Enemy once said: “Rap is black America’s CNN.” For decades, rappers have given voice to America’s most marginalized communities—and often better than newspapers, movies, television, or books. For Angie Thomas—herself a former MC—hip hop explains what it means to be young and black in this country today. It gives voice to the voiceless and wraps urban struggle in deft lyricism and poetry. And in an era of increasing unrest, viral tragedy, and very potent outrage, it also connects with the frustration of young black America in such a way that it can be scary. But for Thomas—and for a growing generation of political, engaged artists—these fears are misplaced. If hip hop is a mirror, then we should be more afraid of why so many people are angry in the first place. In this engrossing talk, Thomas explores the power of hip hop—from Tupac to Chance, Kendrick to Nas, Grandmaster Flash to Biggie Smalls—and shows what it can do: as poetry, as connection, and as a vital form of the news.