Culture Writer Evette Dionne to speak at Berea College Convocation

January 22, 2024 By Paula Keshderian BEREA, Ky. – Writer, journalist, pop culture critic and editor Evette Dionne will speak at Berea College on Thursday, Feb. 1, as part of the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Convocation. The convocation begins at 3 p.m. in Phelps Stokes Chapel. During her talk, Dionne will look at the history of Black women’s civic engagement and will explore the systemic barriers that have prevented Black women from fully participating in America’s democracy. Known as @freeblackgirl on social media, Dionne writes about the intersections of race, gender and size with an aptitude for popular culture politics and feminism. Her works are published in publications such as HBO, The Cut, The Undefeated, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Time, The New York Times, Zora, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, Refinery29, Bustle, Romper, SELF, The Toast, Harper’s Bazaar, Mic, The Toast and Ravishly. In 2012, Evette earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Bennett College. She continued her education at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and earned a Master of Science in media management and women, gender and sexuality studies in 2014. Platforms such as Buzzfeed, the New York Times, Teen Vogue and The New Yorker have covered Dionne’s sought-after pieces. She has appeared on multiple radio shows and podcasts and has contributed to the writing of book chapters in books such as “The Problematic Tyler Perry,” “The Beyoncé Effect: Essays on Sexuality, Race, and Feminism,” “The (Other) F-Word: Celebrating the Fat and the Fierce” and “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger.” Dionne has delivered speeches and lectures at multiple institutions such as the Schomburg Center for Black Research and Culture, the D.C. Public Library, Brown University, the University of Chicago, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University. In 2019, Dionne published her first book “Fat Girls Deserve Fairy Tales Too: Living Hopefully On the Other Side of Skinny.” Her second book, published in 2020, “Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box,” won the Coretta Scott King Book Award. Her latest book, “Weightless,” was published in 2022. This convocation is free and open to the public. About Berea College Berea College, the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, focuses on learning, labor and service. The College only admits academically promising students with limited financial resources, primarily from Kentucky and Appalachia, although students come from 45 states and 70 countries. Every Berea student receives a Tuition Promise Scholarship, which means no Berea student pays for tuition. Berea is one of nine federally recognized Work Colleges, where students work at least 10 hours a week to earn money for books, housing, and meals. The College’s motto, “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth,” speaks to its inclusive Christian character. www.berea.edu ## #

January 22, 2024

By Paula Keshderian

BEREA, Ky. – Writer, journalist, pop culture critic and editor Evette Dionne will speak at Berea College on Thursday, Feb. 1, as part of the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Convocation.

The convocation begins at 3 p.m. in Phelps Stokes Chapel. During her talk, Dionne will look at the history of Black women’s civic engagement and will explore the systemic barriers that have prevented Black women from fully participating in America’s democracy.

Known as @freeblackgirl on social media, Dionne writes about the intersections of race, gender and size with an aptitude for popular culture politics and feminism. Her works are published in publications such as HBO, The Cut, The Undefeated, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Time, The New York Times, Zora, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, Refinery29, Bustle, Romper, SELF, The Toast, Harper’s Bazaar, Mic, The Toast and Ravishly.

In 2012, Evette earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Bennett College. She continued her education at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and earned a Master of Science in media management and women, gender and sexuality studies in 2014.

Platforms such as Buzzfeed, the New York Times, Teen Vogue and The New Yorker have covered Dionne’s sought-after pieces. She has appeared on multiple radio shows and podcasts and has contributed to the writing of book chapters in books such as “The Problematic Tyler Perry,” “The Beyoncé Effect: Essays on Sexuality, Race, and Feminism,” “The (Other) F-Word: Celebrating the Fat and the Fierce” and “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger.”

Dionne has delivered speeches and lectures at multiple institutions such as the Schomburg Center for Black Research and Culture, the D.C. Public Library, Brown University, the University of Chicago, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University.

In 2019, Dionne published her first book “Fat Girls Deserve Fairy Tales Too: Living Hopefully On the Other Side of Skinny.” Her second book, published in 2020, “Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box,” won the Coretta Scott King Book Award. Her latest book, “Weightless,” was published in 2022. This convocation is free and open to the public.

About Berea College Berea College, the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, focuses on learning, labor and service. The College only admits academically promising students with limited financial resources, primarily from Kentucky and Appalachia, although students come from 45 states and 70 countries. Every Berea student receives a Tuition Promise Scholarship, which means no Berea student pays for tuition. Berea is one of nine federally recognized Work Colleges, where students work at least 10 hours a week to earn money for books, housing, and meals. The College’s motto, “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth,” speaks to its inclusive Christian character. www.berea.edu

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