Three Rivers Readers Book Club

Join us for a lively discussion on What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young. Our book club discusses books about Pittsburgh, taking place in Pittsburgh, and by Pittsburgh authors. Attendees are welcome to join in-person or virtually using the link provided in your RSVP confirmation email. This title is available for checkout in our Catalog, and also as an eAudio on Hoopla. This event is part of our Black History Month 2026 programming. In the Catalog What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker A Memoir in Essays Damon Young A Finalist for the NAACP Image Award A Finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction A Finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay An NPR Best Book of the Year A Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite of the Year From the host of podcast “Stuck with Damon Young,” cofounder of VerySmartBrothas.com, and one of the most read writers on race and culture at work today, a provocative and humorous memoir-in-essays that explores the ever-shifting definitions of what it means to be Black (and male) in America For Damon Young, existing while Black is an extreme sport. The act of possessing black skin while searching for space to breathe in America is enough to induce a ceaseless state of angst where questions such as “How should I react here, as a professional black person” and “Will this white person’s potato salad kill me” are forever relevant. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker chronicles Young’s efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him. It’s a condition that’s sometimes stretched to absurd limits, provoking the angst that made him question if he was any good at the “being straight” thing, as if his sexual orientation was something he could practice and get better at, like a crossover dribble move or knitting; creating the farce where, as a teen, he…