Godmothers Gather: Walter Mosley & Shaka Senghor

Characters who will stay with you—and change how you see the world.

Award-winning writer Walter Mosley takes the stage to present Ghalen: A Romance in Black, his beautiful, brand-new coming-of-age novel. He‘ll be joined in conversation by Shaka Senghor, the New York Times–bestselling author of Writing My Wrongs.

Ghalen, a brilliant young Black man, is the son of two seemingly mismatched parents. His mother, a gifted scientist, whose own mother expected her to exceed all the achievements in her family, and his father, a gentle cook at a small vegan restaurant, whose idiosyncratic nature shows the young woman a radically different love and understanding of life, despite his inexperience and lack of education.

His parents’ grand love story starts it all off, setting us up to follow Ghalen and his family so deeply, that each new twist and turn feels personal.

The journey through Ghalen’s coming-of-age tale, as he ventures out into the world, is marked with peaks and valleys and such a drive that you can’t help but strap in for it all, while not wanting it to end.