How to Live Free in a Dangerous World

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“Phenomenal…. A memoir that opens into the world, with brilliance, courage, and elegant prose…. This is a book to read, read again, and remember.”—Imani Perry, New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner South to America

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Elle, Them, Book Riot, LitHub, Stylecaster, and Chicago Review of Books

In their new book, Shayla Lawson reveals how traveling can itself be a political act, when it can be a dangerous world to be Black, femme, nonbinary, and disabled. With their signature prose, at turns bold, muscular, and luminous, Shayla Lawson travels the world to explore deeper meanings held within love, time, and the self.

Through encounters with a gorgeous gondolier in Venice, an ex-husband in the Netherlands, and a lost love on New Year’s Eve in Mexico City, Lawson’s travels bring unexpected wisdom about life in and out of love. They learn the strength of friendships and the dangers of beauty during a narrow escape in Egypt. They examine Blackness in post-dictatorship Zimbabwe, then take us on a secretive tour of Black freedom movements in Portugal.

Through a deeply insightful journey, Lawson leads readers from a castle in France to a hula hoop competition in Jamaica to a traditional theater in Tokyo to a Prince concert in Minnesota and, finally, to finding liberation on a beach in Bermuda, exploring each location—and their deepest emotions—to the fullest. In the end, they discover how the trials of marriage, grief, and missed connections can lead to self-transformation and unimagined new freedoms.Praise for How to Live Free in a Dangerous World

“Phenomenal. Shayla Lawson’s How to Live Free in a Dangerous World is luminously intimate. It is a memoir that opens into the world, with brilliance, courage, and elegant prose. Lawson is at once marvelously and unapologetically Black, incisive, and vulnerable. They are an unflinching observer of the world who takes us on a journey that is both wide and deep. This is a book to read, read again, and remember.”
—Imani Perry, New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner South to America

“Some writers have the gift of talent. Some writers’ talent is a gift to others, namely the reader. Then there are those writers who fall into both categories. Shayla Lawson is one such author. Thought provoking, raw, honest, funny, moving. This book is a treasure. Shayla is a marvel. I’m so grateful for what they and the book have given us.”
— Phoebe Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of You Can’t Touch My Hair

“How To Live Free in a Dangerous World explores many places – varied cultures, perspectives, life stages, individual differences – and how we navigate these intersecting landscapes. Beautiful, moving, and relentlessly insightful.”
—Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl

“Shayla Lawson is one of our greatest storytellers. Their ability to weave personal narrative and pop culture criticism is unparalleled. They make How to Live Free in a Dangerous World uniquely appealing and will leave audiences wanting more.”
—Jamilah Lemieux, writer, culture critic, and podcast host

“The writing in How to Live Free in a Dangerous World is beautiful, Shayla’s ideas uniquely compelling, and their perspective invaluable in these precarious times. I am grateful for Shayla Lawson’s sharp eye, incisive critiques, and the threads of resistance and hope woven through their observations of this life.”
—Areva Martin, award-winning civil rights attorney and national bestselling author of Make It Rain!

“Shayla Lawson’s How To Live Free in a Dangerous World is Eat, Pray, Love for a new generation…a poignant look at how Lawson learned to liberate themselves from the things that held them back.” 
—TIME, “Here Are the 13 Books You Should Read in February”

“There’s a real courage and generosity to Lawson’s work; readers will find much here to embolden their own self-exploration.”
—Elle, ”The Best and Most Anticipated Fiction Books of 2024, So Far”

“Dense with ideas, as well as full of those beautiful sentences.”
—Linda Holmes, NPR

“If you haven’t encountered Shayla Lawson’s work yet, consider this your formal invitation. How to Live Free in a Dangerous World is a jet-setting memoir that explores race, gender, disability, and love through an unbelievable itinerary: Venice, Zimbabwe, Mexico City, Portugal, Tokyo, Bermuda—the list goes on. Lawson writes with fierceness, wisdom, and vulnerability in a voice that can’t help but captivate. Treat yourself.” 
—Lit Hub, “Most Anticipated Books of 2024”

“I loved Shayla Lawson’s essay collection This Is Major, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Lambda Literary Award, and I can’t wait for their forthcoming memoir. Anyone familiar with their work knows how sharp and smart everything they write is, but this book, which deals with gender identity, Blackness, disability, and liberation through travel, promises to be one not to miss.”
—Chicago Review of Books, “Most Anticipated Books of 2024”

“If you’re looking for wide-reaching nonfiction that explores identity, personal growth, and lots of adventures, don’t miss this book.”
—BookRiot, “12 of the Best Queer Books: 2024 New Releases”

“Packed with lyrical lines, genuine insight, and ebullient confessions, Lawson’s latest nonfiction book sparkles with vulnerability, sincerity, and poetry… Lawson is a gifted chronicler not only of their own personal revolution, but also of the power structures that affect their place in the world. A stunning essay collection about travel, mortality, and liberation.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“No matter the setting, Lawson’s sentences astonish…the author’s commitment to unsentimental self-examination is inspiring…The final product is both vivid and galvanizing.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Shayla Lawson’s new essay collection finds the author encountering lost loves and new friends in Egypt, Bermuda, Mexico City, Zimbabwe, and more. In each place they visit, they learn to let go of something that’s been holding them back, while also developing philosophies of freedom and healing. Inspirational, but never twee, this memoir belongs on your TBR.”
—Them

“Shayla Lawson’s eloquent prose takes readers on a global journey exploring love, time, and self-discovery. From encounters in Venice to reflections on Blackness in Zimbabwe, Shayla delves into the complexities of life and love.”
—Diva Magazine

Praise for This Is Major

“Whip-smart.”
—People

“[A] pitch-perfect blend of wit and keen observation and analysis. A book that makes you laugh and think at the same time.”
—Shondaland

“With a brand of candor and urgency known to us only as Lawson-eque, these essays [offer]… a kaleidoscope of wit, humor, sorrow and deeply felt thinking and questioning of modern life.”
—Ocean VuongShayla Lawson is the author of This Is Major, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award and a LAMBDA Literary Award, as well as two poetry collections. Lawson has written for New York magazine, Salon, ESPN, and Paper, and earned fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell. They reside in Lexington, Kentucky. They’ve “lived” everywhere.

1. Shayla Lawson has spoken about many other authors as being inspirations to them, especially Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, and Akwaeke Emezi. They even begin the book with a passage from Angela Davis: An Autobiography, which says, “Revisiting this text almost fifty years after I wrote it, I might call it something like ‘memoirs of a life dedicated to the quest for freedom.’” If you’re familiar with these authors’ work, do you see their influences in Shayla’s writing? Who are authors that you consider major influences for you as a reader (or writer)?
2. In the opening essay, Shayla writes about Prince and other singers. Did you feel that the rhythmic, lyrical writing in this essay contributed to the reading experience? Do you think their early connection with Prince in their origin story informed their creative outlook as a writer?
3. Shayla’s memoir is all about their travels around the world but, after they were diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, they note that they became a different kind of traveler, saying “in sickness, we all become time travelers.” How do you see disability and sickness as affecting someone’s perception of time? How can a different reality of interacting with the world create an experience of time that isn’t so linear? Have you experienced that yourself?
4. In Shayla’s essay, “On Love,” they delve into a romantic relationship with the Boy in New York that is never fully fulfilled. They say, “Love is different from being in love. I’m an abundant over-lover, but being in love is something I was bad at.” What different types of love does Shayla show us throughout their memoir? How do you think that loving someone is different than being in love?
5. Shayla bumps into a man they had dated in two chance meetings–one, on the New York City subway, and another, at a speakeasy in Mexico City. What did you think when you heard this story? Did this remind you of coincidences in your own life? 
6. Over the course of their travels, Shayla explores what it means to be both Black and American in a global context, including a look at how capital-B Blackness may not encompass as much as they once thought it did. How does capital-B Blackness both create and exclude? How is knowing the difference between “Blackness” and “blackness” a “crucial travel skill,” as Shayla says? How does the difference reflect the array of experiences throughout the African diaspora?
7. In the essay, “Online,” Shayla writes about connection and disconnection while on a visit to a castle in France. Do you feel introverted or extroverted when you go online? When was the last time you were in a crowd? Did you feel energized, or shy? Does your smart phone help you feel connected, or disconnected?
8. In the final essay, Shayla writes about freedom and liberation. Did this essay make you think differently about freedom? What do you think of this ending to the journey Shayla takes in this collection?

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