Village Lights welcomes, with great pride, J.R. Jamison, author of Hillbilly Queer: A Memoir and co-founder of The Facing Project. He will sign books on our main floor, beginning at 1:00 PM, and give a reading and talk in our upstairs Reading Room at 1:30 PM, followed by more signing.

J.R. Jamison is an award-winning author and storyteller who hosts the NPR podcast and radio show The Facing Project (based on an organization of the same name that he co-founded). The Facing Project has helped over 7,000 people in 18 U.S. states and 11 countries tell their stories on tough topics such as homelessness, depression, gun violence, and more with a goal of creating a more understanding and empathetic world. J.R.’s nonfiction and fiction writing has appeared in the The Huffington Post, Pangyrus, Beyond Words, Writer’s Digest and various other print and web publications, and his work has been covered by outlets such as The Guardian, Harlem World Magazine, PBS, Runner’s World, and The Statesider, among others. His memoir, Hillbilly Queer, was a Libro.fm bestseller in LGBTQ nonfiction (audiobook, narrated by the author) and received starred reviews from Library Journal and Foreword Reviews Magazine, and was the silver winner of the 2022 Nautilus Book Award for Best Memoir and finalist for the 2022 Indiana Authors Award in the Debut Category. J.R. lives in rural Indiana with his husband Cory and their dog J.J., and he can be found online at jrjamison.com.