Synopses & Reviews
“An elegant mash of memoir, poetry, tales of appropriation, thoughts on Black masculinity, Hulk, Kanye.” Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune
808s & Otherworlds announces a bold and incendiary new voice in Sean Avery Medlin. Against the backdrop of the Phoenix suburbs where they were raised, Medlin interrogates the effects of media misrepresentation on the performance of Black masculinity. Through storytelling rhymes and vulnerable narratives in conversation with both contemporary Hip-Hop culture and systemic anti-Blackness, 808s & Otherworlds pieces together a speculative reality where Blackfolk are simultaneously superhuman and dehumanized.
From the gut-wrenchingly real stories of young lovers unmythed by segregation or former classmates appropriating Black culture, to the fantastic settings of Hip-Hop songs and comic characters, Medlin weaves a tapestry of worlds and otherworlds while composing a love letter to family and self, told to an undeniably energetic beat.
Review
“Sean Avery Medlin opens our eyes to a world most of us do not see or walk blindly through." F(r)iction
Review
"The 808, as a sound-making machine, creates what some might say is the part of the beat that you can most feel in your chest, in your limbs, the part that leaves you trembling well after the sound departs. It makes sense, then, that what we have here, is a book that does the same. A book that rattles in the mind long after the final word. A book that has a generous dexterity and playfulness in form, but sacrifices nothing in language, in image, in metaphor. Play this one loud and let it shake whatever dormant corners you've got." Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America, Go Ahead in the Rain, and They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us
Review
"Sean Avery Medlin's 808s & Otherworlds is an exciting glimpse at the future of poetry. Medlin's poems sing and remix layer after layer of cultural references. Their poems are stunning. As a fellow suburbanite, I loved glimpsing Medlin's dystopic suburban Arizona." Jose Olivarez, author of Citizen Illegal
About the Author
Sean Avery Medlin (he/they) is a gamer and Hip-Hop nerd, whose only wish in this world is to watch an unproblematic, Black sci-fi T.V. show. Till then, Medlin teaches creative writing and guides cultural work for organizations across the U.S., while also creating rap, poetry, prose and performance. Their music, literature, and theater all question the limits of Black masculinity, media (mis)representation, and personal narrative.
Medlin has shared stages with Saul Williams, J. Ivy, and Lemon Anderson. Their work's been featured in Afropunk, Blavity, the 2018-2019 Chicago Hip-Hop Theater Festival, and the 2020 Tucson Poetry Festival. Their Hip-Hop play and album, skinnyblk, along with all their previous work, is available online at superseanavery.com. 808s & Otherworlds: Memories, Remixes, & Mythologies is Medlin's debut collection.