Leila Mottley
A native of Oakland, California,\xa0Leila Mottley\xa0uses her writing as a tool to call for social justice reform and advocate for victims of sexual violence. Her acclaimed poetry has appeared in\xa0Oprah Daily\xa0and\xa0The New York Times, and her incandescent debut novel\xa0Nightcrawling\xa0was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her 2022 Book Club, making Mottley - who is 20 - the club\u2019s youngest author ever. Inspired by true stories of the exploitation of young women by police departments in the United States, including a 2015 case in Oakland and its subsequent cover-up, the book has earned widespread acclaim. \u201cLeila Mottley\u2019s writing erupts and flows like lava,\u201d writes Tommy Orange, \u201cmakes hot bright an Oakland that runs the city\u2019s uncontrollable brilliance\u2026\xa0Nightcrawling\xa0bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole.\u201d On October 6, 2022, Leila Mottley came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with Michelle Lee. The program was a co-presentation with Youth Speaks.