Three new Kirkus-starred books explore culture, identity, and their often uneasy interplay. In You Sound Like a White Girl, bestselling author Julissa Arce questions the myth of assimilation—that blending into American society will lead to acceptance—and offers a different path forward. Some of My Best Friends, Tajja Isen’s darkly funny new essay collection, addresses the rapid spread of social justice language and the simultaneous lack of tangible change that plagues many existing systems. And in Token Black Girl, fashion and beauty insider Danielle Prescod offers incisive reflection on her experiences a Black woman working her way up the ladder of a whitewashed media industry.

Moderator: Maya Perez, a writer and producer based in Austin, visiting faculty at the Michener Center for Writers, and executive producer of Austin Film Festival’s On Story projectJulissa Arce, Tajja Isen, Danelle Prescod, You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation, Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service, Token Black Girl