SANTA CRUZ, California — Santa Cruz Public Libraries invites the public to join this powerful conversation with Leila Mottley, best-selling author of the novel Nightcrawling and community activist Ayo Banjo at the Resource Center for Nonviolence on Saturday, October 19 at 2:00pm.

Author Leila Mottley was born and raised in Oakland, where she continues to live. In 2018, Mottley was recognized as Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. Her debut poetry collection Woke Up No Light was published on April 16, 2024.

Based on a true crime in 2015 involving institutional exploitation, brutality and corruption in the Oakland police department, Nightcrawling gives voice to 17-year-old Kiara Johnson, who, after her father’s death and mother’s detention in a rehab facility, becomes a sex worker to pay for rent hikes. Full of edge, raw beauty, electrifying intensity, and piercing vulnerability, Nightcrawling marks the phenomenal arrival of a voice unlike any we have heard before.

Copies of the book Nightcrawling will be available for sale and signing at the event. This event is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Friends of the Capitola Library. Additional sponsors include the Resource Center for Nonviolence, the NAACP Santa Cruz, and Santa Cruz Black. Space is limited, and prior registration is required to attend. To register, visit https://santacruzpl.libcal.com/calendar/SCPL/leila