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Brianna Wheeler, the mixed-race descendant of Dangerfield Newby-first of John Brown’s raiders to die at Harpers Ferry in their bid to end slavery, struggled with her own biracial identity, convinced that her lasting legacy would be the rejection of her own Blackness. Then, in 2020, a racial reckoning rekindled her connection to both her heritage and her grandmother’s lifelong work of preserving the stories of Dangerfield and the rest of her ancestors, leading Brianna to confront both long-held family dynamics and her own place in history-from a new perspective.
Altogether Different, a unique blend of memoir, creative nonfiction and illustration, untangles the complex connection between the stories we tell ourselves and the histories preserved for us.
Altogether Different is Brianna Wheeler’s debut memoir, published by Korza Books.
Available wherever books are sold. ISBN 978-1-957024-05-9
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Press & Praise for Altogether Different
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“Wheeler has a beautiful gift of a voice: accessible and warm and vulnerable, with razor-sharp insights. The generous way she reflects on her upbringing and struggles with understanding her own identity gains your trust and makes you want to keep reading. By the end, I felt a genuine appreciation for her thoughtful (and well-researched) story and even teared up a little. A beautiful memoir.”
Kevin Sampsell, publisher of Future Tense Books
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“Altogether Different is a compelling read. Moreover, author Brianna Wheeler deftly connects the dots to redefine her racial identity by drawing on her family’s long forgotten past rooted in the actions of her heroic mixed-race ancestor Dangerfield Newby. He died in October 1859 at Harper’s Ferry in the fight to abolish slavery, but his spirit lives on in Wheeler’s memoir.”
Eugene L. Meyer, author of Five for Freedom: The African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army
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“Altogether Different explores the contradictions of mixed-race heritage, Newby’s legacy, and all notions of inheritance with unflinching self-awareness.”
Lauren Yoshiko Terry, contributor at Willamette Week
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“I knew of Brianna Wheeler through her vital work as a cannabis journalist. I wasn’t expecting her incredibly welcome pickaxe to perceptions of race in the USA, and particularly to the polite liberal ignorance of Portland, Oregon, site of my own adolescence. We have barely begun to dissect the summer of 2020 in the City of Roses, with all its grief, fear, violence and white hubris. Thankfully, Wheeler shoulders that work.”
Caitlin Donohue, Author of WEED: Cannabis Culture in the Americas
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“In Altogether Different, Brianna Wheeler creates a narrative energy and control uniquely her own, pulling back the curtains on both personal history and American history as a whole, making sure the reader comes out of the book changed.”
Joshua James Amberson, Author of How To Forget Almost Everything and Staring Contest: Essays About Eyes
Brianna is available for in-store signing events, readings, panels, talks and conversations.
Contact Alyssia Gonzalez at Oso Literary for booking info.
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For book inquiries contact Korza Books
Brianna Wheeler 