2017 Festival of Faith and Music: Jessica Hopper & Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib

Welcome to recordings from the 2017 Festival of Faith & Music. The biennial festival brings together musicians, critics, journalists, artists, and listeners for three days of concerts, lectures, and conversations that explore the intersection of music and spirituality. What follows is a conversation between Jessica Hopper and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib. Jessica is a music journalist who has written for everyone from Spin to GQ to Rookie. She’s also written two books, The Girls' Guide to Rocking: How to Start a Band, Book Gigs, and Get Rolling to Rock Stardom and The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic. She currently serves as the executive editor at MTV News. Hanif is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His current poetry collection is titled The Crown Ain’t Worth Much and his first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, is due out winter 2017. In this session Jessica and Hanif discuss the importance of diverse representation in pop culture and of working in creative communities. The conversation was recorded on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 31st, 2017. Thank you to everyone who spoke or performed or attended the 2017 Festival of Faith & Music. These recordings were produced in collaboration between the Student Activities Office at Calvin College and the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. You can find more recordings from the 2017 Festival of Faith & Music and short films from the festival concerts at ccfw.calvin.edu.