Back in March, Mitchell S. Jackson came to San Francisco on tour for his latest book, Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway First Fiction Award. With a poet’s gifted ear, a novelist’s sense of narrative, and a journalist’s unsentimental eye, Mitchell S. Jackson candidly explores his tumultuous youth in the other America. Survival Math takes its name from the calculations Mitchell and his family made to keep safe—to stay alive—in their community, a small black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon blighted by drugs, violence, poverty, and governmental neglect. This event was recorded live at The Bindery on March 12, 2019. Litquake's 20th anniversary festival will take place October 10-19, 2019. For all the latest updates, follow us @litquake on Facebook and Twitter!