Event

Read with Literacy Works Featuring Christian Picciolini

Gather with Literacy Works in the upper room at Hopleaf for an intimate and unique author event.* Christian Picciolini will read from his book Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead.

At 14 years old, Christian Picciolini, a bright and well-loved child from a good family, had been targeted and trained to spread a violent racist agenda, quickly ascending to a highly visible leadership position in America's first neo-Nazi skinhead gang. Just how did this young boy from the suburbs of Chicago, who had so much going for him, become so lost in extremist ideologies that would horrify any decent person? Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead is a poignant and gripping cautionary tale that details Christian's indoctrination when he was barely a teen, a lonely outsider who, more than anything, just wanted to belong.

After leaving the violent hate movement he was part of during his youth, he began the painstaking process of rebuilding his life. In 2010, he co-founded Life After Hate, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping communities and organizations gain the knowledge necessary to implement long-term solutions that counter all types of racism and violent extremism.

*No visit to Hopleaf is complete without sipping some high-quality brew. Beer is free throughout the event to people who pay at the $20 level. Ten bucks + cash bar for all others.