Kenneth Rogers: HEROES, VILLAINS, AND HEALING (with D. Watkins)

The Ivy welcomes Kenneth Rogers to celebrate a new edition of his book, Heroes, Villains, and Healing: A Guide for Male Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Using Marvel Comic Superheroes and Villains. Using Marvel Comic Book superheroes and villains, Rogers offers in this project a kind, empathetic, and practical guide to help male survivors of childhood sexual abuse understand and heal from the trauma of their past. We are thrilled that beloved writer D. Watkins, author most recently of Black Boy Smile, will join Kenneth Rogers in conversation. D.’s perspective on coming-of-age as a Black boy, from the societal roots of trauma to finding joy, is invaluable in general and specifically in this context.

Click Here to RSVP

Click Here to purchase Heroes, Villains, and Healing: A Guide for Male Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Using Marvel Comic Superheroes and Villains. (2024)

Click Here to purchase Heroes, Villains, and Healing: A Guide for Male Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Using D.C. Comic Superheroes and Villains. (2017)

Click Here to purchase Black Boy Smile

Kenneth Rogers Jr. is the author of the How to Heal Your Inner Superhero series. This series uses DC Comic superhero and villain archetypes, cognitive behavior therapy, psychology, and his own autobiographical journey as a survivor to help other survivors of childhood sexual abuse heal. His guides include Heroes, Villains, and Healing (2017) and is the winner of four national indie book awards, How to Kill Your Batman (2018) is the winner of four national indie book awards, How to Save Your Inner Wonder Woman (2020) is the winner of five national indie book awards, How to Master Your Inner Superman (2020) is the winner of six national indie book awards, How to Slow Your Inner Flash (2021) is the winner of five national indie book awards, and his latest guide How to Unite Your Inner Lanterns (2023) is the winner of two national indie book awards. His latest edition of Heroes, Villains, and Healing (2024) using Marvel superheroes and villains to help male survivors move through the healing process has won the Living Now Book Award in personal growth. Each guide in the How to Heal Your Inner Superhero series spotlights a different path toward healing for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. With a masters from Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Kenneth Rogers Jr. lives and teaches in Baltimore, MD with his wife, Sarah and two daughters, Mirus and Amare.

D. Watkins is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Beast Side, The Cook Up, Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised, and We Speak for Ourselves—which was Enoch Pratt Free Library’s 2020 One Book Baltimore selection. His newest book, Black Boy Smile, was released in May. Watkins is Editor-at-Large for Salon. He is a writer on the HBO mini-series We Own This City and hosts the show’s companion podcast. Additionally, he was featured in the HBO documentary, The Slow Hustle. His work has been published in the New York Times, Esquire, New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. Watkins is a college lecturer at the University of Baltimore, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing. He also holds a Master of Education degree from Johns Hopkins University. Some of Watkins’ awards include the Johns Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award, the BMe Genius Grant for Dynamic Black Leaders, the City Lit Dambach Award for Service to the Literary Arts, the Maryland Library Association’s William Wilson Maryland Author Award, and Ford’s Men of Courage Award for Black Male Storytellers. He was also a finalist for a 2016 Hurston Wright Legacy Award, and The Cook Up was a 2017 Books for a Better Life finalist. He lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife and daughter.