My book is a raw and revealing look at the ways
in which society pressures young males to grow
up to become men.
I remember being an eighteen year-old freshman, anxious and excited to step out on my own, struggling to carve out my place in the world. I had finally…
Today is the biggest day of my life.
After two years of pouring all of myself into this project, my first book “Man Up: Cracking the Code of Modern Manhood” is finally being released to the world. Yes, that is my book on the “New Arrivals” shelf at Barnes and Noble.
I am so grateful for the outpouring of love and support along this journey. It has, without a doubt, been the most exhilarating, vulnerable, cathartic, scary, and freeing undertaking of my life.
Many of you have asked me how you can best support the release of “Man Up.” Here are four concrete ways:
- Buy a copy of the book for yourself and for one person, near and dear to your heart, who needs it. (You can get the book right now through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books A Million, Indiebound, Penguin, and iTunes)
- Spread the word about “Man Up” through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and beyond. Forward this message to five people you care about.
- Write a review of “Man Up” on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, iTunes, or GoodReads.com. A few thoughtful sentences or two heartfelt paragraphs can mean the world to this book.
- Suggest “Man Up” to your book group or organize a gathering of friends to discuss “Man Up” and its central theme of redefining how we conceive of masculinity.
I cannot overstate how important this first week is to the success of this book. If you are planning to get a copy, I ask that you do it right now.
Once again, I am beyond humbled and honored by your continued support of my work. It is not an exaggeration at all to say that I would not be able to do this without you.
With all my heart,
Carlos
On Saturday, a man shot 8 people at the Eaton Centre in downtownToronto. At a mall I’ve visited many times in a city I love dearly.
This past February, a man shot 3 people half a block from my apartment inBrooklyn.
I wish these were two isolated examples.
I wish I didn’t have too many to list.
It is time to break the cycle of violence amongst men. Today. Here. Right now.
I am incredibly proud to share this collaboration with Jeff Perera and Dennis Lieu based on a poem I wrote…
Watch it. Share it.
Let’s start something.
“How to Fight” by Carlos Andrés Gómez
“Man Up” (Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin)
by Carlos Andrés Gómez
Now available for pre-order through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Indiebound, and iTunes!
Dear friends,
I have spent the past year quietly working on the biggest artistic undertaking of my life. Besides the small handful of people directly involved, no one has known about it – not even my closest friends and family.
The short of it – I wrote a book.
The long – it is a memoir about the defining experiences and relationships that have shaped who I am as a man. More than that though, in revealing many of the most vulnerable and hidden parts of myself, I hope to ignite a long-overdue conversation about masculinity. My ultimate hope is that this conversation can build a global movement to first challenge and then redefine how we conceive of manhood, giving men across the world permission to be who they are.
I’ve performed all over the globe these past few years and felt the urgency from men – whether in Dublin or Fayetteville, Soweto or San Antonio, Barcelona or El Barrio – I have seen it in their faces and heard it from their mouths. We are in desperate need of a new model of masculinity.
In taking this frightening leap and in sharing the shaking stories of this book, I hope to offer up a different model for how to be a man.
And, now, the big news –
the book, “Man Up,” will be released next fall (2012) by Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin.
For all of my brothers, fathers, sons, friends, and other men reading this right now, there is a huge online component to this project that will be launched in early 2012. And I would like you to be a part of it. It will be a way for you to share your story with the world. Keep an eye out for that…
For now though, as always, big love and thanks to all of my incredible supporters and friends. And here’s to building a global Man Up Movement in 2012!
One love,
Carlos
Excerpt from the book description:
MAN UP is a wild ride begging you to ride shotgun, as Gómez invites you along on his coming-of-age journey through all the vice, virtue, and struggles that shaped his becoming a man. Poignant, inspiring, and, often times, hilarious, this is a memoir for 21st century America.
The single most revolutionary thing you can do is recognize that you are enough.” - Carlos Andrés Gómez
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