Author La Toya Hankins comes to the DC Center on Saturday, August 4th to read from her book, SBF Seeking. The reading begins at 6:00 PM and is part of the 2012 OutWrite LGBT Book Fair.

La Toya Hankins is a native of North Carolina and currently resides in Raleigh, NC, whose first novel, SBF Seeking... was published January 2012. The novel tells the story of Yvette Thurman, a 25 year old North Carolina magazine writer who, four months before her wedding, places a personal ad to have a sexual fling with a white man. She had no idea it would lead her to discover she was a lesbian. Through personal ads, late night visits to an adult bookstore, and a The Color Purple/Rocky Horror Picture Show mash up potluck, Yvette finds the courage to start living for herself instead of up to the expectations of others.

Hankins is presently working on her second novel, K-Rho: The Sweet Taste of Sisterhood. She is a graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism with a minor in political science. During her college career, she became a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and later served as second vice president for one of the largest graduate chapters in North Carolina. She currently serves as the co-chair of Shades of Pride, organizer of the annual Triangle Black Pride. Her literary influences and loves include Zora Neale Hurston, Walter Mosley, Anne Rice, and Pearl Cleage. Her motto, borrowed from Hurston, is "I do not weep at the world; I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

The OutWrite Book Fair will include several book and poetry readings, and literature discussions. Several book publishers will display and sell recently published LGBT books, and the DC Center will have over 1,000 used LGBT themed books for sale at the event. Find out more at www.outwritedc.org.