Charlottesville, VA— As part of his writer residency with the Tom Tom Founders Festival and Virginia Festival of the Book, acclaimed Nigerian writer and graphic artist, Roye Okupe, will lead a workshop with local youth on Wednesday, April 5th at 2pm at the Boys & Girls Club of Central Virginia at 1000 Cherry Ave, Charlottesville, VA.

Okupe’s debut graphic novel series, E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Williams, is superhero story set in a futuristic Nigeria and has been featured on CNN, Forbes, The New York Times, NBC, The Guardian, ABC7, BBC, The Huffington Post, Mashable and more. Okupe will lead an inspirational workshop with local youth from the Boys & Girls Club and City of Promise. Okupe will discuss the lessons he’s learned throughout his career and lead participants through creating their own superheroes.

“Roye’s voice was such a critical presence at the 2017 Virginia Festival of the Book, inspiring writers to embrace their individuality and creativity as a means of empowerment as well as livelihood,” says Sarah Lawson of the Virginia Festival of the Book. “We are thrilled that he’ll now have the chance to share those same ideas with local youth.”

kupe’s writer residency is part of a collaboration between the Tom Tom Founders Festival and the Virginia Festival of the Book, which began on Friday, March 24 at the Virginia Festival of the Book (view photos from this program at http://vabook.org/2017/03/friday-highlights/), and will conclude with two events at the Tom Tom Founders Festival on Friday, April 14 and Saturday, April 15:

To see all of the art programming at Tom Tom Founders Festival visit https://tomtomfest.com/art/.

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