UW–Madison alumnus Keith Miller, who graduated from the School of Education’s MS in Educational Psychology: Professional Educators (MSPE) program in 2019, recently signed a multi-book deal with HarperCollins.
Miller’s first novel, “Pritty,” follows two high school boys looking for love while navigating secrets and family trauma. According to Miller, the novel is about “literacy as a form of healing, resistance, and transformation as the key main characters navigate their own experiences of knowing, and what it means to love and be loved.”
According to Miller, “MSPE played such a powerful role in my journey and the larger application of the research and knowledge into other forms like this.” He adds that his master’s thesis, “To He Who Has Never Seen Rainbows: Affirming Healing Literacies in the Lives of BYMOC,” is “at the core” of “Pritty.”
The book is also the inspiration for a forthcoming short film directed by Terrance Daye, in which, “on a scorching summer day at a community pool, a Black teen learns to step out of his comfort zone, and with the help of a charming neighborhood boy, overcomes his fear of the deep end.”
“There are too few stories that simply feature Black boys at play, discovering their full humanity and vulnerability — and learning to heal because of it,” Daye says. “I longed for my own work to engage more intentionally in this practice.”
Learn more about “Pritty” via the HarperCollins website. You can also view the film’s animatic (moving storyboard) via YouTube.