Rasheed Newson is the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me. The novel was a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “100 Notable Books of 2022” by the New York Times. His forthcoming novel, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, is slated for publication by Flatiron in 2026. Rasheed is also a television drama writer, producer, and showrunner. Along with his screenplay writing partner, T.J. Brady, Newson co-developed and is an executive producer of Bel-Air.

At the Library, Newson conducted research for a novel about the experience of a gay, African-American, male runway model with a dark complexion, who becomes a brief international sensation during Paris Fashion Week in 1992.

The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship was created in 2013 to nurture and sustain a heritage as old as the Library itself: deepening French-American understanding. The Visiting Fellowship offer writers and researchers an opportunity to pursue a creative project in Paris for a month or longer while participating actively in the life of the American Library.

The Visiting Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of The de Groot Foundation.