The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde

The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde

In conversation with Rima Vesely-Flad and Thenmozhi Soundararajan

Monday, June 1, 2026

5:30-7pm

In-person at EBMC: 2406 Webster St., Oakland CA

EBMC is thrilled to host Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, author of the newly released book The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde! Dr. Vesely-Flad will be in conversation with Thenmozhi Soundararajan, author of The Trauma of Caste and Executive Director of Equality Labs. There will also be time for audience Q & A. We hope you’ll join us for this deeply intersectional discussion about two iconic Black queer writers, timeless Buddhist teachings, and our current work toward social justice and collective liberation. This event is for lovers of literature, Buddhist teachings, and social justice activism. All are welcome to attend.

From publisher North Atlantic Books:

The Fire Inside explores the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin through a Dharmic lens, revealing for the first time how two of America’s greatest literary voices reflect—and expand—Buddhism’s most timeless truths toward justice and liberation.

Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad dives deeply into a dharma of liberation as lived by Baldwin and Lorde, offering timely lessons to help us each meet this moment. She explores the writers’ enduring legacies to show that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. Each chapter shares how looking inward is the way forward, examining Baldwin and Lorde through key Buddhist principles.

This book offers space for emerging conversations within spiritual communities—ones that don’t shy away from difficult or uncomfortable truths; that center—and celebrate—Black, queer, radical thought; and that embrace the ways our inner lives, creative fire, sensuality, and expressions of love can ignite and sustain revolutionary liberation.

The Fire Inside will be for sale onsite, courtesy of Nomadic Bookshop, a nonprofit bookstore and cultural space in Oakland.

Please note the address for EBMC's new space:

2406 Webster St., Oakland, CA

Doors open 5:00pm, event begins at 5:30pm

This event will be in-person. Space is limited to the first 200 people who register.

Cost:

Registration does not require a donation, but the offering of a financial contribution is deeply appreciated and will support our center and programs.

Donations are welcomed even if you’re unable to attend.

For a list of our offerings and more information please visit our website at www.eastbaymeditation.org.

BIOGRAPHIES

Rima Vesely-Flad, PhD, is the author of three books: The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde (2026, North Atlantic Books: Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation (NYU Press, 2022); and Racial Purity and Dangerous Bodies: Moral Pollution, Black Lives, and the Struggle for Justice (Fortress Press, 2017). She is Founding Director of the Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies and a Visiting Affiliate Fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Culture, Society, and Religion. Dr. Vesely-Flad is former Founding Director of the Inside Out Pr*son Education Program, a partnership between the Swannanoa Correctional Institution for Women and Warren Wilson College, and also taught college-level courses at Sing Sing Pr*son in New York State. She was a Fulbright Scholar and Awardee in South Africa and Ghana. You can follow her work at www.blackbuddhiststudies.org and on Instagram @blackbuddhiststudies.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit rights artist, technologist, and theorist. Currently, Thenmozhi is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Equality Labs, a Dalit Civil Rights organization that uses community research, cultural and political organizing, popular education and digital security to build power to end caste apartheid, white supremacy, gender based violence, and religious intolerance.

Through her work across mediums she centers the voices of communities into the vital debates of our time. Her work has been recognized by the Producers Guild of America Diversity Program, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Sorbonne, Source Magazine, Utne Reader, The National Center for the Humanities, The National Science Foundation, and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. You can follow her work as a Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellow and the Atlantic Foundation for Racial Equity. To learn more about her work around caste equity, abolition, and healing, you can find her book, The Trauma of Caste, from North Atlantic Books. You can find her on twitter, instagram, and facebook at @dalitdiva and Equality Labs @equalitylabs.

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