Published in 2006
228 pages
Angela Nissel is a television writer and national best-selling author. She wrote two books: the national best-selling, “Oprah featured” comedic memoir The Broke Diaries and the critically-acclaimed Mixed. (“Critically-acclaimed” means it was chosen as one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly for its “raw, yet humorous portrayal” of growing up with a Black Panther mom and White dad and “honest, unflinching portrayal of her mental health”… but ain’t nobody care enough to buy it. So, that’s why she writes for TV. Because eff putting her business out there just to be in debt.)
For over 16 years, Angela has been one of the (very) few female voices of color in the half-hour comedy world. Since 2001, she has served as writer / producer on Scrubs, ‘Til Death, The Boondocks, Tyler The Creator’s The Jellies and she is writer / co-executive producer on The Last OG.
Nissel was born and raised in Philadelphia. She attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, where she majored in Creative Writing, and she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a degree in medical anthropology.
Her first book The Broke Diaries was published in 2001 and was promoted in non-traditional ways. In one case, her friend applied “Buy The Broke Diaries!” stickers to ramen noodle packages and passed them out near bookstores. Nissel also promoted the book in her signature when she posted on Internet forums. She was on Oprah and was featured with her mother on 20/20, which also featured her second book, Mixed: My Life in Black and White, a comedic look at growing up as the child of a biracial couple. On October 28, 2006, Nissel made her debut as a panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!. In 1999, she founded the music-related website Okayplayer with The Roots’ drummer Ahmir Thompson.
What is this book about?
“Tell anyone who asks that you’re half-black and half-white, just like David Hasselhoff from Knight Rider.” –Angela’s mother
“Love has no color,” insist Angela Nissel’s parents, but does it have a clue? In this candid, funny, and poignant memoir, Angela recounts growing up biracial in Philadelphia–moving back and forth between black inner-city schools and white prep schools–where her racial ambiguity and doomed attempts to blend in dog her teen years. Once in college, Angela experiments with black activism (hoping to find clarity in extremism), capitalizes on her “exotic” look at a strip club, and ends up with a major case of the blues (aka, a racial identity problem). Yet Angela is never down for the count. After moving to Los Angeles, she discovers that being multiracial is anything but simple, especially in terms of dating and romance. By turns a comedy of errors and a moving coming-of-age chronicle, Mixed traces one woman’s unforgettable journey to self-acceptance and belonging.
