It focuses on his early life as a young Black gay man growing up in a religious household in the southern United States. The book debuted at number 14 on The New York Times best-seller list for paperback nonfiction.
Books I Can't Date Jesus Īrceneaux's first book, a collection of 17 humorous personal essays entitled I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé, was published on J from Atria Books. He has written for The Guardian, New York magazine, Essence, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The Washington Post, The New York Times and XOJane, as well as writing an advice column, called 'Dearly Beloved', at Into. Career Īfter college, Arceneaux moved to Los Angeles where he began his writing career.
He graduated in 2007, becoming the first man in his family to graduate from college. Īrceneaux, from the Hiram Clarke community, attended Madison High School in Houston, then, on a combination of scholarships and student loans, enrolled at Howard University, where he majored in broadcast journalism and wrote for campus newspaper The Hilltop. His mother, a registered nurse, was a devout Catholic and Arceneaux was raised in the church, even briefly considering the priesthood. Michael Joseph Arceneaux was born April 12, 1984, in Houston, Texas, to a working-class Black family from Louisiana.
