'Required reading.' - Cosmopolitan
'This should be read as a sacred text. Here, you will bear witness to a perpetual salvation song.' - Jason Reynolds
Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives - but not everyone regularly sees themselves reflected on the pages of a book.
In this timely anthology, Glory Edim, founder of the online community, Well-Read Black Girl, brings together original essays by some of America's best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all - regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability - have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature.
Whether it's learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or using mythology to craft an alternative black future, each essay reminds us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation. As she has done with her book club-turned-online community, Edim has created a space where black women's writing, knowledge and life experiences are lifted up, to be shared with all readers who value the power of a story to help us understand the world, and ourselves.
Contributors include: Jesmyn Ward, Lynn Nottage, Jacqueline Woodson, Gabourey Sidibe, Morgan Jerkins, Tayari Jones, Rebecca Walker, and Barbara Smith.
'Essential reading for the twenty-first-century reader. This book is smart, powerful, and complete.' - Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781409189275
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 400 g
Dimensions: 204 x 158 x 26 mm
Yes, Well-Read Black Girl is as good as it sounds. . . . [Glory Edim] gathers an all-star cast of contributors-among them Lynn Nottage, Jesmyn Ward, and Gabourey Sidibe. - O: The Oprah Magazine
These essays build the altars for black women to recognize and support each other's work, not as collectibles rendered visible or easily consumed by non-black audiences, but as an acknowledgment of black women as architects of their own futures and universes. . . . Each essay can be read as a dispatch from the vast and wonderfully complex location that is black girlhood and womanhood. . . . They present literary encounters that may at times seem private and ordinary-hours spent in the children's section of a public library or in a college classroom-but are no less monumental in their impact, - The Washington Post
Glory Edim has curated a brilliant collection of essential American reading for the twenty-first-century reader. This book is smart, powerful, and complete. - Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires
Edim's collection of brief, pithy, and original essays by twenty-one distinguished black women addresses the question, 'When did you first see yourself in literature?' . . . Speaking directly to black women readers, this book contains a journey from which anyone can derive enjoyment and benefit. - Publishers Weekly
Required reading. - Cosmopolitan
Edim expands her breakout Brooklyn book club with this vibrant anthology celebrating black women in literature. The beyond impressive list of contributors includes Jesmyn Ward, Jacqueline Woodson, Tayari Jones, and Gabourey Sidibe. - Entertainment Weekly
This book is a star chart, a map readers can use to navigate the world via the minds of brilliant black women writers. The essays extol us all to regard-and to celebrate-the written word anew. - Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House
As far as I'm concerned, this should be read as a sacred text. Here, you will bear witness to a perpetual salvation song. - Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down and All American Boys
Edim, creator of the Brooklyn-based Well-Read Black Girl book club, invites readers to discover uplifting stories by black women writers in this thoughtfully edited anthology. . . . This work affirms the transformative power of reading. - Library Journal
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