The Feminist Know-It-All: You know her. You can’t stand her. Good thing she’s not here! Instead, this column by gender and women’s studies librarian Karla Strand will amplify stories of the creation, access, use and preservation of knowledge by women and girls around the world; share innovative projects and initiatives that focus on information, literacies, libraries and more; and, of course, talk about all of the books.
Hello, feminist reader friends! Each month, I provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups. The aims of these lists are threefold:
- I want to do my part in the disruption of what has been the acceptable “norm” in the book world for far too long—white, cis, heterosexual, male;
- I want to amplify indie publishers and amazing works by writers who are women, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, APIA/AAPI, international, queer, trans, nonbinary, disabled, fat, immigrant, Muslim, neurodivergent, sex-positive or of other historically marginalized identities—you know, the rest of us; and
- I want to challenge and encourage you all to buy, borrow and read them!
Red Hen Press. Alice James Books. Voice of Witness. Nightboat Books. Deep Vellum. Feminist Press. These are just a few of the many indie publishers and nonprofits who recently had their National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding cut by the federal government.
The NEA is an independent federal agency whose grants provide crucial funding for artistic projects that reach underserved groups, unite communities and uplift the voices of otherwise underrepresented artists. As the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities across the U.S., these rollbacks are sure to cut deep and leave many organizations and publishers we love and so heavily rely on, helpless.
At a time when there is already so much uncertainty and fear, these cuts both sadden and enrage us because an attack on art—specifically literary art—is a deliberate attempt to keep us feeling hopeless, uninspired and compliant.
Many affected publishers have been strategizing ways to lessen the impact, but there is work for us to do, too. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial for us to buy or borrow these publishers’ works, share them with our loved ones and ask our local librarians to get copies. If you have a favorite publisher, share the call for support on your socials, attend their events, join their book club, remember them in your estate planning, buy their merch or donate if you can.
Reading even just one or two of the 25 books below is a first step towards sending the message that we will continue to support the arts and prioritize the stories being told by and about marginalized groups.
Be Gay, Do Crime
Edited by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley. Dzanc Books. Out June 3.
This kaleidoscopic collection of 16 stories feature queer defiance, resistance, chaos and crime in all their glory. Contributors include Myriam Gurba, Aurora Mattia, SJ Sindu, Francesca Ekwuyasi, and more.
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Bloody Hell!: Adventures in Menopause From Around the World
Edited by Mona Eltahawy. Unbound. Out June 3.
Mona Eltahawy is a force, and her latest is a showstopping anthology of menopause adventures from around the world. These 17 contributors share their experiences with brain fog, going through menopause while trans, body changes, sex and more, with candor, humor and wisdom.
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Clam Down: A Metamorphosis
By Anelise Chen. One World. Out June 3.
When Anelise Chen’s mother told her to “clam down” after her divorce, Chen didn’t just take it as a typo. Instead, she retreats, hides, goes into her shell for safety, reflection and relief. In her remarkably unique memoir, Chen examines mollusk life, her adaptation of it and the circumstances that led her to it.
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Endling: A Novel
By Maria Reva. Doubleday. Out June 3.
Set in 2022, Ukrainian-born, Canadian author Maria Reva tells the story of three women and their quest across Ukraine as Russia begins to invade. Full of unusual characters, lighthearted moments and unexpected plot twists, this novel is a guidebook for how to laugh, grieve and love- even in the darkest times.
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I’ll Tell You When I’m Home: A Memoir
By Hala Alyan. Avid Reader Press. Out June 3.
In her poignant memoir, brilliant Palestinian American poet and writer Hala Alyan shares her journey to motherhood via surrogacy and the questions of identity, family and home that arise along the way. This is a candid, intimate and tenderly written portrait of reckoning and restoration.
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Liberating Yoga: From Appropriation to Healing
By Harpinder Kaur Mann. Broadleaf Books. Out June 3.
In this thoughtful and informative volume, Harpinder Kaur Mann explores the whitewashing, colonization and commodification of yoga in the West. Through personal narrative and historical context, Mann explains why learning yoga’s true history, cultural meanings and practices is essential to liberation.
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Paradise Once: A Novel
By Olive Senior. Akashic Books. Out June 3.
In her latest evocative historical novel, Olive Senior tells the story of the massacre of a Cuban village by Spanish forces in 1513. Through centering four survivors, Senior explores the remarkable resilience of the Taíno people of the Caribbean who survived Spanish invasion, colonization and near-destruction.
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Songs of No Provenance: A Novel
By Lydi Conklin. Catapult. Out June 3.
Lydi Conklin, the author of the award-winning short story collection Rainbow Rainbow, has written their first full-length novel, which centers on Joan Vole, a singer grappling with an onstage incident she’s sure will tank her burgeoning career. With themes of authenticity, trans and nonbinary identities, sexuality, fame and more, this debut is funny, candid and compelling.
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We Are Green and Trembling
Written by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara. Translated by Robin Myers. New Directions. Out June 3.
Argentine writer and founder of the feminist movement Niuna menos, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, turns Argentine history on its head with a trans main character and transformation at its core. Decolonial and disarming, this remarkable novel is powerful, sensual and imaginative.
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Ancestors: A Grievers Novel
By adrienne maree brown. AK Press. Out June 10.
I am always here for a new book by adrienne maree brown! This is the final installment in the Grievers Trilogy, and brown delivers a fitting conclusion full of resistance, care, healing and connection.
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Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life
By Stephanie Elizondo Griest. Beacon Press. Out June 10.
In this brilliant exploration of women’s creativity, Stephanie Elizondo Griest asks over 100 artists, “Is art enough?” Is the visual art, dance, music or writing really worth the sacrifices, misogyny, violence and hardships? From Iceland and India to Cuba and Rwanda, these artists will tell you their answers.
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The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen
By Shokoofeh Azar. Europa Editions. Out June 10.
In her second novel, Shokoofeh Azar uses lush lyricism and magical realism to tell the story of 12 children lost in a palace after a gowkaran tree abruptly erupts in their family’s kitchen. Vibrant and kaleidoscopic, this story spans decades of Iranian history and incorporates themes of family, politics, revolution and love.
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Iris and the Dead
By Miranda Schreiber. Book*hug Press. Out June 10.
In this lyrical and original autofiction debut, Miranda Schreiber explores the coming out process of a young woman contending with depression, intergenerational trauma and an exploitative relationship with the person she looked to for help. Schreiber bravely reckons with themes of power, trust, love, loss and transformation.
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Jumping Through Hoops: Performing Gender in the Nineteenth-Century Circus
By Betsy Golden Kellem. Feminist Press. Out June 10.
With lots of wit and an aptitude for the unusual, Betsy Golden Kellem unpacks the often overlooked history of womefn in the circus. Fraught with stories of struggle, defiance, transformation and triumph, Jumping Through Hoops is the perfect mix of educational and entertaining, pushing readers to see circus performers through entirely new eyes.
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Six Wild Crowns (Queens of Elben, 1)
By Holly Race. Orbit. Out June 10.
The first book in a spellbinding trilogy that retells the infamous story of the six wives of King Henry VIII. Set in a fantasy world full of magic, mystery and intrigue, this tale explores the power of women’s relationships and marriage as a tool of patriarchy.
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Scrap Theory: Reproductive Injustice in the Black Feminist Imagination
By Mali D. Collins. Ohio State University Press. Out June 11.
In this meticulously researched and brilliantly imagined new academic work, Mali D. Collins explores reproductive justice, specifically Black maternal dispossession, through a lens of scrap theory, in which Collins centers the traces and fragments of Black life to understand the erasure of Black motherhood and memory work.
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Living Indigenous Feminism: Stories of Contemporary Native American Women
By Carolyn Ross Johnston and Terri McKinney Baker (Choctaw). University of Georgia Press. Out June 15.
This volume keenly brings together collective knowledge, academic research, oral history, poetry and storytelling to explore Indigenous feminism and women’s lives through their own voices. By highlighting Wilma Mankiller, LaDonna Harris and others, the book illustrates Indigenous women’s experiences with power, with or without the “feminist” label.
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The Cost of Being Undocumented: One Woman’s Reckoning with America’s Inhumane Math
By Alix Dick and Antero Garcia. Beacon Press. Out June 17.
This book is the culmination of Dick’s personal narratives as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and Garcia’s scholarship on immigration history, policy and research. Together, they provide a stark, candid and compelling examination of the actual, human costs of being undocumented in the US.
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Girls Girls Girls
By Shoshana von Blanckensee. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Out June 17.
A breathtaking coming-of-age debut that had me laughing, crying and growing alongside Hannah as she navigates her new life in San Francisco. A story full of highs and lows, Shoshana von Blanckensee deftly depicts ways to be young, queer and Jewish, all while navigating life, death and what it means to be frei.
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Guardianas: Dispatches from the Association of Midwives Rosa Andrade / Despachos de la Asociación de Parteras Rosa Andrade
Edited by Noemí Delgado. Translated by Emma Lloyd. Seven Stories Press. Out June 17.
This bilingual volume includes testimonials from midwives who worked during the civil war in El Salvador. A harrowing yet imperative archive, it is also a model of collective care, bravery and resistance.
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I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness: A Novel
By Irene Solà. Graywolf. Out June 17.
In a centuries-old Catalonian house, a woman lies dying. All of the women who lived and died there previously surround her in this ghostly novel about memory, promises and the stories we tell.
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Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st-Century Social Movements
By Shanelle Matthews, Marzena Zukowska and the Radical Communicators Network. The New Press. Out June 17.
This groundbreaking and urgent anthology places radical communicators and narrative organizing at the center of liberation movement activism. Through stories, essays, interviews and case studies, the contributors demonstrate the necessity of narrative power in improving living conditions, increasing power and achieving liberation for all.
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These Heathens: A Novel
By Mia McKenzie. Random House. Out June 17.
The latest book by Mia McKenzie, writer and founder of Black Girl Dangerous, is a captivating historical novel full of humor and depth. Set in 1960 Georgia, it follows 17-year-old Doris as she seeks an abortion in Atlanta during a weekend of new (and queer) people and experiences.
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Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings
By Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. Harper. Out June 24.
The incomparable Honorée Fanonne Jeffers has returned with her nonfiction debut, a collection of essays that explore white supremacist cisheteronormative patriarchy as only she can. Weaving personal stories into historical events and wise critique, Jeffers has written a superlative volume that’s just right for our times.
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Red Flag Warning: Mutual Aid and Survival in California’s Fire Country
Edited by Dani Burlison and Margaret Elysia Garcia. AK Press. Out June 24.
As survivors of Northern California wildfires, Burlison and Garcia noted the lack of rural voices and stories of mutual aid they experienced as local residents and compiled this helpful guide as a remedy. The groundbreaking anthology includes lessons, interviews and essays about pyronatural history, mutual aid and the impacts of living with wildfire.
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Also releasing this month:
Beyond Limits: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care
By Shelley Sella. Beacon Press. Out June 3.
Black Salt Queen
By Samantha Bansil. Bindery Books. Out June 3.
The Catch: A Novel
By Yrsa Daley-Ward. Liveright. Out June 3.
Flashlight: A Novel
By Susan Choi. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Out June 3.
A Language of Limbs: A Novel
By Dylin Hardcastle. Dutton. Out June 3.
Meet Me at the Crossroads: A Novel
By Megan Giddings. Amistad. Out June 3.
Park Avenue: A Novel
By Renée Ahdieh. Flatiron Books. Out June 3.
Audition
By Pip Adam. Coffee House Press. Out June 10.
The Great Mann: A Novel
By Kyra Davis Lurie. Crown. Out June 10.
Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance
By A’Lelia Bundles. Scribner. Out June 10.
A Shipwreck in Fiji
By Nilima Rao. Soho Crime. Out June 10.
Unfaithful: A Translator’s Memoir
By Suzanne Jill Levine. Bloomsbury Academic. Out June 12.
Midwest Unrest: 1960s Urban Rebellions and the Black Freedom Movement
By Ashley Howard. University of North Carolina Press. Out June 17.
Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship
By Dana A. Williams. Amistad. Out June 17.
Access: Inside the Abortion Underground and the Sixty-Year Battle for Reproductive Freedom
By Rebecca Grant. Avid Reader Press. Out June 24.
The Girls Who Grew Big: A Novel
By Leila Mottley. Knopf. Out June 24.
The Tiny Things are Heavier
By Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo. Bloomsbury. Out June 24.
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Many thanks to Violet Pandya for drafting this introduction and assisting with this month’s column! Violet is an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the inaugural GWSL + Ms. intern. In this position, she will assist with the work of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian and learn about feminist journalism with Ms.
