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!
I get sent a lot of books. Like, a lot a lot. It really is an extraordinary case of “be careful what you wish for,” but I am lucky.
Recently, I was sent a special edition copy of And Tango Makes Three, written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and illustrated by Henry Cole (thanks, friends at Simon & Schuster!). I’m sure you’ve heard of this one, but if you haven’t, it’s a children’s picture book based on a true story about two bonded penguins in the Central Park Zoo who hatch an egg together.
Here’s the kicker: The two penguins are both males.
Yup. And when this book first came out in 2005, people lost. their. minds. Really! It’s a sweet portrayal of two loving adult penguins adopting and caring for an egg together. Can you imagine people having a problem with this book?
Well, of course you can … because people are still pissed about it—as if we don’t have real and actual things to worry about in the world.
So this lovely book is being released in a special school and library edition by Simon & Schuster Children’s, and I am asking, nay, imploring each of my readers to go buy one for the little light of your life or donate one to your local school or public library.
Books such as this are being challenged and banned now more than ever. So whether it’s Tango, Gender Queer, The Color Purple, or any number of others, please consider doing your part to help fight back against the censorship of books in our schools and public libraries.
Signed,
Your fave feminist librarian and book warrior
And now, on to this month’s list of 16 releases I’m excited about!
Bearing Witness: Prison Stories from a Woman’s Fight Against Fascism
Written by Mercedes Núñez Targa. Translated by Nick Caistor and Faye Williams. Pluto Press. 240 pages. Out now.
This book was one of my most anticipated releases this year. In it, Catalan socialist Mercedes Núñez Targa relates her remarkable story of radical resistance to both the Franco regime and the German Gestapo. It’s a necessary historical read for our times. (Originally slated for an August release, this one actually came out last month, and I missed it.)
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And So I Roar: A Novel
By Abi Daré (@abidare_author). Dutton. 400 pages. Out Aug. 6.
It must be hard to be this good. Abi Daré returns to Nigeria and 14-year-old Adunni from her first bestselling novel, The Girl With the Louding Voice. Once again, Daré’s storytelling makes for a knockout adventure of friendship, feminism and hope.
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Excited Delirium: Race, Police Violence, and the Invention of a Disease
By Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús (@Beliso_DeJesus). Duke University Press. 320 pages. Out Aug. 6.
This is a fascinating examination of “excited delirium syndrome,” which was fabricated in 1980 and used by police to explain that Black and Brown people who died in their custody suffered from heart failure and not police violence. It’s almost unbelievable. Almost.
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I Want to Die, But I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki: Further Conversations with My Psychiatrist
Written by Baek Sehee (@sentido90). Translated by Anton Hur (@antonhur). Bloomsbury. 224 pages. Out Aug. 6.
Be sure to check out this sequel which is just as heartfelt, vulnerable and insightful as her first internationally acclaimed bestselling South Korean memoir.
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Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States
By Stephanie L. Canizales. University of California Press. 338 pages. Out Aug. 6.
UC-Berkley sociologist Stephanie L. Canizales explores the challenges and resilience of unaccompanied, undocumented migrant youth who come to the US seeking a better life, only to be faced with hardship, exploitation and grief.
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How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory
By Jennifer C. Nash. Duke University Press Books. 152 pages. Out Aug. 9.
In How We Write Now, Duke University professor Jennifer C. Nash not only examines the beauty of Black women’s feminist writing about loss but expertly demonstrates it with her loving, personal and poignant prose.
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The Hypocrite: A Novel
By Jo Hamya (@jo_hamya). Pantheon. 240 pages. Out Aug. 13.
In essence, this is a novel about a play about a novel. But really, it’s about so much more than that: father-daughter relationships, misogyny, generational differences, feminism, and more. Hamya makes it work.
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In Exile: Rupture, Reunion, and My Grandmother’s Secret Life
By Sadiya Ansari (@sadeyea). House of Anansi. 224 pages. Out Aug. 13.
In this unique memoir, Sadiya Ansari investigates her grandmother’s choice to abandon her kids for twenty years and explores family secrets, cultural expectations and the struggles of belonging.
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The Italy Letters
By Vi Khi Nao (@vikhinao). Melville House. 192 pages. Out Aug. 13.
Vi Khi Nao is a queer Vietnamese American writer who’s remained oddly unknown, considering her talent and lyricism. This singular and sensual work is best described as “literary fantasia.”
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The Maid and the Crocodile
By Jordan Ifueko (@jordanifueko). Amulet Books. 304 pages. Out Aug. 13.
If you loved the Raybearer duology as I did, you will be thrilled to know that Jordan Ifueko is back with a standalone romantasy set in the Raybearer world. It’s got magic, love and adventure, and also community, queerness and reflection.
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Silken Gazelles: A Novel
Written by Jokha Alharthi (@johka_alharthi). Translated by Marilyn Booth. Catapult. 272 pages. Out Aug. 13.
The latest novel by Man Booker Prize-winning Jokha Alharthi centers on two Omani women and their unbreakable connection throughout time, space and circumstance. A beautiful tale.
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Blackheart Man
By Nalo Hopkinson. S&S/Saga Press. 384 pages. Out Aug. 20.
If you love fantasy tales full of adventure, demons, polyamory, myth and magic, you won’t want to miss this one. And did I mention it’s the latest by the brilliant Nalo Hopkinson? Enough said.
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Drown Me with Dreams
By Gabi Burton (@queryqueen339). Bloomsbury YA. 432 pages. Out Aug. 20.
About Gabi Burton’s first book in this ya duology, Sing Me to Sleep, I said, “Super fun and fantastical, it will have you eager for the next installment!” And here’s the next installment! Have fun!
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Loving Corrections
By adrienne maree brown (@adriennemareebrown). AK Press. 200 pages. Out Aug. 20.
In her latest in the Emergent Strategy Series, the gracious and glorious adrienne maree brown offers readers practical reflections on relationships, accountability and belonging.
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Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde
By Alexis Pauline Gumbs (@alexispauline). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 544 pages. Out Aug. 20.
Alexis and Audre? Audre and Alexis! This is a magnificent ode to Audre Lorde by the endlessly talented Alexis Pauline Gumbs. With it, Gumbs ushers in a new era of biography that you won’t want to miss.
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The Trees
Written by Claudia Peña Claros (@claudia_pena_claros). Translated by Robin Myers (@robinepmyers). Relegation Books. 118 pages. Out Aug. 20.
For Women in Translation Month (celebrated every August), pick up The Trees, the latest beautiful story collection by Bolivian writer Claudia Peña Claros after a ten-year absence. With depth and care, Claros explores rural life, nature, power and justice.
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The Unicorn Woman
By Gayl Jones. Beacon Press. 224 pages. Out Aug. 20.
In Gayl Jones’s latest novel, a Black veteran returns to the US South after serving in the army during World War II. Travel along with him as he seeks inspiration and idealism in the face of injustice.
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Up next:
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