About the Book
All the Women in My Family Sing is an anthology documenting the experiences of women of color at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It is a vital collection of prose and poetry whose topics range from the pressures of being the vice-president of a Fortune 500 Company, to escaping the killing fields of Cambodia, to the struggles inside immigration, identity, romance, and self-worth. These brief, trenchant essays capture the aspirations and wisdom of women of color as they exercise autonomy, creativity, and dignity and build bridges to heal the brokenness in today's turbulent world. Sixty-nine authors -- African American, Asian American, Chicana, Native American, Cameroonian, South African, Korean, LGBTQI -- lend their voices to broaden cross-cultural understanding and to build bridges to each other's histories and daily experiences of life. America Ferrera's essay is from her powerful speech at the Women's March in Washington D.C.; Natalie Baszile writes about her travels to Louisiana to research Queen Sugar and finding the "painful truths" her father experienced in the "belly of segregation;" Porochista Khakpour tells us what it is like to fly across America under the Muslim travel ban; Lalita Tademy writes about her transition from top executive at Sun Microsystems to NY Times bestselling author. This anthology is monumental and timely as human rights and justice are being challenged around the world. It is a watershed title, not only written, but produced entirely by women of color, including the publishing, editing, process management, book cover design, and promotions. Our vision is to empower underrepresented voices and to impact the world of publishing in America -- particularly important in a time when 80% of people who work in publishing self-identify as white (as found recently in a study by Lee & Low Books, and reported on NPR).
About the Author :
Natalie Baszile, whose best-selling novel Queen Sugar was adapted for Oprah's TV channel by award-winning director, Ava Duvernay, writes of returning to Louisiana to research Queen Sugar and finding the "painful truths&rd"
Review :
A song of freedom: that's what you hear as you read All the Women in My Family Sing, an anthology of essays by women of color. Sometimes the songs are heavy with loss, or staccato with righteous anger, or lilting with love. From Samina Ali's tale of re-building her life after medical incompetence left her both a new mother and disabled to Camille Hayes' story of challenging racial constructs over the years, we see women who fight passionately and gracefully for autonomy and self-definition. Some of them are new voices, others literary or socio-political lions like Marian Wright Edelman. But in all these fierce and anthemic pieces we see the true face of womanhood, in all its colors. - Farai Chideya, author of books including The Color of Our Future and The Episodic Career
All the Women in My Family Sing encompasses everything that is important about women of color -- our diversity, sacrifice, crusade for equality, and the impact we have made on the lives of others. - Jenny Bach, California Democratic Party Secretary
All the Women in My Family Sing is a bold, evocative anthology that cannot be read without engaging your full heart. The essays about identity, family, love, acceptance, and fear are a testament to the times, unrelenting in their examination of personal and global pain. There's triumph here and the resilience specific to the female spirit. - Nichelle Tramble Spellman, author of The Dying Ground and The Last King Writer/Producer of The Good Wife and Justified
A revolutionary primer for all us well-meaning white folks who haven't a clue about what it's like to be a woman of color. - Susan Gabriel, author of Trueluck Summer
Each of these brief, poignant pieces illuminates one woman's negotiation between her aspirations and the forces that would constrict her dreams. The contributors write prophetically of their struggles and triumphs in the early years of the twenty-first century, challenging the reader with their revelations. All the Women in My Family Sing is essential reading. - Henry Louis Gates, Jr , Alphonse Fletcher University Professor Harvard University
Impassioned writers bearing witness to survival, creativity, and hope. - Kirkus Reviews
The voices in All the Women in My Family Sing intermingle to produce a harmony of moving experiences that taps into the rhythm of our collective desires for a more compassionate world. - Nancy Wilson, Jazz Singer; three-time Grammy Award-winner
These brilliant and moving essays show the astonishing, brave and passionate lives of women of color as they fight for autonomy, equality and love.
--Isabel Allende,
These perfectly chosen, Women Words are a healing gift from new sistahs, now my family, for whom I will fight, with whom I will stand and because of whom, I will build. - Alfre Woodard, Actor, Activist
This mosaic of women's voices inspires, heals, and offers hope in dark times. A memorable collection that will make your heart sing. - Ruth Behar, author of Lucky Broken Girl
This moving anthology of essays by women of color illuminates the struggles, traditions, and life views of women at the dawn of the 21st century. The 69 authors grapple with identity, belonging, self-esteem, and sexuality, among other topics. - Publishers Weekly
Whether the words pour forth like Jazz or salsa, indie rock or R&B, indigenous drums, kotos, maracas, or the sheng, they all ring out in stories of ancestry, forgiveness, struggle and victory. It is an eclectic collection where you may hear both new and familiar songs which seem to reflect Lucille Clifton's request that we 'celebrate' with her the fact that each woman writer has survived, indeed flourished through rivers bridged, mountains climbed or oceans navigated despite hurricane storms. - devorah major, poet/novelist/essayist, San Francisco 3rd Poet Laureate
