Reader's Place: October 11, 2021
The concept of home, as both a physical place as well as a state of mind, is explored in poetry and prose by these four women writers.
Far Away From Close to Home: a Black Millennial Woman in Progress: Essays, by Vanessa Baden Kelly, 2021 (Library Catalog, Hoopla)
Through a series of extraordinary, incisive, often-humorous essays, Emmy Award-winning actress and writer Vanessa Baden Kelly examines what the idea of 'home' means to a Black millennial woman. What are the consequences of gentrification on the life of a young Black woman, and on her ability to raise a family? What does it mean to be part of a lineage, whether it be passed down through names or through the voices of generations of writers and thinkers?
Real Estate: a Living Autobiography, by Deborah Levy, 2021 (Library Catalog, eBCCLS, Hoopla)
In this vibrant memoir, Levy employs her characteristic indelible writing, sharp wit, and acute insights to craft a searing examination of womanhood and ownership. Her inventory of possessions, real and imagined, pushes readers to question our cultural understanding of belonging and belongings and to consider the value of a woman's intellectual and personal life.
Black Girl, Call Home: Poems, by Jasmine Mans, 2021 (Library Catalog)
Jasmine Mans' collection is divided into six sections, each with a corresponding active telephone number where she has recorded excerpts of her poems. Using poetry to bring change to the world with positive agitation and hoping to prompt dialogue where there is normally fear, poet Jasmine Mans explores the intersection of race, feminism, and queer identity in her latest collection Black Girl, Call Home.
A Tower in Tuscany; or, a Home For My Writers and Other Animals, collected by Beatrice Monti Della Corte; photography by François Halard; edited by Michael Cunningham, 2021 (Library Catalog)
Beatrice Monti della Corte, along with her late husband Gregor von Rezori, transformed a collection of ruins in the hills above Florence first into a writing studio and then ultimately into a weekend and holiday retreat. Here they would spend time working at their craft, nurturing the gardens and an astonishing variety of pets, usually while also hosting groups of friends-fellow artists and writers.
Compiled by Ina Rimpau