Emma heeft het voorwoord in de de 3e uitgave van Gloria Steinem’s boek ‘Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions’ uit 1983. Naast het voorwoord van Emma heeft Gloria ook wat nieuwe teksten toegevoegd. In 2016 was ‘My Life On The Road’ van de schijfster Emma’s eerste boek voor haar boekenclub, sindsdien zijn de twee goede vrienden en heeft Emma haar ook geinterviewd.

“Why do I love Gloria’s writing so much? She makes what otherwise can be arduous and depressing reading, into something not only relatable but enjoyable…She believes in personal testimony – the sharing and passing on of women’s stories…She uncovers things that are obscured by today’s conditioning and normalizing which when exposed, are absolutely fascinating…Her plain common sense – calling things out as they are – will make you laugh out loud…
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Sometimes the world she envisions seems so far out and impossible to me or just wildly optimistic. But I have come to believe it is through radical feminism and the radical nature of Gloria’s message, that the job of equality will get done. I used to think the citadel didn’t have to topple. Now I believe it just might and should, and that we need to let old ways of being die for something new to be born. This book contains ideas for that new road, even though some were written almost forty years ago.
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People have asked me what the feminist movement needs to succeed. A new word? More men involved? I would rephrase the question. What obstacles need to be removed for us to succeed? In order to win our full humanity, in life, we have to confront the biggest superpower in the world: the patriarchy…
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I never liked the idea of being a rebel. I played Hermione Granger, for goodness sake, who once famously compared the notion of being expelled to death! I remember thinking my first detention was the end of the world. But of all the things to fight for, I’d say freedom and respect are pretty good ones! And if I can do it with, and in the wake of, women like Gloria, all the better. And actually, as Hermione and I learned, being disruptive was quite fun after all.
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So, have your mind blown, laugh out loud, think in new ways, get angry, feel the feminist affinity…This was the first collection of feminist writing Gloria ever published…I hope they become as precious to you.”

Emma viert het 3-jarig bestaan van Our Shared Shelf, haar online boekenclub voor Goodreads. In de afgelopen jaren raadde ze verschillende feministe boeken aan en interviewde ze ook verschillende schrijvers om andere te inspireren.

Galerij Links:
http//: Instagramfoto’s 2019

Het boek dat Emma gaat lezen voor haar boekclub ‘Our Shared Shelf’ in juli en augustus is bekend. Dit zal het boek ‘ Milk and Honey.’ een gedichtenbundel van schrijfster Rupi Kaur zijn, deze is niet vertaald naar het nederland maar wel te koop bij bol.com.

Dear OSS Members,

I am excited to announce that July/August’s pick for Our Shared Shelf is our first poet, Rupi Kaur, and her book of poems Milk and Honey. Rupi Kaur is an Indian-born, Canadian-raised poet and artist. She chooses not to use upper case letters or punctuation in her poems as an ode to her native language, Punjabi. She travels the world, including recently to her native country India, performing her poems and drawing crowds of hundreds. Both of her books, Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers, have made the New York Times bestseller list, which for a poet, is astonishing.

Over my lifetime, I have fallen in and out of love with poetry. Performing poems was what got me into acting (I had a primary school teacher that made everyone learn one a week, and eventually I won a poetry recital competition!) In secondary school and at university, I loved deciphering the codes of poems in class discussion, but I honestly wondered if poetry would continue to feature in my life outside of an academic context.

Enter poets like Hollie McNish, Sabrina Mahfouz and Rupi Kaur- I demolished whole books in single sittings. Unlike poems I have often spent weeks unraveling, Rupi’s poems are not designed to obscure meaning or entertain too much ambiguity – they hit you like punches to the stomach. They are immediate, visceral and not easily digested. I am loathe to say Rupi has made poetry “accessible” because while this is the truth (Rupi’s poems and illustrations fit well into those famously square shaped Instagram frames), there is nothing easy or accessible about what Rupi chooses to talk about. In fact, the topics she chooses, are audacious.

Here is a 25-year-old girl saying the unsayable… to hundreds of thousands of people:
that she has been raped, that at times she has been abused, that she bleeds. And sin of all sins… she actually likes the hair that grows on her body. Yes. She actually thinks it is beautiful. And that she is beautiful as God made her – what a transgression. That her body is her home and nobody else’s.

The last chapter of Rupi’s book is called ‘The healing’. I am astounded to think what grew in the garden of her heartbreak. Her sharing, leadership and representation is so generous and brave. I will be forever grateful that she took subjects, that as a woman, I still carry shame about, and made them art. It took me an extra step forward and gave me new language.

All my love,
Emma

De boeken die Emma gaat lezen voor haar boekclub ‘Our Shared Shelf’ in mei en juni zijn bekend, want dit keer zijn het er twee! Dit zal het boek ‘ The Hate U Give’ van schrijfster TAngie Thomas zijn, vertaald naar het Nederland en o.a. te koop bij bol.com. En
‘Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women’ door Kate Moore, deze is niet vertaald maar wel te koop bij bol.com.

Dear OSS Members:

This was such a fun poll to watch, full of twists and turns, like a good mystery novel. And you submitted some incredible book recommendations! In fact, we had such positive feedback and wonderful suggestions that we’re going to make the OSS Readers’ Choice a regular feature.

With two amazing books at the top that were so close in votes, we decided to declare double winners for May/June.

So, we are extremely excited to announce the first place winner: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas’ extraordinary debut novel, originally written for the YA market, carries a critically important and urgent message about how gun violence, racism and police brutality disproportionately affect communities of color. This ground-breaking book transcends any age bracket and we think it should be required reading for, well, everyone. With intelligence, heart and unflinching honesty, author Angie Thomas makes us laugh, cry and cheer, while 16 year-old Starr finds her voice and a way to fight the system. We’ve had our eye on this award-winner and were saving it for a future pick, but are thrilled that you beat us to it. As an added plus, for our global OSS family, the publisher tells us the book has been translated into over 20 languages.

Coming in a very close second, we are equally inspired to see that you selected: Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

When Kate Moore found out that her book was in the running for OSS’s May/June selection, she gave us a shout out on Twitter. Don’t know if this boosted the vote, but we do know that this is a brilliant nonfiction book, so compellingly told, that it reads like fiction and deserves wide-spread attention. Sadly, the tragic stories here are true and as a recent news article stated “The Radium Girls – Still Glowing in Their Coffins.” Because of the way Kate Moore brings the science, personal stories and facts to light, we know what these unsuspecting women (as young as 16) endured. Their brave efforts fighting the US Radium Corporation to bring justice created milestones for modern occupational hazard law and reveal what we know today about radium’s effect on the human body.

So, please let us know what you’re planning to read. And we want you to know that we are continually astounded with the quality and depth of thought-provoking dialogue that you contribute to Our Shared Shelf. It makes us feel very proud to be part of building this wise and welcoming intersectional feminist community. Needless to say, we are really looking forward to the discussions around your May/June winners.

Love,

Team Our Shared Shelf x