Summary
The editors and contributors to Who Will Speak for America? are passionate and justifiably angry voices providing a literary response to today's political crisis. Inspired by and drawing from the work of writers who participated in nationwide Writers Resist events in January 2017, this volume provides a collection of poems, stories, essays, and cartoons that wrestle with the meaning of America and American identity. The contributions--from established figures including Eileen Myles, Melissa Febos, Jericho Brown, and Madeleine Thien, as well as rising new voices, such as Carmen Maria Machado, Ganzeer, and Liana Finck--confront a country beset by racial injustice, poverty, misogyny, and violence.
Contributions reflect on the terror of the first days after the 2016 Presidential election, but range well beyond it to interrogate the past and imagine possible American futures.
Who Will Speak for America? inspires readers by emphasizing the power of patience, organizing, resilience and community. These moving works advance the conversation the American colonists began, and that generations of activists, in their efforts to perfect our union, have elevated and amplified.
All royalties will benefit the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Contents
Introduction. In search of our future / Stephanie Feldman and Nathaniel PopkinAcceptance speech (Nov. 6, 2016) / Eileen Myles
America in winter / Joy Ladin
How I should have known Trump would be elected president / Carmen Maria Machado
Teaching after Trump / Melissa Febos
IUD / Liana Finck
20 January 2017 / Herman Beavers
Signs / Diane Mckinney-Whetstone
Morning question in bed after the women's marches across America / Adam Vines
Four days / Sarah Rose Etter
Seasons of grief / Tahneer Oksman
When we see / KC Trommer
Just to get by / Bassey Ikpi
Theft / Fran Wilde
Gaslighting / Liana Finck
Three days / Ken Kalfus
Terror? What is terror? / Liana Finck
Four stories about fighting / Sandra Newman
The accused by Khun Srun / Madeleine Thien
Yellow for ephemeral / Sam J. Miller
The retinue of little abysses / Juan Martinez
Reclaiming time / Airea D. Matthews
Year of the rat / Marc Anthony Richardson
Bullet points / Jericho Brown
Domestic terrorism / Cynthia Atkins
The legend of big and fine / Jericho Brown
Who has the right to tell this story? How art and artists can help and harm people experiencing addiction / Liz Moore
National pastime / Lynn Melnick
Strange bedfellows / Nancy Hightower
I enter the real memory / Alice Notley
Who will speak for whom, America? / Edwin Torres
On being American / Samira Ahmed
The betweens / Cynthia Arrieu-King
The alternatives / Liana Finck
Riddle / Jericho Brown
A simple letter to my American friends = Una sencilla carta a mis amigos gringos / Carlos José Pérez Samano
Untitled : a comedy / Herman Beavers
Pigskin, beauty, death, and a huggable rat / Linh Dinh
America (after Allen Ginsberg) / Craig Santos Perez
U.S. v T.H.E.M. / Liana Finck
I want milk, I want honey / Mohja Kahf
Blood and spirit / Cynthia Dewi Oka
América / Ana-Maurine Lara
Life after / Adrienne Celt
The gates to freedom / Rene Denfeld
Struggle / Liana Finck
The end of the incarnation / Malka Older
If you can keep it / Veronica Scott Esposito
Charlie and the aliens / Ganzeer
Dreaming in crayon / Craig Santos Perez
Because change was the ocean and we lived by her mercy / Charlie Jane Anders.
Published Reviews
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Additional Information
Subjects |
American literature
-- 21st century.
Protest literature, American -- 21st century. United States -- Literary collections. |
Publisher | Philadelphia :2018 |
Contributors |
Feldman, Stephanie,
editor. Popkin, Nathaniel R., editor. |
Language |
English |
Description |
ix, 236 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
Bibliography Notes |
Includes bibliographical references. |
ISBN | 9781439916247 1439916241 |
Other | Classic View |