A Black Feminist Book Club

This month we're at Brixton House for our first in person book club of the year!

After the event, we'll be going for food in Brixton Market. We invite you to join us.

About the book:

Our June pick is Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire.

'Warsan Shire is an extraordinarily gifted poet whose profoundly moving poems so powerfully give voice to the unspoken' Bernardine Evaristo

Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma and resilience from the award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire, celebrated collaborator on Beyonce's Lemonade and Black Is King .

With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a girl who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own stumbling way toward womanhood. Drawing from her own life and the lives of loved ones, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black women and teenage girls. These are noisy lives, full of music and weeping and surahs. These are fragrant lives, full of blood and perfume and jasmine. These are polychrome lives, full of moonlight and turmeric and kohl.

The long-awaited collection from one of our most exciting contemporary poets is a blessing, an incantatory celebration of survival. Each reader will come away changed.

'Warsan Shire electrifies... The beautifully crafted poems in this collection are fiercely tender gifts' Roxane Gay

'Vital, moving and courageous, this is a debut not to be missed' Guardian

You can purchase the book via the Black Feminist Bookshop Bookshop.org affiliate store.

Resources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001546k

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/warsan-shire

Buying the book isn't required to attend the event. These resources will help you to participate in the conversation. In return, we ask that you bring one resource to share with the group, such as an article, podcast, video or a book.

Tickets:

This event is exclusively for Black women, femmes and non binary people. Black Feminist Bookshop Patreon members gain access to the book club as part of their membership. More information here.

Eventbrite tickets are available for non-members.

Tickets are donation based. Minimum contribution £3 (pay what you can afford). The money is used to pay your facilitators for organising and hosting the book club, and for putting on future events.

If you cannot afford a ticket, email us at blackfeministreading@gmail.com to be added to the guest list.

Accessibility information:

We are meeting in the cafe/bar. The venue and toilets are wheelchair accessible. The accessible toilets are gender neutral.

Please get in touch at blackfeministreading@gmail.com with any questions or access needs you would like us to be aware of.

Your facilitators:

Dee is a working-class queer neurodiverse Black woman. She is the founder and creative force behind the Black Feminist Bookshop.

Her work centres the healing and liberation of Black women, femmes, girls and non binary people, and empowering communities to create change. She’s been running the book club for 3 years.

Ava is a Creative Facilitator, Yoga Teacher and artist. She is driven by the importance of making healing practices accessible to isolated and marginalised communities as a tool to unwind trauma. She is passionate about creating safe, accessible spaces for self exploration, expression and acceptance, where participants can address issues concerning their liberation and wellbeing- on personal and collective levels.

About our book club:

Our aim is to create a space where Black women, femmes and non binary people can discuss literature that reflects their experiences. We read Black feminist and queer authors to focus on self care, empowerment and community connections.