The Portable Feminist Reader - by Roxane Gay (Paperback)

About the Book

"Roxane Gay edits The Portable Feminist Reader for Penguin Classics, an anthology of texts that are diverse in feminist thought, strikingly relevant, and dynamic. Sixty-five selections include ancient, historic, and more recent feminist voices. Traditional scholarship sits with personal essays and poetry. With insightful headnotes, Gay provides context for writings on multicultural perspectives, ecofeminism, feminism and disability, feminist labor, gender perspectives, Black feminism, and more. {She] invites readers to examine the state of feminism, what feminism looks like in practice, and its successes and failures, [and] to join in conversation with the long and growing line of historical and contemporary feminist thought, and to talk of canon-- which always remains complex and contradictory--as expansive rather than definitive"--

Book Synopsis

A New York Times Bestseller

A dynamic and strikingly relevant look at a feminist canon as expansive rather than definitive

A Penguin Classic

One of Library Journal's Best Books of the Year

For Roxane Gay, a feminist canon is subjective and always evolving. A feminist canon represents a long history of feminist scholarship, embraces skepticism, and invites robust discussion and debate. Selected writings by ancient, historic, and more recent feminist voices include Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, Anna Julia Cooper, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Dorothy Allison, Leslie Feinberg, Eileen Myles, Mona Eltahawy, bell hooks, Sara Ahmed, Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, The Guerrilla Girls, and many more. With an introduction, headnotes, and an inspired list of multimedia recommendations, Roxane Gay presents multicultural perspectives, ecofeminism, feminism and disability, feminist labor, gender perspectives, and Black feminism. Through the Portable Feminist Reader, readers explore the state of American feminism, its successes and failures, and what feminism looks like in practice, as a complex, contradictory, personal and political, and ever-growing legacy of feminist thought.

Review Quotes

"The wealth of perspectives represented in this collection is illuminating, providing a holistic understanding that's both intellectually complex and emotionally profound. Gay has done the hard work of bringing together these gems of feminist writing to create a radical foundation for further study." --Jim Van Buskirk, Gay & Lesbian Review

"Roxane Gay could give a masterclass on writing well-crafted introductions... this book has some bangers." --Book Riot

"The Portable Feminist Reader provides essential intersectional perspectives that not only support women--they serve as a direct repudiation of the sexist, racist, xenophobic currents sweeping across the U.S. All women are not yet free, but Gay reminds us that feminists have the collective power to create a more inclusive and equitable future. The work continues." --The Chicago Review of Books

"It's up to all of us to remember why we devote a month to the accomplishments and sacrifices of women throughout history. This volume, featuring pieces from authors including Dorothy Allison, Eileen Myles and bell hooks, celebrates feminist scholarship and offers up a modern vision of the feminist canon." --The Seattle Times

"This book makes feminism urgent, perhaps more than ever before. (...) Worth picking up for Gay's introspective yet inclusive introduction alone, this new collection provides accessible entry points into feminism and offers even advanced scholars new ways of viewing the complex, intersectional histories of feminist thought, literature, and action." --Starred Library Journal

"[An] excellent, expansive collection. (...) Readers will be engrossed by this dynamic and engaging collection." --Booklist

"With its capacious perspective, the collection speaks to a range of feminist concerns, past, present, and future. (...) A timely, spirited collection." --Kirkus Review

"This volume includes newer feminist classics chosen by the incomparable Roxane Gay. From Anna Julia Cooper and Cherríe Moraga to Mona Eltahawy and Sara Ahmed, the pieces here expand the canon just when we need it most." --Ms. Magazine

About the Author

Roxane Gay's writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. She also has a newsletter, The Audacity.