Womanish

Courage and outrage inform 13 essays about black womanhood.

Searing in its emotional honesty, Womanish is an essay collection by award-winning author Kim McLarin that explores what it means to be a Black woman in today's turbulent times. Writing with candor, wit and vulnerability on topics including dating after divorce, depression, parenting older children, the Obamas, and the often fraught relations between white and black women, McLarin unveils herself at the crossroads of being black, female, middle-aged and, ultimately, American. Powerful and timely, McLarin not only draws upon a lifetime of experiences to paint an intimate portrait of a Black woman trying to come to terms with the world around her, but also exposes a society trying to come to terms with Black women.

McLarin gathers forthright essays reflecting on love, friendship, motherhood, and, above all, overt and "thinly-veiled" expressions of racism. In her candid title essay, she considers her transition from girlhood to womanhood, the female body, and her experiences of midlife online dating, where misogyny was apparent--misogyny, like racism, rooted in fear. Bold, well-crafted essays on living, loving, and striving while black.

Kim McLarin is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Taming It Down, Meeting of the Waters, and Jump at the Sun, and a memoir, Divorce Dog: Motherhood, Men, & Midlife. Her work has been honored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, the Barnes & Noble Discover Program, the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, among other organizations. McLarin's nonfiction writing has appeared in The New York Times, Glamour, The Washington Post, Slate, The Root and other publications. She is a former staff writer for The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Associated Press. McLarin appears regularly on the Emmy-Award winning show Basic Black, Boston's long-running television program devoted to African-American themes. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston, and a member of the board of PEN New England.

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