April 2024 National Poetry Month | Sexual Assault Awareness Month - Monthly Book Display

National Poetry Month / Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Open Mic Poetry Reading

An open mic is an open space in which all kinds of poetry can be heard. It provides a venue for new poets to read, gives poets a chance to try out new work and get feedback, and creates community.

Sponsored by CU VIP Center and University Libraries. Visit CUINVOLVED for more information.

Killing Poetry : blackness and the making of slam and spoken word communities

Winner of the 2019 Lilla A. Heston Award Co-winner of the 2018 Ethnography Division's Best Book from the NCA In recent decades, poetry slams and the spoken word artists who compete in them have sparked a resurgent fascination with the world of poetry. However, there is little critical dialogue that fully engages with the cultural complexities present in slam and spoken word poetry communities, as well as their ramifications. In Killing Poetry, renowned slam poet, Javon Johnson unpacks some of the complicated issues that comprise performance poetry spaces. He argues that the truly radical potential in slam and spoken word communities lies not just in proving literary worth, speaking back to power, or even in altering power structures, but instead in imagining and working towards altogether different social relationships. His illuminating ethnography provides a critical history of the slam, contextualizes contemporary black poets in larger black literary traditions, and does away with the notion that poetry slams are inherently radically democratic and utopic. Killing Poetry--at times autobiographical, poetic, and journalistic--analyzes the masculine posturing in the Southern California community in particular, the sexual assault in the national community, and the ways in which related social media inadvertently replicate many of the same white supremacist, patriarchal, and mainstream logics so many spoken word poets seem to be working against. Throughout, Johnson examines the promises and problems within slam and spoken word, while illustrating how community is made and remade in hopes of eventually creating the radical spaces so many of these poets strive to achieve.

Ordinary Hazards

In her own voice, acclaimed author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a compelling and moving memoir in verse. Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards - ordinary and extraordinary - of her life.

Purple Sparks

Coming soon to Reinert: Purple Sparks ~ A collection of poems by sexual assault survivors is a riveting collection of human voices that bring awareness, advocacy, and power to the issue of sexual assault.

Retribution Forthcoming : poems

Influenced by Alice Notley, Eileen Myles, Rachel Zucker, and other poets of the New York school, the poems in Retribution Forthcoming blend a talky, quick, funny voice with candid examinations of gender norms, class pressures, and the existential. Their speaker explores her mortality anxiety through her experiences of gendered exploitation, reflecting on bodily autonomy and the nexus of violences that women face. Using oblique and direct strategies, these poems recount sexual coercion, the ways consumerist society reinforces and reifies gender conformity and performativity, and the psychological ramifications of these abuses of power. Retribution Forthcoming examines selfhood, consciousness, and mortality as they intertwine with our identities and the ways those identities are politicized. At its core, though, this book is an account of sexual assault and its aftermath, exploring how trauma interacts with belief and our ability to trust others and ourselves.

Seam

The poems in this captivating collection weave beauty with violence, the personal with the historic as they recount the harrowing experiences of the two hundred thousand female victims of rape and torture at the hands of the Pakistani army during the 1971 Liberation War. As the child of Bangladeshi immigrants, the poet in turn explores her own losses, as well as the complexities of bearing witness to the atrocities these war heroines endured. Throughout the volume, the narrator endeavors to bridge generational and cultural gaps even as the victims recount the horror of grief and personal loss. As we read, we discover the profound yet fragile seam that unites the fields, rivers, and prisons of the 1971 war with the poet's modern-day hotel, or the tragic death of a loved one with the holocaust of a nation. Moving from West Texas to Dubai, from Virginia to remote villages in Bangladesh and back again, the narrator calls on the legacies of Willa Cather, César Vallejo, Tomas Tranströmer, and Paul Celan to give voice to the voiceless. Fierce yet loving, devastating and magical at once, Seam is a testament to the lingering potency of memory and the bravery of a nation's victims. Winner, Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award, 2014 Winner, Binghamton University Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award, 2015 Winner, Drake University Emerging Writers Award, 2015

Shout

A New York Times bestseller and one of 2019's best-reviewed books, a poetic memoir and call to action from the award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson! Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Described as "powerful," "captivating," and "essential" in the nine starred reviews it's received, this must-read memoir is being hailed as one of 2019's best books for teens and adults. A denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts, SHOUT speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice-- and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

American War Poetry by Lorrie Goldensohn (Editor)
American War Poetry spans the history of the nation. Beginning with the Colonial Wars of the eighteenth-century and ending with the Gulf Wars, this original and significant anthology presents four centuries of American men and women-soldiers, nurses, reporters, and embattled civilians-writing about war. American War Poetry opens with a ballad by a freed African American slave commenting on a skirmish with Indians in a Massachusetts meadow. Poems on the American Revolution follow, as well as poems on "minor" conflicts like the Mexican War and the Spanish-American Wars. This compact anthology has generous selections on the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnamese-American War, but it also includes an unusually large offering on American participation in the Spanish Civil War. Another section covers four hundred years of conflict with Native Americans, ending with poems by contemporary Indians who respond passionately and directly to their difficult history. The collection also reaches into current reaction to American involvement in Latin America, Bosnia, and the Gulf Wars. Showing the depth of feeling and the range of thinking with which Americans have confronted war, American War Poetry expands our sense of what poetry is made to do. While the birth of a national identity is documented in early poems, the anthology also conveys the growing sophistication of a uniquely American style. Although early war poems show that the first justification for war was purely defensive, as American global ambitions matured, American writers moved increasingly to deplore a homegrown imperialism and its terrible costs. While many familiar poems of patriotic ardor have been chosen, other poems show a steady interest in antiwar themes. Lorrie Goldensohn provides a brief biography for each poet and places each poem in its proper literary and historical context. Comprehensive and compelling, American War Poetry not only documents the birth and development of a national style of expression but shows the force of poetry working on the historical moment, making it come vitally alive.
American Women Poets in the 21st Century : where lyric meets language by Claudia Rankine (Editor); Juliana Spahr (Editor)
A thought-provoking mix of poetry, creative manifesto and criticism. Poetry in America is flourishing in this new millennium and asking serious questions of itself: Is writing marked by gender and if so, how? What does it mean to be experimental? How can lyric forms be authentic? This volume builds on the energetic tensions inherent in these questions, focusing on ten major American women poets whose collective work shows an incredible range of poetic practice. Each section of the book is devoted to a single poet and contains new poems; a brief "statement of poetics" by the poet herself in which she explores the forces -- personal, aesthetic, political -- informing her creative work; a critical essay on the poet's work; a biographical statement; and a bibliography listing works by and about the poet. Underscoring the dynamic give and take between poets and the culture at large, this anthology is indispensable for anyone interested in poetry, gender and the creative process. CONTRIBUTORS: Rae Armantrout, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Lucie Brock Broido, Jorie Graham, Barbara Guest, Lyn Hejinian, Brenda Hillman, Susan Howe, Ann Lauterbach, Harryette Mullen.
Asian American Poetry : the next generation by Victoria Chang (Editor); Marilyn Chin (Foreword by); Timothy Liu (Contribution by); Adrienne Su (Contribution by); Sue Kwock Kim (Contribution by); Rick Barot (Contribution by); Brenda Shaughnessy (Contribution by); Mong-Lan (Contribution by)
This book is the first in English to consider women's movements and feminist discourses in twentieth-century Taiwan. Doris T. Chang examines the way in which Taiwanese women in the twentieth century selectively appropriated Western feminist theories to meet their needs in a modernizing Confucian culture. She illustrates the rise and fall of women's movements against the historical backdrop of the island's contested national identities, first vis-à-vis imperial Japan (1895-1945) and later with postwar China (1945-2000). In particular, during periods of soft authoritarianism in the Japanese colonial era and late twentieth century, autonomous women's movements emerged and operated within the political perimeters set by the authoritarian regimes. Women strove to replace the "Good Wife, Wise Mother" ideal with an individualist feminism that meshed social, political, and economic gender equity with the prevailing Confucian family ideology. However, during periods of hard authoritarianism from the 1930s to the 1960s, the autonomous movements collapsed. The particular brand of Taiwanese feminism developed from numerous outside influences, including interactions among an East Asian sociopolitical milieu, various strands of Western feminism, and Marxist-Leninist women's liberation programs in Soviet Russia. Chinese communism appears not to have played a significant role, due to the Chinese Nationalists' restriction of communication with the mainland during their rule on post-World War II Taiwan. Notably, this study compares the perspectives of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, whose husband led as the president of the Republic of China on Taiwan from 1949 to 1975, and Hsiu-lien Annette Lu, Taiwan's vice president from 2000 to 2008. Delving into period sources such as the highly influential feminist monthly magazine Awakening as well as interviews with feminist leaders, Chang provides a comprehensive historical and cross-cultural analysis of the struggle for gender equality in Taiwan.
Beat Poets by Carmela Ciuraru (Editor)
This rousing anthology features the work of more than twenty-five writers from the great twentieth-century countercultural literary movement. Writing with an audacious swagger and an iconoclastic zeal, and declaiming their verse with dramatic flourish in smoke-filled cafés, the Beats gave birth to a literature of previously unimaginable expressive range. The defining work of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac provides the foundation for this collection, which also features the improvisational verse of such Beat legends as Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, and Michael McClure and the work of such women writers as Diane DiPrima and Denise Levertov. LeRoi Jones's plaintive ; and Bob Kaufman's stirring Abomunist Manifesto; appear here alongside statements on poetics and the alternately incendiary and earnest correspondence of Beat Generation writers. Visceral and powerful, infused with an unmediated spiritual and social awareness, this is a rich and varied tribute and, in the populist spirit of the Beats, a vital addition to the libraries of readers everywhere.
Black Nature : four centuries of African American nature poetry by Camille T. Dungy
This book presents the natural world seen through the eyes of black poets. ""Black Nature"" is the first anthology to focus on nature writing by African American poets, a genre that until now has not commonly been counted as one in which African American poets have participated. Black poets have a long tradition of incorporating treatments of the natural world into their work, but it is often read as political, historical, or protest poetry - anything but nature poetry. This is particularly true when the definition of what constitutes nature writing is limited to work about the pastoral or the wild. Camille T. Dungy has selected 180 poems from 93 poets that provide unique perspectives on American social and literary history to broaden our concept of nature poetry and African American poetics. This collection features major writers, such as Phillis Wheatley, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sterling Brown, Robert Hayden, Wanda Coleman, Natasha Trethewey, and Melvin B. Tolson, as well as newer talents, such as Douglas Kearney, Major Jackson, and Janice Harrington. Included are poets writing out of slavery, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century African American poetic movements. ""Black Nature"" brings to the fore a neglected and vital means of considering poetry by African Americans and nature-related poetry as a whole.
Blood to Remember: American poets on the Holocaust by Charles Adés Fishman (Editor)
Poetry. Jewish Studies. "The sacred duty of Holocaust remembrance--commemorating the dead, honoring the living, and posing the pertinent theological, ethical, and political questions generated by the Holocaust--is the substance of Charles Fishman's compelling collection of American Holocaust poetry. Fishman successfully assembles works that render a historically remote and often painfully resisted subject in a manner that makes the catastrophe real....One is grateful for the book's sound critical notes, its exploration of the moral implications of the Holocaust and problematics of writing Holocaust poetry, and its witness to the terrifying truths of human history while asserting the indestructibility of the human spirit. Highly recommended"--Choice.
The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry by Deborah Ager (Editor); M. E. Silverman (Editor)
With works by over 100 poets, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry celebrates contemporary writers, born after World War II , who write about Jewish themes.This anthology brings together poets whose writings offer fascinating insight into Jewish cultural and religious topics and Jewish identity. Featuring established poets as well as representatives of the next generation of Jewish voices, it includes poems by Ellen Bass, Charles Bernstein, Carol V. Davis, Edward Hirsch, Jane Hirshfield, David Lehman, Jacqueline Osherow, Ira Sadoff, Philip Schultz, AlanShapiro, Jane Shore, Judith Skillman, Melissa Stein, Matthew Zapruder, and many others.
The Caged Owl : new and selected poems by Gregory Orr
Gregory Orr's genius is the transformation of trauma into art. Whether writing about his responsibility for a brother's death during a hunting accident, drug addiction, or being jailed during the Civil Rights struggle, lyricism erupts in the midst of desolation and violence. Orr's spare, succinct poems distill myth from the domestic and display a richness of action and visual detail. This long-awaited collection is soulful work from a remarkable poet, whose poems have been described as "mystical, carnal, reflective, and wry." (San Francisco Review) "Love Poem" A black biplane crashes through the window of the luncheonette. The pilot climbs down, removing his leather hood. He hands me my grandmother's jade ring. No, it is two robin's eggs and a telephone number: yours. from "Gathering the Bones Together" A father and his four sons run down a slope toward a deer they just killed. the father and two sons carry rifles. They laugh, jostle, and chatter together. A gun goes off and the youngest brother falls to the ground. A boy with a rifle stands beside him, screaming... "Orr's is an immaculate style of latent violence and inhibited tenderness, charged with a desperate intensity whose source is often obscure."--The New York Times Book Review Gregory Orr is the author of seven volumes of poetry and three books of criticism. He is the editor at Virginia Quarterly Review, teaches at the University of Virginia, and lives with his wife and daughters in Charlottesville. In 2002, along with his selected poems The Caged Owl, he will also publish a memoir and a book about poetry writing: Three Strange Angels: Trauma and Transformation in Lyric Poetry.
Chinese American Poetry by L. Ling-chi Wang (Editor); Henry Yiheng Zhao (Editor)
A collection of poems from multiple authors including Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Diana Chang, Marilyn Mei Ling Chin, Shalin Hai-jew, Jason Hwang, Alex Kuo, Alan Chong Lau, Carolynn Lau, Li-young Lee, Russell Charles Leong, Genny Lim, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Amy Ling, Stephen Shu-ning Liu, Wing Tek Lum, Laureen Mar, Diane Mei Lin Mark, Qiu Jin, Arthur Sze, Nellie Wong, Merle Woo, John Yau, and S. Lee Yung.
Deaf American Poetry by John Lee Clark (Editor)
"The Deaf poet is no oxymoron," declares editor John Lee Clark in his introduction to Deaf American Poetry: An Anthology. The 95 poems by 35 Deaf American poets in this volume more than confirm his point. From James Nack's early metered narrative poem "The Minstrel Boy" to the free association of Kristi Merriweather's contemporary "It Was His Movin' Hands Be Tellin' Me," these Deaf poets display mastery of all forms prevalent during the past two centuries. Beyond that, E. Lynn Jacobowitz's "In Memoriam: Stephen Michael Ryan" exemplifies a form unique to Deaf American poets, the transliteration of verse originally created in American Sign Language. This anthology showcases for the first time the best works of Deaf poets throughout the nation's history -- John R. Burnet, Laura C. Redden, George M. Teegarden, Agatha Tiegel Hanson, Loy E. Golladay, Robert F. Panara, Mervin D. Garretson, Clayton Valli, Willy Conley, Raymond Luczak, Christopher Jon Heuer, Pamela Wright-Meinhardt, and many others. Each of their poems reflects the sensibilities of their times, and the progression of their work marks the changes that deaf Americans have witnessed through the years. In "The Mute's Lament," John Carlin mourns the wonderful things that he cannot hear, and looks forward to heaven where "replete with purest joys/My ears shall be unsealed, and I shall hear." In sharp contrast, Mary Toles Peet, who benefitted from being taught by Deaf teachers, wrote "Thoughts on Music" with an entirely different attitude. She concludes her account of the purported beauty of music with the realization that "the music of my inward ear/Brings joy far more intense." Clark tracks these subtle shifts in awareness through telling, brief biographies of each poet. By doing so, he reveals in Deaf American Poetry how "the work of Deaf poets serves as a prism through which Deaf people can know themselves better and through which the rest of the world can see life in a new light."
Fiesta in Aztlan : anthology of Chicano poetry by Toni Empringham (Editor)
Includes: Comida / Victor M. Valle -- My Mother Pieced Quilets / Teresa Palomo Acosta -- La Jefita / José Montoyo -- Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway / Lorna Dee Cervantes -- Exploracions -- Bronchitis: The Rosario Beach House / Aleida Rodriguez -- Recuerdo ... / Richardo Sánchez -- Canto Pa'Mis Amiguitos / Leonard Adame -- The Old Man Who Is Gone Now / Margarita Baldenegro Reyes -- In the Plaza We Walk / Nephtali De Leon -- Lowriders #2 / Reyes Cardenas -- La Peluqueria Del Maestro / RIchardo Vasquez -- nuestro barrio / Alurista -- en el barrio / Alurista -- Pachuco Remembered / Tino Villanueva -- El Louie / Jose Montoya -- Aquellos Vatos / Tino Villanueva -- El Mono Loco / Gregorio Barrios -- must be the season of the witch / Alurista -- Dopefiends Trip / Hector Angula -- $ / Abelardo -- 22 Miles / Jose Angel Gutierrez -- M'ijo No Mira Nada / Tomas Rivera -- The Spanish Girls / Ivan Arguelles -- The Man of O / Marina RIvera -- Visions of Mexico While at a Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington / Lorna Dee Cervantes -- O California / Alejandro Murguia -- Small Towns / Alejandro Murguia -- Heading for Eugene / Lorenza Schmidt -- Man, I Felt Like Running All Night / Salomn R. Baldenegro -- ya estufas / Alurista -- and / Ricardo Gonsalves -- Sobre la Liberacion de la Mujer / Maria Saucedo -- Cuento / Carlos Cumpian.
How to Say Babylon : a memoir by Safiya Sinclair
A New York Times Notable Book A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! A Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, Vulture, Shelf Awareness, Goodreads, Esquire, The Atlantic, NPR, and Barack Obama With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father's strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet. Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman's highest virtue was her obedience. In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya's mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father's beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya's voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them. How to Say Babylon is Sinclair's reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.
Inclined to Speak : an anthology of contemporary Arab American poetry by Hayan Charara (Editor)
At no other time in American history has our imagination been so engrossed with the Arab experience. An indispensable and historic volume, Inclined to Speak gathers together poems, from the most important contemporary Arab American poets, that shape and alter our understanding of this experience. These poems also challenge us to reconsider what it means to be American. Impressive in its scope, this book provides readers with an astonishing array of poetic sensibilities, touching on every aspect of the human condition. Whether about culture, politics, loss, art, or language itself, the poems here engage these themes with originality, dignity, and an unyielding need not only to speak, but also to be heard. Here are thirty-nine poets offering up 160 poems. Included in the anthology are Naomi Shihab Nye, Samuel Hazo, D. H. Melhem, Lawrence Joseph, Khaled Mattawa, Mohja Khaf, Matthew Shenoda, Kazim Ali, Nuar Alsadir, Fady Joudah, and Lisa Suhair Majaj. Charara has written a lengthy introduction about the state of Arab American poetry in the country today and short biographies of the poets and provided an extensive list of further readings.
Island Fire: an anthology of literature from Hawaií by Cheryl A. Harstad (Editor); James R. Harstad (Editor)
From the poignant "The Queen's Prayer," written by Hawaii's last reigning monarch, to Ryan Monico's "The Million-Dollar Mango Tree," a tribute to his grandfather's pickled mango, the editors present finely textured narratives of life in Hawaii by some of the state's most respected writers and observers.
Like Thunder : poets respond to violence in America by Virgil & Ryan G. Suarez & Van Cleave (Editor)
From Waco to Columbine, from Oklahoma City to New York City, from domestic abuse and drive-by shootings to religious fanaticism and acts of terrorism, the poems in this collection are for those who have perished and those who have survived. More than 140 poems by 120 poets focus, in the editors' words, on the violence in the news, the violence in our schools, the violence in our homes, as well as the violence in our own minds. The poets gathered here articulate terror and suffering but also present images of hope and redemption; they write of individual menaces and individual victims and the melding of the two that potentially exists in everyone. By transforming horrifying details into larger truths, they create a poetry of witness, of survival, and of remembrance.
The Music Lover's Poetry Anthology by Helen Handley Houghton (Editor); Maureen McCarthy Draper (Editor); J. D. McClatchy (Foreword by)
Revealing how poetry and music were the same art in earlier times, a celebration of the connection between the two forms presents 150 poetic pieces written with music as their inspiration in a thematically arranged volume that includes works by such writers as W. H. Auden, Emily Dickinson, and D. H. Lawrence.
Premonitions: the Kaya Anthology of New Asian North Amercian Poetry by Walter Lew
Grouped in 19 poetic "zones," this anthology includes work from 73 poets, juxtaposing them in ways that both echo and subvert categories of theme, poetics and identity, and with a particular focus on poetry that interacts with other media. Contributors include veteran authors like Jessica Hagedorn, Lawson Fusao Inada and Kimiko Hahn, as well as new poets like R. Zamora Linmark, Barry Masuda, Evelyn Lau and Amitava Kumar, and an emerging generation of Vietnamese-American and Korean-American poets. Premonitions is the most comprehensive anthology of Asian North American poetry to date.
Scars : American poetry in the face of violence by Cynthia Dubin Edelberg (Editor)
This collection of poetry from 59 established and emerging contemporary American poets explores the dynamics of violence in American society.
The Spoken Word Revolution : slam, hip-hop, & the poetry of a new generation by Mark Eleveld (Editor); Marc Smith
ISBN: https://creighton.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CRU_INST/1qtulva/alma991004057999702656
Describes how contemporary poetry intended to be spoken out loud has brought about a revitalization of interest in poetry, and presents works by more than forty leading poets.
The Untidy Season : an anthology of Nebraska women poets by Heidi Hermanson (Editor)
2014 Nebraska Book Award The Untidy Season: An Anthology of Nebraska Women Poets takes its readers through the lush alphabet of Nebraska poetry--from Adkins to Zumpfe--with selections of poetry by nearly 90 native-born or transplanted Nebraska writers who write and live fearlessly and with great skill. Their topics range from the beginnings of life to the end--family relationships, loss, misunderstandings, work, trust, betrayal, love and hate, bereavement. Through those lives--because of them--these poems emerged, an indelible record of the triumph of the human spirit. The four editors of The Untidy Season, each an accomplished poet in her own right, searched for poems of clarity, honesty, passion, and brilliance. One of the editors wrote: "We were drawn to work that both celebrated and subverted the 'typical' Nebraska experience, the 'typical' experience of motherhood, the 'typical' experience of womanhood. I suppose my own aesthetic leads me to be drawn to work that challenges 'typical,' but much of the work we experienced over that year of reading submissions forced me to engage with my own stereotypes and see inside them." You will agree they found what they looked for when you read these marvelously bracing, gritty, and wise poems.
Wounds Beneath the Flesh by Maurice Kenny (Editor); Juane Quick (Illustrator); Sallie Benedict (Illustrator); Peter Jemison (Illustrator); Kahionhes (Illustrator); Karl Kroeber (Introduction by)
"The work is varied, but the poems have in common the celebration, without romanticizing, of heritage and the power of remembering."--Joseph Bruchac, American Indian Quarterly

"As solid and resonant a selection as you'll find in a volume of fifty pages. My only criticism is that it isn't twice as long."--Adirondak Library
Source: Publisher

American Women Poets in the 21st Century : where lyric meets language by Claudia Rankine (Editor); Juliana Spahr (Editor)
A thought-provoking mix of poetry, creative manifesto and criticism. Poetry in America is flourishing in this new millennium and asking serious questions of itself: Is writing marked by gender and if so, how? What does it mean to be experimental? How can lyric forms be authentic? This volume builds on the energetic tensions inherent in these questions, focusing on ten major American women poets whose collective work shows an incredible range of poetic practice. Each section of the book is devoted to a single poet and contains new poems; a brief "statement of poetics" by the poet herself in which she explores the forces -- personal, aesthetic, political -- informing her creative work; a critical essay on the poet's work; a biographical statement; and a bibliography listing works by and about the poet. Underscoring the dynamic give and take between poets and the culture at large, this anthology is indispensable for anyone interested in poetry, gender and the creative process. CONTRIBUTORS: Rae Armantrout, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Lucie Brock Broido, Jorie Graham, Barbara Guest, Lyn Hejinian, Brenda Hillman, Susan Howe, Ann Lauterbach, Harryette Mullen.
Empty Clip by Emilia Phillips
The poems of Empty Clip bore into the cultures of violence in the United States while candidly cross-firing upon the poets' complicity and testifying on these cultures' effects upon female body image and mental health. Emilia Phillips's third poetry collection sears with the "angry love" of self, in order to find some truth that's nevertheless "a broken bone that can't be set."
Home Body by Rupi Kaur
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers comes her greatly anticipated third collection of poetry. Rupi Kaur constantly embraces growth, and in Home Body, she walks readers through a reflective and intimate journey visiting the past, the present, and the potential of the self. Home Body is a collection of raw, honest conversations with oneself - reminding readers to fill up on love, acceptance, community, family, and embrace change. Illustrated by the author, themes of nature and nurture, light and dark, rest here.
Inclined to Speak by Hayan Charara (Editor)
At no other time in American history has our imagination been so engrossed with the Arab experience. An indispensable and historic volume, Inclined to Speak gathers together poems, from the most important contemporary Arab American poets, that shape and alter our understanding of this experience. These poems also challenge us to reconsider what it means to be American. Impressive in its scope, this book provides readers with an astonishing array of poetic sensibilities, touching on every aspect of the human condition. Whether about culture, politics, loss, art, or language itself, the poems here engage these themes with originality, dignity, and an unyielding need not only to speak, but also to be heard. Here are thirty-nine poets offering up 160 poems. Included in the anthology are Naomi Shihab Nye, Samuel Hazo, D. H. Melhem, Lawrence Joseph, Khaled Mattawa, Mohja Khaf, Matthew Shenoda, Kazim Ali, Nuar Alsadir, Fady Joudah, and Lisa Suhair Majaj. Charara has written a lengthy introduction about the state of Arab American poetry in the country today and short biographies of the poets and provided an extensive list of further readings.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Addressing Violence Against Women on College Campuses by Catherine Kaukinen; Michelle Miller; Rachael A. Powers
Violence against women on college campuses has remained underreported and often under addressed by both campus security and local law enforcement, as well as campus administrators. The researchers, practitioners, and activists who contribute to this pertinent volume Addressing Violence Against Women on College Campuses examine the extent, nature, dynamic and contexts of violence against women at institutions of higher education. This book is designed to facilitate an ongoing discussion and provide direction on how best to prevent and investigate violence against women, and intervene to assist victims while reducing the impact of these crimes. Chapters detail the necessary changes and implications that are part of Title IX and other federal legislation and initiatives as well as the effect these changes have had for higher education actors, including campus administrators, victim advocates, and student activists. The contributors also explore the importance of campus efforts to estimate the extent of violence against women; educating young men and women on the nature of sexual and dating violence; and shifting efforts to both make offenders accountable for their crimes and prompt all bystanders to act. Addressing Violence Against Women on College Campuses urgently argues to make violence prevention is not separate from but rather an integral part of the student experience. Contributors include: Antonia Abbey, Joanne Belknap, Ava Blustein, Stephanie Bonnes, Alesha Cameron, Sarah L. Cook, Walter S. DeKeseredy. Helen Eigenberg, Kate Fox, Christopher P. Krebs, Jennifer Leili, Christine Lindquist, Sarah McMahon, Caitlyn Meade, Christine Mouton, Matt R. Nobles, Callie Marie Rennison, Meredith M. Smith, Carmen Suarez, and the editors.
All the Rage by Courtney Summers
Named a "Best Book of 2015" by Bustle, Book Riot, Chicago Public Library, Quill and Quire, and the B&N Teen Blog! The sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything-friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy's only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn't speak up. Nobody believed her the first time-and they certainly won't now-but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear. With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, Courtney Summers' new novel All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.
The Beginning and End of Rape : confronting sexual violence in Native America by Sarah Deer
Winner of the Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award Despite what major media sources say, violence against Native women is not an epidemic. An epidemic is biological and blameless. Violence against Native women is historical and political, bounded by oppression and colonial violence. This book, like all of Sarah Deer's work, is aimed at engaging the problem head-on--and ending it. The Beginning and End of Rape collects and expands the powerful writings in which Deer, who played a crucial role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013, has advocated for cultural and legal reforms to protect Native women from endemic sexual violence and abuse. Deer provides a clear historical overview of rape and sex trafficking in North America, paying particular attention to the gendered legacy of colonialism in tribal nations--a truth largely overlooked or minimized by Native and non-Native observers. She faces this legacy directly, articulating strategies for Native communities and tribal nations seeking redress. In a damning critique of federal law that has accommodated rape by destroying tribal legal systems, she describes how tribal self-determination efforts of the twenty-first century can be leveraged to eradicate violence against women. Her work bridges the gap between Indian law and feminist thinking by explaining how intersectional approaches are vital to addressing the rape of Native women. Grounded in historical, cultural, and legal realities, both Native and non-Native, these essays point to the possibility of actual and positive change in a world where Native women are systematically undervalued, left unprotected, and hurt. Deer draws on her extensive experiences in advocacy and activism to present specific, practical recommendations and plans of action for making the world safer for all.
Breaking the Ruhls : a memoir by Larry Ruhl
An urgent and timely memoir exploring the unseemly reality of childhood sexual abuse, a scourge on too many neighborhoods, often hiding in plain sight. Millions of victims remain silent, buried under the weight of their own guilt, shame, and addiction. As an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, Larry Ruhl shows how only by sharing can we begin to heal.
The Body Keeps the Score : brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
#1 New York Times bestseller "Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society." --Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times bestseller Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments--from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga--that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal--and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
Drawing Power : women's stories of sexual violence, harassment, and survival : a comics anthology by Diane Noomin (Editor); Roxane Gay (Introduction by)
More than 60 female comics creators share their personal experiences with sexual violence and harassment through new and original comicsInspired by the global #MeToo Movement, Drawing Power: Women's Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival is a collection of original, nonfiction comics drawn by more than 60 female cartoonists from around the world. Featuring such noted creators as Emil Ferris, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, MariNaomi,Liana Finck, andEbony Flowersthe anthology's contributors comprise a diverse group of many ages, sexual orientations, and races-and their personal stories convey the wide spectrum of sexual harassment and abuse that is still all too commonplace. With a percentage of profits going to RAINN, Drawing Power is an anthology that stokes the fires of progressive social upheaval, in the fight for a better, safer world. Full list of contributors: Rachel Ang, Zoe Belsinger, Jennifer Camper, Caitlin Cass, Tyler Cohen, Marguerite Dabaie, Soumya Dhulekar, Wallis Eates, Trinidad Escobar, Kat Fajardo, Joyce Farmer, Emil Ferris, Liana Finck, Sarah Firth, Mary Fleener, Ebony Flowers, Claire Folkman, Noel Franklin Katie Fricas, Siobhán Gallagher, Joamette Gil, J. Gonzalez-Blitz, Georgiana Goodwin, Roberta Gregory, Marian Henley, Soizick Jaffre Avy Jetter, Sabba Khan, Kendra Josie Kirkpatrick, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Nina Laden, Miss Lasko-Gross, Carol Lay, Miriam Libicki Sarah Lightman, LubaDalu, Ajuan Mance, MariNaomi, Lee Marrs, Liz Mayorga, Lena Merhej, Bridget Meyne, Carta Monir, Hila Noam Diane Noomin, Breena Nuñez, Meg O'Shea, Corinne Pearlman, Cathrin Peterslund, Minnie Phan, Kelly Phillips, Powerpaola, Sarah Allen Reed, Kaylee Rowena, Ariel Schrag, M. Louise Stanley, Maria Stoian, Nicola Streeten, Marcela Trujillo, Carol Tyler, Una, Lenora Yerkes, Ilana Zeffren
Gender, Power, and Violence : responding to sexual and intimate partner violence in society by Angela J. Hattery; Earl Smith
What do college sports, Hollywood, prisons, the military, fraternities and politics have in common? All have extraordinarily high rates of sexual and intimate partner violence and child sexual abuse. Sexual and intimate partner violence is part of the landscape that women and children live with. Women and children are subjected to high levels of sexual and intimate partner violence and in the era of #metoo, Gender, Power and Violence provides a nuanced analysis of the ways in which the organizational structure of an institution, like a college campus or Hollywood, can create an environment ripe for sexual and intimate partner violence and even child sexual abuse. Gender, Power, and Violence looks at the problem of sexual and intimate partner violence through cases, observing the role that institutions play in facilitating and perpetuating gender based violence, and provides a more complex understanding about the ways in which institutional structures create an environment that facilitates and perpetuates gender based violence. Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith touch on current events that have highlighted the pervasiveness of gender based violence across the institutions they interrogate throughout the book, but also in the entertainment industry, the government, and television journalism. Gender, Power, and Violence gives the reader a better understanding of what factors shape who will be perpetrators, who will be victims, and how organizations respond (or not) when sexual or intimate partner violence or child sexual abuse is reported. It also offers recommendations for transforming these institutions so that they are safe for women and children of all genders.
Healing the Man Within : a guide to healing from the pain of sexual abuse by Randy Boyd
Finally! A male survivor speaks out about male childhood sexual abuse and offers survivors real strategies to find a life of purpose and happiness after trauma. In his groundbreaking book, survivor Randy Boyd talks candidly about what it really takes for men to heal from the wounds of childhood sexual abuse. In the companion 7-Day Challenge Workbook, Randy breaks down the seven most transformational healing tools and gives you a step-by-step guide to put them to work in your life starting today. Each challenge is simple, easy, and takes between five and twenty minutes to complete. Anyone can do these challenges, and everyone who has completed them has experienced dramatic, positive transformation. There are no theories or philosophies in these pages, just the rock-solid information you need to get started with these transformational healing processes.
I Have the Right To : a high school survivor's story of sexual assault, justice, and hope by Chessy Prout; Jenn Abelson
"A bold, new voice." --People "A nuanced addition to the #MeToo conversation." --Vice A young survivor tells her searing, visceral story of sexual assault, justice, and healing in this gutwrenching memoir. The numbers are staggering: nearly one in five girls ages fourteen to seventeen have been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. This is the true story of one of those girls. In 2014, Chessy Prout was a freshman at St. Paul's School, a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire, when a senior boy sexually assaulted her as part of a ritualized game of conquest. Chessy bravely reported her assault to the police and testified against her attacker in court. Then, in the face of unexpected backlash from her once-trusted school community, she shed her anonymity to help other survivors find their voice. This memoir is more than an account of a horrific event. It takes a magnifying glass to the institutions that turn a blind eye to such behavior and a society that blames victims rather than perpetrators. Chessy's story offers real, powerful solutions to upend rape culture as we know it today. Prepare to be inspired by this remarkable young woman and her story of survival, advocacy, and hope in the face of unspeakable trauma.
I Will Survive : the African-American guide to healing from sexual assault and abuse by Lori S. Robinson; Julia A. Boyd
In this comprehensive self-help guide, Lori Robinson has created a valuable resource for African-American survivors of sexual assault (as well as their families, friends, and communities). Robinson walks readers through the ways survivors can achieve emotional, physical, sexual, and spiritual healing, reflecting her firsthand insight into the particular difficulties African-Americans face on their journey toward recovery. Examining the issue of sexual assault in African-American communities, she discusses why African-American women are more likely than white women to experience sexual crimes-an insightful discussion framed in the context of the American slave system and modern institutionalized racism. Through interviews with prominent African-American lawyers and judges, Robinson offers accessible explanations of police and legal systems, advising readers on ways to navigate them effectively. Doctors and counselors weigh in on the importance of getting good physical care, using self-care techniques to heal, and finding the best therapist. I Will Survive also includes chapters on educating children and adults in Black communities to help prevent sexual assault; prayers and affirmations from Black spiritual leaders in a variety of religious traditions; an extensive resources section; and encouraging first-person accounts from Black women (and men) who have healed from sexual assault and abuse.
Know My Name : a memoir by Chanel Miller
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Know My Name is a gut-punch, and in the end, somehow, also blessedly hopeful." --Washington Post Universally acclaimed, rapturously reviewed, and an instant New York Times bestseller, Chanel Miller's breathtaking memoir "gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter." (The Wrap). Her story of trauma and transcendence illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicting a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shining with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life. Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.
The New Campus Anti-Rape Movement : internet activism and social justice by Caroline Heldman; Alissa R. Ackerman; Ian Breckenridge-Jackson
After 40 years of activists working to reduce sexual violence on college campuses, in 2014, the new Campus Anti-Rape Movement (CARM) finally put this issue on the national policy agenda. President Barack Obama credited "an inspiring wave of student-led activism" for catapulting campus rape into public consciousness. This book positions the new CARM within a long history of anti-sexual violence activism in the U.S. The authors describe the major events of this new movement and how it coalesced. The authors also analyze the new CARM through a social movement lens, and examine the role of new laws and social media in facilitating movement successes. The book argues that the new CARM laid the groundwork for the emergence of #MeToo, the highest profile campaign against sexual harassment/violence to date in U.S. history.
The Other Side : a memoir by Lacy M. Johnson
Lacy Johnson bangs on the glass doors of a sleepy local police station in the middle of the night. Her feet are bare; her body is bruised and bloody; U-bolts dangle from her wrists. She has escaped, but not unscathed. The Other Side is the haunting account of a first passionate and then abusive relationship; the events leading to Johnson's kidnapping, rape, and imprisonment; her dramatic escape; and her hard-fought struggle to recover. At once thrilling, terrifying, harrowing, and hopeful, The Other Side offers more than just a true crime record. In language both stark and poetic, Johnson weaves together a richly personal narrative with police and FBI reports, psychological records, and neurological experiments, delivering a raw and unforgettable story of trauma and transformation.
Queering Sexual Violence : radical voices from within the anti-violence movement by Jennifer Patterson (Editor)
Often pushed to the margins, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming survivors have been organizing in anti-violence work since the birth of the movement. Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement locates them at the center of the anti-violence movement and creates a space for their voices to be heard. Moving beyond dominant narratives and the traditional "violence against women" framework, the book is multi-gendered, multi-racial and multi-layered. This thirty-seven piece collection disrupts the mainstream conversations about sexual violence and connects them to disability justice, sex worker rights, healing justice, racial justice, gender self-determination, queer & trans liberation and prison industrial complex abolition through reflections, personal narrative, and strategies for resistance and healing. Where systems, institutions, families, communities and partners have failed them, this collection lifts them up, honors a multitude of lived experiences and shares the radical work that is being done outside mainstream anti-violence and the non-profit industrial complex.
Sexual Assault : the ultimate teen guide by Olivia Ghafoerkhan
Out of all reported cases of sexual assault, nearly 70 percent occur with victims who are under the age of seventeen, and it has been estimated that one in ten children will be sexually abused before they turn eighteen. Sexual assault has become an all-too-common occurrence among young adults. An assault can causephysical injuries, STDs and STIs,post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, and other re-experiencing symptoms. It can lead to poor academic performance, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, and even suicide. Research has also shown that victims of sexual abuse are more likely to confide in friends than in adults, but those friends may not be-equipped to help. In Sexual Assault: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Olivia Ghafoerkhan describes the various ways sexual violence can be perpetrated, discusses myths many teens believe about the subject, and outlines how young adults can get the help they need to begin the healing process. Topics covered include date rape abusive relationships incest breaking the silence victim blaming support healing An invaluable resource for young people, Sexual Assault: The Ultimate Teen Guide aims to give victims and their friends the courage to report such crimes, advice on where to find help, and hope that life can return to some sense of normalcy after such a horrific experience.
The Sexual Healing Journey : a guide for survivors of sexual abuse by Wendy Maltz
This widely esteemed, comprehensive guide helps survivors of sexual abuse heal from the past, improve relationships, and discover the joys of sexual intimacy. Wendy Maltz sensitively takes readers step-by-step through the recovery process, integrating expert advice with groundbreaking exercises, proven techniques, and first-person accounts of women and men at every stage of sexual healing. This compassionate resource can help you to: Identify the sexual effects of sexual abuse Eliminate negative sexual behavior and resolve specific problems Gain control over upsetting automatic reactions to touch and sex Develop a healthy sexual self-concept
Victims No Longer : the classic guide for men recovering from sexual child abuse (Second Edition) by Mike Lew
For millions of men on the path to recovery, Victims No Longer is the next step. The first book written specifically for men, Victims No Longer examines the changing cultural attitudes toward male survivors of incest and other sexual trauma. Now, in this Second Edition, this invaluable resource continues to offer compassionate and practical advice, supported by personal anecdotes and statements of male survivors. Victims No Longer helps survivors to: Identify and validate their childhood experiences Explore strategies of survival and healing Work through issues such as trust, intimacy, and sexual confusion Establish a support network for continued personal recovery Make choices that aren't determined by abuse Psychotherapist Mike Lew has worked with thousands of men and women in their healing from the effects of childhood sexual abuse, rape, physical violence, emotional abuse, and neglect. The development of strategies for recovery from incest and other abuse, particularly for men, has been a major focus of his work as a counselor and group leader. Thoroughly updated and revised, and including an expanded Resources section, Victims No Longer educates survivors and professionals about the recovery process -- speaking to the pain, needs, fears, and hopes of the adult male survivor.
Violence Against Queer People : race, class, gender, and the persistence of anti-LGBT discrimination by Doug Meyer
Received a 2016 Stonewall Book Award - Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Honor Book from the American Library Association Selected as one of "The Best of the Best from the University Presses: Books You Should Know About" at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference Violence against lesbians and gay men has increasingly captured media and scholarly attention. But these reports tend to focus on one segment of the LGBT community--white, middle class men--and largely ignore that part of the community that arguably suffers a larger share of the violence--racial minorities, the poor, and women. In Violence against Queer People, sociologist Doug Meyer offers the first investigation of anti-queer violence that focuses on the role played by race, class, and gender. Drawing on interviews with forty-seven victims of violence, Meyer shows that LGBT people encounter significantly different forms of violence--and perceive that violence quite differently--based on their race, class, and gender. His research highlights the extent to which other forms of discrimination--including racism and sexism--shape LGBT people's experience of abuse. He reports, for instance, that lesbian and transgender women often described violent incidents in which a sexual or a misogynistic component was introduced, and that LGBT people of color sometimes weren't sure if anti-queer violence was based solely on their sexuality or whether racism or sexism had also played a role. Meyer observes that given the many differences in how anti-queer violence is experienced, the present media focus on white, middle-class victims greatly oversimplifies and distorts the nature of anti-queer violence. In fact, attempts to reduce anti-queer violence that ignore race, class, and gender run the risk of helping only the most privileged gay subjects. Many feel that the struggle for gay rights has largely been accomplished and the tide of history has swung in favor of LGBT equality. Violence against Queer People, on the contrary, argues that the lives of many LGBT people--particularly the most vulnerable--have improved very little, if at all, over the past thirty years.
We Believe You : survivors of campus sexual assault speak out by Annie E. Clark; Andrea L. Pino
"Me too. It happened to me too." More than one in five women and 5 percent of men are sexually assaulted while at college. Some survivors are coming forward; others are not. In We Believe You, students from every kind of college and university--large and small, public and private, highly selective and less so--share experiences of trauma, healing, and everyday activism, representing a diversity of races, economic and family backgrounds, gender identities, immigration statuses, interests, capacities, and loves. Theirs is a bold, irrefutable sampling of voices and stories that should speak to all.

Campus Sexual Assault : college women respond by Lauren J. Germain
Survivors of campus sexual assault share the stories of how they confronted and overcame the trauma of being attacked. A 2014 report issued by the White House Council on Women and Girls included the alarming statistic that one in five female college students in the United States experiences some form of campus sexual assault. Despite more than fifty years of anti-rape activism and over two decades of federal legislation regarding campus sexual violence, sexual assault on American college and university campuses remains prevalent, underreported, and poorly understood. A principal reason for this lack of understanding is that the voices of women who have experienced campus sexual assault have been largely absent from academic discourse about the issue. In Campus Sexual Assault, Lauren J. Germain focuses attention on the post-sexual assault experiences of twenty-six college women. She reframes conversations about sexual violence and student agency on American college campuses by drawing insight directly from the stories of how survivors responded individually to attacks, as well as how and why peers, family members, and school, medical, and civil authorities were (or were not) engaged in addressing the crimes. Germain weaves together women's narratives to show the women not as victims per se but as individuals with the power to overcome these traumatic experiences.
Dear Sister : letters from survivors of sexual assault by Lisa Factora-Borchers (Editor); Aishah Shahidah Simmons (Introduction by)
Dear Sister, It wasn't your fault; it was never your fault. You did nothing wrong. Hold this tight to your heart: it wasn't your fault. At night when you lay there and your mind fills with images and you wonder if only, if you had . . . if you hadn't . . . . Remember: it wasn't your fault. Dear Sister highlights the lessons, memories, and vision of over forty artists, activists, mothers, writers, and students who share a common bond: they are survivors of sexual violence. Written in an epistolary format, this multi-generational, multi-ethnic collection of letters and essays is a moving journey into the hearts and minds of the survivors of rape, incest, and other forms of sexual violence, written directly to and for other survivors. Dear Sister goes far beyond traditional books about healing, which often use "experts" to explain the experience of survivors for the rest of the world. Where other books about rape weave the voices of feminists and activists together and imagine what a world without violence might look like, Dear Sister describes the reality of what the world looks like through the eyes of a survivor. From a professor in the Midwest to a poet in Belgium, an escapee from a child prostitution ring, a survivor advocate in the Congo, and a sex worker in San Francisco, Dear Sister touches on issues of feminism, love, disability, gender, justice, identity, and spirituality. Lisa Factora-Borchers is a Filipina writer and editor whose work has been published in make/shift, Bitch, Left Turn, and Critical Moment. Contributors: Aaminah Shakur, Adrienne Maree Brown, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Allison McCarthy, Amita Y. Swadhin, Amy Ernst, Ana Heaton, Andrea Harris, Angel Propps, anna Saini, Anne Averyt, annu Saini, Ashley Burczak, brownfemipower, Brooke Benoit, Denise Santomauro, Desire Vincent, Dorla Harris, "Harriet J.", Indira Allegra, Isabella Gitana-Woolf, Joan Chen, Judith Stevenson, Juliet November, Kathleen Ahern, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Marianne Kirby, Maroula Blades, Mary Zelinka, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Melissa Dey Hasbrook, Melissa G., Mia Mingus, Michelle Ovalle, Premala Matthen, Rebecca Echeverria, Renee Martin, River Willow Fagan, Sara Durnan, Sarah M. Cash, Shala Bennett, Shanna Katz, Sofia Rose Smith, Sumayyah Talibah, Sydette Harry, Birdy, Viannah E. Duncan, and Zöe Flowers.
The Forgotten Victims of Sexual Violence in Film, Television and New Media : turning to the margins by Stephanie Patrick (Editor); Mythili Rajiva (Editor)
This edited collection provides an intersectional and transnational exploration of representations of sexual violence and rape within films, television shows, and digital media in the contemporary context of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. Drawing upon sociology, gender studies, cultural studies, media studies, and Black feminist studies, chapters focus on women and texts at the margins of mainstream culture's depictions of sexual violence. The editors and contributors examine the dominant narrative of the thin, cisgender, heterosexual white female victim, and the ways in which social and cultural conversations around race and gender impact and are impacted by depictions of sexual violence in media. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in sociology, gender studies, and media studies, particularly those interested in the intersectionality of race and gender. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation and Sexual Assault by Corina Schulze; Sarah Koon-Magnin; Valerie Bryan
"Provid[es] a much-needed overview of the state of the field regarding the sexual victimization of queer people." --Shanna Felix, Criminal Justice Review The underlying argument of this groundbreaking study is this: Sexual orientation and gender identity influence how sexual assault is experienced, how it is perceived, and ultimately, how victims (and perpetrators) are treated by the criminal justice system. Focusing much of their work on the queer community--a community with a disproportionately high risk of sexual assault--the authors introduce the Identity Inclusive Sexual Assault Myth Scale (IISAMS) to explore the unique aspects of sexual assault and the process of disclosure as experienced by queer victims. They also incorporate participant recommendations, collected during interviews, as they foreground ways for more effectively preventing and responding to sexual violence throughout contemporary society. CONTENTS: Foreword--Amber Pope Understanding Sexual Violence: Challenging the Myths. The Importance of Identity. Sexual Assault and Disclosure. Rape Myths and Rape Culture. The Identity Inclusive Sexual Assault Myth Scale. Unique Concerns and Resources. What Have We Learned? Appendixes.
Home Body by Rupi Kaur
New York Times bestselling author of Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers comes her greatly anticipated third collection of poetry. Rupi Kaur constantly embraces growth, and in home body, she walks readers through a reflective and intimate journey visiting the past, the present, and the potential of the self. Home Body is a collection of raw, honest conversations with oneself - reminding readers to fill up on love, acceptance, community, family, and embrace change. Illustrated by the author, themes of nature and nurture, light and dark.
Intersections of Identity and Sexual Violence on Campus : centering minoritized students experiences by Jessica C. Harris (Editor); Chris Linder (Editor); Wagatwe Wanjuki (Foreword by)
While sexual violence has been present and prevalent on campus for decades, the work of recent college student activists has made it an issue of major societal and institutional concern. This book makes an important contribution to and provides a foundation for better contextualizing and understanding sexual violence. Each chapter in this edited volume focuses on populations that are not often centered in the discourse of campus sexual violence and accounts for individuals' intersecting identities and how they interlock with larger systems of domination. Challenging dominant ideologies concerning assumptions of white women as the only victims-survivors, the racialization of aggressors, and the deleterious rape myths present in both research and practice, this book draws attention to the complexities of sexual violence on the college campus by highlighting populations that are frequently invisible in research, reporting, and practice. The book places sexual violence on campus in a historical context, centering the experiences of populations relegated to the margins, and highlighting the relationship between racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of domination to sexual violence. The final chapters of the book explore how critical models of intervention and prevention and a critical analysis of existing institutional policies may be implemented across college campuses to better address sexual violence for multiple populations and identities in higher education. This book will expand educators' understanding of sexual violence to inform more effective policies, procedures, practice, and research that reaches beyond preventing sexual violence and addresses the dominant systems from which sexual violence stems, in an attempt to eradicate, not just prevent, the act and the issue.
Male Rape, Masculinities and Sexualities : understanding, policing, and overcoming male sexual victimization by Aliraza Javaid
This book critically explores the intersections between male rape, masculinities, and sexualities. It examines the ways in which male rape is policed, responded to, and addressed by state and voluntary agencies in Britain. The book uncovers how notions of gender, sexualities and masculinities shape these agencies' understanding of male rape and their views of men as victims of rape. Javaid pays particular attention to the police and deconstructs police subculture to consider whether it influences and shapes the ways in which police officers provide services for male rape victims. Grounded in qualitative interviews and data derived from the state and voluntary sector, this book will be invaluable reading for sociologists, criminologists, and social scientists who are keen to learn more about gender, policing, sexual violence and male sexual victimisation.
Rape Is Rape: how denial, distortion, and victim blaming are fueling a hidden acquaintance rape crisis by Jody Raphael
""More than half of women and girls lie about rape . . ." "Feminists exaggerate rape prevalence to demonize men and raise money for their cause . . ." "Girls cry 'rape' when it's nothing more than regret over bad sex . . ." "Such emotionally charged false accusations have convinced much of the general public and the media that acquaintance rape is a figment of the imagination. As author Jody Raphael reveals in "Rape Is Rape," the more acquaintance rape is reported and taken seriously by prosecutors, judges, and juries, the louder the clamor of rape denial becomes.Through firsthand interviews with victims, medical and judicial records, social media analysis, and statistics from government agencies, "Rape Is Rape "exposes the tactics used by the deniers, a group that includes conservatives and right-wing Christians as well as some controversial feminists. The personal stories of young acquaintance rape victims whom Raphael interviewed demonstrate how assaults on their credibility, buttressed by claims of low prevalence, prevent many from holding their rapists accountable, enabling them to rape others with impunity. "Rape Is Rape "is an expose of those using rape denial to further their political agendas, and it is a call to action to protect the rights of women and girls, making it safe for victims to come forward, and end the acquaintance rape crisis. A resources section is included for those seeking help, advice, or hoping to get involved.
Sexual Violence on Campus : power-conscious approaches to awareness, prevention, and response by Chris Linder
Activists have been working to call attention to the problem of campus sexual violence for decades, and in recent years, policymakers, campus administrators, and researchers have begun to make serious efforts to address this issue. Despite this increase in attention, many campus leaders still struggle to effectively address campus sexual violence, often over-relying on policy to address sexual violence after it happens, rather than working to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Moreover, rates of sexual victimization on college campuses have not changed in 60 years, highlighting the need for a change in action, training and behaviour. The root of sexual violence is power oppression, yet most policies and practices are based on identity- and power-neutral perspectives. Well-intended prevention efforts frequently focus on teaching potential victims how not to get raped, rather than teaching potential perpetrators not to rape. Further, most policies, practices, and research focus on only one type of victim of sexual violence: a white cisgender heterosexual college woman. Strategies that fail to account for the ways sexual violence and power intersect cannot deliver effective solutions. Based on a wide-ranging review of research, combined with her 10 years' of experience as an educator and co-ordinatorof services for survivors of campus sexual violence, Chris Linder advances a power-conscious lens to challenge student activists, administrators, educators, and policy makersto develop more nuanced approaches to sexual violence awareness, response, and prevention on college campuses.
Take It As a Compliment by Maria Stoian
Gold medal winner in the 'Independent Spirit' category of the Independent Publishers Outstanding Book of the Year Awards 2016 "I was fifteen." "I never saw him again." "They chanted after me, 'Oscar the Grouch, Oscar the Grouch." Bringing together the voices of males and females of all ages, the stories in this collective graphic memoir reflect real life experiences of sexual abuse, violence and harassment. Each experience is brought to life by Maria Stoian's exceptional artwork. Her unique and varied styles powerfully reflect the tone and mood of the different stories and in just a few pages express the complex emotions felt by victims of sexual abuse. Covering acts such as sexual violence, public sexual harassment, domestic abuse and child abuse, this is a reminder for survivors that they are not alone and a call for all of us to take action. The stories clearly show that assault of any type is not an honour bestowed on anyone. It is not a compliment.
Trauma Stewardship: an everyday guide to caring for self while caring for others by Laura Van Lipsky; Connie Burk
Speaker, trainer and community organizer Van Dernoot Lipsky provides this guide to trauma stewardship, a practice through which individuals, organizations, and societies tend to the hardship, pain, or trauma experienced by humans, other living beings, or our planet itself.
Violence Against Queer People : race, class, gender, and the persistence of anti-LGBT discrimination by Doug Meyer
Received a 2016 Stonewall Book Award - Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Honor Book from the American Library Association Selected as one of "The Best of the Best from the University Presses: Books You Should Know About" at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference Violence against lesbians and gay men has increasingly captured media and scholarly attention. But these reports tend to focus on one segment of the LGBT community--white, middle class men--and largely ignore that part of the community that arguably suffers a larger share of the violence--racial minorities, the poor, and women. In Violence against Queer People, sociologist Doug Meyer offers the first investigation of anti-queer violence that focuses on the role played by race, class, and gender. Drawing on interviews with forty-seven victims of violence, Meyer shows that LGBT people encounter significantly different forms of violence--and perceive that violence quite differently--based on their race, class, and gender. His research highlights the extent to which other forms of discrimination--including racism and sexism--shape LGBT people's experience of abuse. He reports, for instance, that lesbian and transgender women often described violent incidents in which a sexual or a misogynistic component was introduced, and that LGBT people of color sometimes weren't sure if anti-queer violence was based solely on their sexuality or whether racism or sexism had also played a role. Meyer observes that given the many differences in how anti-queer violence is experienced, the present media focus on white, middle-class victims greatly oversimplifies and distorts the nature of anti-queer violence. In fact, attempts to reduce anti-queer violence that ignore race, class, and gender run the risk of helping only the most privileged gay subjects. Many feel that the struggle for gay rights has largely been accomplished and the tide of history has swung in favor of LGBT equality. Violence against Queer People, on the contrary, argues that the lives of many LGBT people--particularly the most vulnerable--have improved very little, if at all, over the past thirty years.
Violence Interrupted : confronting sexual violence on university campuses by Diane Crocker (Editor); Joanne Minaker (Editor); Amanda Neland (Editor)
We live in a moment of renewed and highly visible action on the issue of sexual violence. Rape culture is a real and salient force that dominates campus climates and student experiences. Canada has drafted a national framework, provincial legislation, and institutional policy to address incidences of sexual violence, and students have demanded that their universities respond. Yet rape culture persists on campuses throughout North America. Violence Interrupted presents different ways of thinking about sexual violence. It draws together multiple disciplinary perspectives to synthesize new conceptual directions on the nature of the problem and the changes that are required to address it. Analyzing survey data, educational programs, participatory photography projects, interviews, autoethnography, legal case studies, and existing policy, contributors open up the conversation to illustrate sexual violence on campus as a structural, cultural, and complex social phenomenon. The diversity of methodologies sets this study apart: a problem as complex and far-reaching as rape culture must be approached from a multitude of angles. Decades have passed since student advocates first called for "no means no" campaigns, but universities are still struggling to evolve. Violence Interrupted answers the call by bridging the gap between advocacy, research, and institutional change.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Rape by Sohaila Abdulali
"What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is brilliant, frank, empowering, and urgently necessary. Sohaila Abdulali has created a powerful tool for examining rape culture and language on the individual, societal, and global level that everyone can benefit from reading." --Jill Soloway In the tradition of Rebecca Solnit, a beautifully written, deeply intelligent, searingly honest--and ultimately hopeful--examination of sexual assault and the global discourse on rape told through the perspective of a survivor, writer, counselor, and activist After surviving gang-rape at seventeen in Mumbai, Sohaila Abdulali was indignant about the deafening silence that followed and wrote a fiery piece about the perception of rape--and rape victims--for a women's magazine. Thirty years later, with no notice, her article reappeared and went viral in the wake of the 2012 fatal gang-rape in New Delhi, prompting her to write a New York Times op-ed about healing from rape that was widely circulated. Now, Abdulali has written What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape--a thoughtful, generous, unflinching look at rape and rape culture. Drawing on her own experience, her work with hundreds of survivors as the head of a rape crisis center in Boston, and three decades of grappling with rape as a feminist intellectual and writer, Abdulali tackles some of our thorniest questions about rape, articulating the confounding way we account for who gets raped and why--and asking how we want to raise the next generation. In interviews with survivors from around the world we hear moving personal accounts of hard-earned strength, humor, and wisdom that collectively tell the larger story of what rape means and how healing can occur. Abdulali also points to the questions we don't talk about: Is rape always a life-definining event? Is one rape worse than another? Is a world without rape possible? What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is a book for this #MeToo and #TimesUp age that will stay with readers--men and women alike--for a long, long time.
Written on the Body letters from trans and non-binary survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence by Lexie Bean (Editor); Dean Spade (Contribution by); Nyala Moon (Contribution by); Alex Valdes (Contribution by); Sawyer DeVuyst (Contribution by); Ieshai Bailey (Contribution by)
Lambda Literary Award Finalist - LGBTQ Anthology Written by and for trans and non-binary survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, Written on the Body offers support, guidance and hope for those who struggle to find safety at home, in the body, and other unwelcoming places. This collection of letters written to body parts weaves together narratives of gender, identity, and abuse. It is the coming together of those who have been fragmented and often met with disbelief. The book holds the concerns and truths that many trans people share while offering space for dialogue and reclamation. Written with intelligence and intimacy, this book is for those who have found power in re-shaping their bodies, families, and lives.

The Bartender by Infobase, film distributor.; Bartender Movie, LLC (Firm)
video (00:10:44)
Carly, the skillful bartender at a swanky hotel lounge, is thrown off her game by the arrival of Alan, a powerful investor. As Alan and his leadership team celebrate with round after round of drinks, Carly is haunted by a dark secret about him, and becomes increasingly concerned for the safety of Heather, the only woman in the group. Will Carly conquer her fear of confronting Alan in time to stop Heather from leaving with him, or will she be doomed to relive the past forever?
A Broken Trust by Cochran, Carrie, director, producer.; Machles, Maren, director, producer.; Brewer, Suzette, producer.; Hill, Angela M., producer.
video (00:48:00)
A harrowing deep dive into the racial group most likely to be raped in the U.S. - American Indian and Alaska Native women. A Newsy investigation uncovers how race, politics and the law have prevented these survivors from finding justice.
Consent on Campus : a Nightline event by ABC News
video (00:17:29)
From the Ivy League to public universities to community colleges, sexual assault on college campuses has become a sweeping nationwide epidemic impossible to ignore. ABC News' "Nightline" tackles this growing problem made ever more complicated by binge drinking and the hook-up culture on college campuses with "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event." "Nightline" brings together important voices on this controversial issue to one of the largest campuses in the country, Penn State. Can consent be clearly defined? Is it easier in theory than in practice? What does "yes means yes" really mean? And what are colleges doing to educate their students? Moderated by anchor Juju Chang, "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event" brings together people with unique perspective on this issue, including Ian Tolino, known on campuses as "consent bro" for his peer-to-peer education; Tove Danovich, who says she froze up during an alleged sexual assault her freshman year in college; C.D. Mock, a concerned father and a vocal critic of the effectiveness of the consent movement after his son was accused of sexual assault; Kim Lau, a defense attorney who specializes in college disciplinary cases; and Dr. Cheryl Arutt, a clinical psychologist who has been helping sexual assault victims recover from trauma for over 20 years. An overwhelming number of Penn State students came out to see an improv performance called "Sex Signals" from Catharsis Productions, a group that travels the country using humor and improvisation to act out scenarios as a creative and thought-provoking way to teach students about consent.
Date Rape : violation of trust by Cambridge Educational (Firm); Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm); Infobase.
video (00:28:31)
To the average student, the definitions of date rape and sexual assault are notoriously unclear. Use this program to eliminate the confusion so young adults understand exactly what these things are-and the attitudes and biases that typically accompany them-before anyone gets hurt. The video firmly reinforces the concepts that rape has its roots in hate crime; date rape is just as wrong as rape by a stranger; a victim is never "asking for it," no matter how the person dresses; and no one ever "deserves it." The video also underscores the rules of the dating game: a date is not an invitation for sex; No means No; and the inability to give consent doesn't mean Yes. Interviews with rape survivors and mental health professionals shed additional light on the trauma caused by rape, the process of post-rape emotional recovery, and the importance of post-rape support by family and friends. Date rape drugs are given special attention, and tips on safer dating are provided.
How Chanel Miller Took Her Story Back after Her Rapist's Lenient Sentence Left Her Feeling 'Invisible' by Infobase, film distributor.; Miller, Chanel, interviewee.; Nawaz, Amna, interviewer.; NewsHour Productions, production company
video (00:08:36)
For years, she was known to the world as Emily Doe, the survivor of a sexual assault that garnered national attention in part because her attacker served only three months in prison, a sentence that sparked outrage. This week, Chanel Miller is stepping into the spotlight with a new memoir, Know My Name. Miller sits down with Amna Nawaz to tell her story.
The Hunting Ground by Dick, Kirby, film director, screenwriter.; Ziering, Amy, film producer.; CNN Films (Firm), presenter, production company.; RADiUS TWC (Firm), presenter, production company.; Artemis Rising Foundation, production company.; Graceful Light Entertainment (Firm), production company.; Studio Canal+, production company.; Minerva Productions, production company.; Film Platform, film distributor.; Ro*Co Films Educational (Firm), publisher.
video (02:30:00)
From the Academy Award - nominated filmmaking team behind THE INVISIBLE WAR comes a startling expose of sexual assault on U.S. campuses, institutional cover - ups, and the brutal social toll on victims and their families. Weaving together verite footage and first - person testimonials, the film follows survivors as they pursue their education and legal justice, despite harsh retaliation, harassment, and pushback.
Kind Hearted Woman : part 1 by Infobase, film distributor.; Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.)
video (01:51:05)
In this two-part series, David Sutherland creates a portrait of Robin Charboneau, a single mother living on North Dakota's Spirit Lake Reservation. Sutherland follows Robin as she struggles to raise her two children, further her education, and heal from the wounds of sexual abuse she suffered as a child. In Part 1, Robin leaves the reservation to start a new life in Fargo. She enrolls in the University of Minnesota, learns troubling news about her daughter, and begins a fight for custody.
Kind Hearted Woman : part 2 by Infobase, film distributor.; Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.)
video (02:51:30)
In this two-part series, David Sutherland creates a portrait of Robin Charboneau, a single mother living on North Dakota's Spirit Lake Reservation. Sutherland follows Robin as she struggles to raise her two children, further her education, and heal from the wounds of sexual abuse she suffered as a child. In Part 2, Robin's daughter testifies at a sexual assault trial against her father, Robin meets Darren Spoon, and the family moves several times.
Potential Criminal Events: sexual abuse/assault on a patient or staff by Medcom
video (00:01:00)
This instructional video, from the Serious Reportable Events series produced by Medcom, Inc., is about preventing sexual abuse or assault on a patient or staff member.
Roll Red Roll by Schwartzman, Nancy, director, producer.; Lake, Steven, producer.; Fox, Jennifer, producer.; Devaney, Jessica, producer.; Sunset Park Pictures, presenter.; Fork Films, production company.; Ro*Co Films Educational (Firm), publisher.; Film Platform, film distributor.
video (01:20:00)
In small - town Steubenville Ohio, at a pre - season football party, a horrible incident took place that would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. Amateur crime blogger Alex Goddard uncovers disturbing evidence online, documenting the assault of a teenage girl by members of the high school football team. Explores the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders in this story, to unearth the attitudes at the core of their behaviour. The Steubenville story acts as a cautionary tale of what can happen when adults look the other way and deny that rape culture exists. With unprecedented access to police documents, exhibits and evidence, this documentary feature unflinchingly asks: "Why didn't anyone stop it?"
Someone You Know by Dizard, Jesse, director.; Brazeal, Brian, producer.; Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology, production company.
video (00:22:00)
Across our colleges and universities, women are being sexually assaulted and then blamed for it. Violence against women has been silenced for too long. This film brings it into the open.
Stopping Traffic by Shree, Sadhvi Siddhali, 1983- director, producer; Infobase, film distributor.; Collective Eye Films (Firm);
video (01:19:29)
With 27 million victims, human trafficking is the second largest criminal enterprise in the world, predominantly victimizing women, with children making up as much as half the statistics. However, this documentary shows that it is not just a back-alley enterprise in Asia and under developed regions of the world, it is also prevalent in industrial nations and—in conflict with closely held beliefs about our society in the United States—right here in our own backyard.