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5 Reasons to Read “Bad Feminist”


Although she’d been a cultural critic for years it wasn’t until her essays were collected in one volume that Roxane Gay became America’s must-read writer. Bad Feminist hit bookstore shelves like a rolling tank, except this piece of machinery will crush you with heart, humor, and insight. Suddenly she’s everywhere, and thankfully so.

Here are five reasons to read her now.

1) There’s a pink version coming out in October and while it’s cheaper, and Harper Perennial only runs those editions for a year or so, you don’t want to wait and look like a poser because you don’t have the original cover.

2) You’re not black (or a feminist, or a child of immigrants, or queer*) and you want a peek at why marginalized folks find some of your favorite things problematic.

3) You are black (or a feminist, or a child of immigrants, or queer*) and you want to hear from someone who gets you.

4) Learning new things is great as long it doesn’t feel like work. Like it’s, say, the best conversation you’ve ever had with your cool neighbor.

5) Sometimes you just want to say “fuck it” and geek out over Sweet Valley High, Scrabble, or The Hunger Games.

*Gay’s choice to describe her complicated sexuality as simply as possible

About Author

Aaron Curtis is a mixed-race member of the Akwesasne Nation, half of his mother’s Mohawk (Kanien’kehá:ka) Indian and half of his father’s Scotch-Irish. The first book Aaron read for pleasure was Stephen King's "Christine" in the third grade; he's enjoyed reading books he's not supposed to ever since. He had a monthly column at Moxxi Magazine called "Book Junky" and wrote about books (and sundries) for Miami blog collective The Heat Lightning. His essay "Past the Flesh" appeared in The Sun Sentinel's City Link Magazine, and his love-letter to Florida - "It Grows on You" - was published in World Book Night's first ebook. He has performed for Lip Service, and for WLRN's Under the Sun as part of Lip Service, five times, and his story "We Are More Than These Shells" was included in the book "Badass - Lip Service: True Stories, The Double Album" from Lominy Press. Aaron has worked at Books & Books Coral Gables since 2004.

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