This week Glory Edim, founder of Well-Read Black Girl book club, discusses her essay anthology with fellow writer Charlene Carruthers. This conversation was recorded November 5, 2018 live at the American Writers Museum.
We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
“As Black women we define ourselves, for ourselves. When you tell us we can’t, we simply resist and defy expectations…We are writing ourselves into the spaces that neglect or ignore us.”
“Best advice I got was, write the thing you’re most afraid of…If I’m feeling this discomfort, it means that emotion will be transferred to the reader, I’m hoping. As I’m trying to unpack this difficult moment in my life and write about it, I have to be unafraid of that feeling and that discomfort.”
“When it’s invisible on the bookshelf, you can’t see yourself. You can’t even realize that’s something you can aspire to or feel accepted.”
“To me, good writing really has a rhythm to it and the things that I enjoy have a level of vulnerability where you can tell the person is really putting themselves on the page and sharing intimate details.”
“Going to [Howard University] was a very defining moment for me…I learned how to be my best self and really celebrate my Blackness in a way that I didn’t feel like I had to compare myself to anyone else or feel any reservation in my identity.”