This flawlessly executed work reinvigorates the short fiction genre. —BUST
Acker perfectly captures the varied experiences of her characters, making clear that each of [their] lives is worth exploring individually, and valued as being one shining part of the ocean of human experience. —NYLON
When you're black and female in America, society's rules were never meant to make you safe or free. Camille Acker's relatable yet unexpected characters break down the walls of respectability politics, showing that the only way for black women to be free is to be themselves.
- First book in which Jamia Wilson, the new director of Feminist Press, will play the role of main editor—will be cited frequently in other programming and publicity about the press as indicative of her editorial vision, of which intergenerational black women's narratives will definitely be a focus
- This potent collection of short stories will appeal to readers of Margo Jefferson, Danzy Senna, and Marita Golden. Acker takes an honest look at issues like respectability and class snobbery, working-class anxiety and internalized shame, and colorism with the generosity of a writer who understands that truly complicated, full-bodied literary characters are the only way to reflect the human side of political issues.
Camille Ackergrew up in Washington, DC. She holds a BA in English from Howard University and an MFA in creative writing from New Mexico State University. Her writing has received support from the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, Callaloo Writers' Workshop, Voices of Our Nations Arts, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program, among others. She was a fiction coeditor forDismantle: An Anthology from the VONA/Voices Workshop(Thread Makes Blanket Press 2014). In 2015, she helped co-found The Spinsters Union, a digital content sitel³?
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