Mouths of Rain

<p><strong>Winner Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Anthology<br></strong><strong>Winner Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction Publishing Triangle Awards<br></strong><strong>A <em>Ms</em>. magazine Refinery29 and Lambda Literary Most Anticipated Read of 2021<br><br></strong><strong>A groundbreaking collection tracing the history of intellectual thought by Black Lesbian writers in the tradition of The New Press's perennial seller <em>Words of Fire<br><br></em></strong>African American lesbian writers and theorists have made extraordinary contributions to feminist theory activism and writing. <em>Mouths of Rain</em> the companion anthology to Beverly Guy-Sheftall's classic <em>Words of Fire</em> traces the long history of intellectual thought produced by Black Lesbian writers spanning the nineteenth century through the twenty-first century.</p>
<p>Using Black Lesbian as a capacious signifier <em>Mouths of Rain</em> includes writing by Black women who have shared intimate and loving relationships with other women as well as Black women who see bonding as mutual Black women who have self-identified as lesbian Black women who have written about Black Lesbians and Black women who theorize about and see the word lesbian as a political descriptor that disrupts and critiques capitalism heterosexism and heteropatriarchy. Taking its title from a poem by Audre Lorde <em>Mouths of Rain</em> addresses pervasive issues such as misogynoir and anti-blackness while also attending to love romance “coming out” and the erotic.</p>
<p><strong>Contributors include:<br></strong>Barbara Smith<br>Beverly Smith<br>Bettina Love<br>Dionne Brand<br>Cheryl Clarke<br>Cathy J. Cohen<br>Angelina Weld Grimke<br>Alexis Pauline Gumbs<br>Audre Lorde<br>Dawn Lundy Martin<br>Pauli Murray<br>Michelle Parkerson<br>Mecca Jamilah Sullivan<br>Alice Walker<br>Jewelle Gomez</p>