Carefree Black Girls, Zeba Blay
Carefree Black Girls, Zeba Blay
List: $22.99 | Sale: $16.09
Club: $11.49

Carefree Black Girls
A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture

Author: Zeba Blay

Narrator: Zeba Blay

Unabridged: 6 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/19/2021


Synopsis

One of Kirkus Review's Best Books About Being Black in America

"Powerful... Calling for Black women (in and out of the public eye) to be treated with empathy, Blay’s pivotal work will engage all readers, especially fans of Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism." —Kirkus (Starred)

This program is read by the author.

An empowering and celebratory portrait of Black women - from Josephine Baker to Aunt Viv to Cardi B.

In 2013, film and culture critic Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term #carefreeblackgirls on Twitter. As she says, it was “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online.”

In this collection of essays, Carefree Black Girls, Blay expands on this initial idea by delving into the work and lasting achievements of influential Black women in American culture - writers, artists, actresses, dancers, hip-hop stars - whose contributions often come in the face of bigotry, misogyny, and stereotypes. Blay celebrates the strength and fortitude of these Black women, while also examining the many stereotypes and rigid identities that have clung to them. In writing that is both luminous and sharp, expansive and intimate, Blay seeks a path forward to a culture and society in which Black women and their art are appreciated and celebrated.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Griffin

About Zeba Blay

ZEBA BLAY is a film and culture critic who has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, ESSENCE, Shadow and Act, Film Quarterly, and Indiewire. Formerly Senior Culture Writer at HuffPost, Blay has spent her nearly decade-long career writing about pop culture at the intersection of race, gender, and identity. Born in Accra, Ghana, she is based in the New York City area.


Reviews

4★ “There is no singular dark-skinned-girl experience, but if there is one constant to the journey, I imagine it’s the striving to maintain a sense of oneself amidst the projections of other people.” Zeba Blay is an experienced, passionate writer, tweeter, poster, commentator on films and culture, par......more

Goodreads review by Dre

"How do Black girls find freedom? Where do they go to find it, to feel it, uncomplicated and uncompromised?" Carefree Black Girls is a collection of writer Zeba Blay's musings on the #carefreeblackgirls we identify with in society and pop culture. If artists like Lizzo, Cardi B., and Nicki Minaj come......more

I switched to consuming this book as an audiobook as opposed to the ARC I received, because I like listening to Zeba's voice. I was a fan of her and Fariha's podcast - Two Brown Girl back in the day, so why not! But WHEW. This was a hard listen - in all the good ways. Carefree Black Girls is very mel......more


Awards

  • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year