‘Read This When Things Fall Apart’ available now from AK Press! Order your copy today!
A bundle of letters to activists and organizers on the frontlines in catastrophic times from Let This Radicalize You co-author Kelly Hayes
Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis
Atena contributes a letter to parents in this new anthology; every letter in this book is a gift to people committed to making change for the better in this world.
From Atena’s letter, ‘Read This if You’re a Parent Feeling Isolated’:
“My friend and I found ourselves on the floor on the other side of the room, entertaining the nursing toddlers. The other adults stopped looking at us or talking to us. As young adults who had been pulled away from our familiar social networks by the demands of parenting, we were excited to reengage in spaces where we had previously belonged but found that we were suddenly invisible in those spaces: a painful blow to anyone’s sense of identity. The medicine for loss of identity is reengagement of culture, connection with people who light a path for us back to ourselves, and community building. The medicine for social displacement is the same, with special attention to belonging.”
Find Atena’s Work in These Books
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When We Exhale, Edited by Alie Jones, Danielle Mason, and Janae Newsom.
Black Freighter Press
When We Exhale: An Anthology of Black Women rooted in ancestral medicine. With over fifty submissions from Women of the African Diaspora, healers, storytellers, educators, and activists. This collection of poems, essays, meditations, recipes, and short stories from reflects on rest, grief, and intimacy.
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Dionne's Story, Vol 4: An anthology of poetry and prose on sexual and domestic violenceItem
Carlowe University Press
Sadly, in 2003 Dionne Scott White, a Carlow University student, died at the hands of her partner. This tragedy led to the creation of Project Safe and the publication of the first volume of Dionne’s Story in 2009.
On a national scale, the outcry of the MeToo Movement in 2017 rallied allies and victims to speak up; yet, ongoing media reports detailing graphic violence and sexual abuse demonstrate that there is still a lot more work to be done to stop the violence, heal wounds (physical, emotional, and psychological), and create harmonious relationships that are healthy and safe.
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Incantations for Rest: Poems, Meditations & Other Magic
Skinner House Books
Incantations for Rest is an invitation to slow down and explore every kind of rest, providing sacred space for those exhausted by the demands of a racist, ableist society. The 2022 volume of the inSpirit Series, this stunning collection of poems, meditations, and magic by poet-activist Atena O. Danner is an examination of spiritual spaces, a love letter to Black well-being, and medicine for BIPOC people.
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Shelter in this Place: Meditations on 2020, Edited by Meg Riley
Skinner House Books
You can read my poem ‘Solstice: A Litany for the Long Darkness’ in this collection of poems and meditations. Shelter in This Place is the 2020 inSpirit book; inSpirit publishes a collection of poems and meditations annually.
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Hip Circle presents Struggle, Elevate & Celebrate: An Anthology of Women's Voices
Hip Circle Studio (out of print)
This powerful anthology brings together women writers from Arizona, Oregon, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Illinois, Washington, Iowa, Virginia, Michigan, and the UK. It features poems, essays, and short stories, all highlighting the pain, humor, vulnerability, and strength woven throughout the experience of being a woman.