About this item

In her powerful new book, critically acclaimed author Melissa Febos examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them.When her body began to change at eleven years old, Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she'd been told about herself and the habits and defenses she'd developed over years of trying to meet others' expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritize their personal safety, happiness, or freedom, and she set out to reframe those values and beliefs.



About the Author

Melissa Febos

Melissa Febos is the author of the memoir, Whip Smart (St. Martin's Press 2010) , and the essay collection, Abandon Me (Bloomsbury 2017) , which was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist, a Publishing Triangle Award finalist, an Indie Next Pick, and was widely named a best book of 2017. Her third book, Girlhood, an illustrated essay collection, is forthcoming on March 30, 2021 from Bloomsbury. In 2018, Febos was the recipient of the Jeanne Córdova Nonfiction Award from LAMBDA Literary and the Sarah Verdone Writing Award from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She has been awarded other prizes and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, The Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation, The BAU Institute, Ragdale, Prairie Schooner, and others. Her essays have recently appeared in Tin House, Granta, McSweeney's, The Believer, The Sewanee Review, and The New York Times. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program.



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