Saturday 26 September 2015

Out Now! "Winter Shorts" edited by Clementine Burnley and Sharon Dodua Otoo


The Witnessed Series continues to go from strength to strength!

The fifth edition is a collection of short stories edited by Clementine Burnley and Sharon Otoo and features original work by the authors Noah Hofmann, Njideka Stephanie Iroh, Elsa M’bala, Muriel Mben, WoMANtís RANDom, Tigist H. Schmidt and Monique Simpson. The cover artwork is from the paintbrush of Sita Ngoumou.



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Praise for Winter Shorts...

“The stories in Winter Shorts depict characters who are displaced in many senses: geographically, socially, culturally, linguistically – and, most importantly of all, they are black people in a white world. The winter of the title clearly stands as a metaphor for the cold, alien environment of Germany and Austria in which the characters, and perhaps the authors themselves, are outsiders. The majority of contributors to this volume are appearing in print for the first time. Witnessed is to be congratulated on having supported this project and for having provided this platform for black voices to tell their own stories in their own words.”  
Máire Davies, Honorary Fellow, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom

Winter Shorts is a very important collection of writings by African Diasporic/Black writers that turn global white supremacy on its head in both subtle and profound ways. Each contribution reminds this African-American cultural worker that the struggle to define and redefine oneself in countries that consistently marginalize and demonize Blackness is international. Co-Editors Clementine Burnley and Sharon Dodua Otoo did a masterful job with compiling a diverse group of extraordinary authors whose writings defy the myth of the monolithic African/Black experience.”  
Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Producer/Director, NO! The Rape Documentary and Sterling Brown, Visiting Professor of Africana Studies, Williams College, United States and an Associate Editor for The Feminist Wire

Winter Shorts gave me feelings similar to those I had when I was a little girl devouring my late paternal grandmother’s bookshelf, a space that introduced me to Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, Ann Petry, James Baldwin, Gloria Naylor, and other legendary Black writers. It gave me feelings similar to those that I have when I’m with family eating BBQ, drinking cocktails, and playing cards. It gave me feelings similar to those I have when I’m at an academic conference full of Black folk. It gave me feelings similar to those I have when I visit my friends and comrades in Berlin. The feeling is this: I am honored and blessed to be part of such a rich, complex, and electric community full of joy, pain, laughter, sadness, fear, excitement. The misery Burnley caresses in “Boom” is there. The embarrassment that turns into pain that turns into anger is there, as Iroh embraces in “Support a Black-Owned Business Especially at Christmas.” The oblivion that Simpson massages in “Raw” is there, too. It’s all there, because, as Burnley points out, “The characters in our stories are hurting but they are finding ways to make it on their own terms, without giving up their identities.” Although she has transcended this life, Toni Cade Bambara always reminds us that the writer’s job is to “make the revolution irresistible.” The many brilliant writers who share their voices with us in Winter Shorts take up this tremendous task by reminding us that the revolution happens in our hearts, minds, and spirits during moments when we might least expect it.”  
Dr. Heidi R. Lewis, Assistant Professor of Feminist & Gender Studies, Colorado College, United States and an Associate Editor for The Feminist Wire


"Winter Shorts" edited by Clementine Burnley and Sharon Dodua Otoo
Series: Witnessed, Edition 5
Publisher: Edition Assemblage

Paperback, 142×205 mm
112 pages, 9.80 € [DE]
ISBN 978-3-942885-94-2 | WG 110
Publication date: October 2015
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