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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