Charis Books and More - Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

Epicurean of the Heart: In Memory of Shay Youngblood

Shay Youngblood at Charis Books and More in 2020

By E.R. Anderson, on behalf of Charis Books and More, and Charis Circle Shay Youngblood, novelist, playwright, artist, and poet, died on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, after an extended illness. She was surrounded by loved ones sending her to meet the ancestors. In the days since Shay has gone from this Earth, our Charis community has been longing for her to come back, and has sought sustenance in her words and in the words of all those whose lives she touched. Shay Youngblood was an epicurean of the heart, a writer’s writer, a generous gift-giver, a marvelous cook, and a cheerleader for everyone’s wildest dreams. Shay got her start at Charis Books and More in Atlanta, Georgia (now located in Decatur, Georgia), at the Charis Circle Young Women Writers Group. “The first evening Mama doesn’t come back, I make a sandwich with leaves from her goodbye letter.I want to eat her words.” We are fortunate that we got to witness and celebrate the entire trajectory of her writing career that went from her first, pre-publication poetry reading at Charis Books and More in 1980 all the way to her picture book release …

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Posted on July 15, 2024 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers Tagged with A Family Prayer, Amazing Grace, Atlanta, Big Mama Stories, Black Girl in Paris, Charis Books and More, Charis Circle, Decatur, Firebrand Books, Georgia, Horizon Theatre Company, Linda Bryant, Lisa Adler, Nancy Bereano, Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery, Shay Youngblood, Soul Kiss, Square Blues, Talking Bones, Ticket to Paris, Yaddo, Young Women Writers Group

Alexis Pauline Gumbs: Black Feminist Love Evangelist

Alexis has described herself as “a queer Black troublemaker, a Black feminist love evangelist, and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings.”

Posted on March 14, 2023 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services, Spirituality and Religion Tagged with ’Young Women’s Writing Group, Advocate's 40 under 40, Akasha Gloria Hull, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, Atlanta Georgia, Audre Lorde, Barnard College at Columbia University, Best American Experimental Writing, Black Dirt, Black feminism, Black feminist activists, Black Feminist Bookmobile, Black Feminist Breathing Collages, Black Feminist Film School, Charis Books and More, Charis Young Writers, China Martens, Cliterati, Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, Dr. M. Jacqui Alexander, Dr. Zenzele Isoke, Duke University, Emory University, Erin Sharkey Free, Essence magazine, Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind, Farrar Straus Giroux, feminist bookstores, Feminist Studies, Firefly Ridge, Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts, Helena Cragg, heternormativity, Honeypot, Hortense Spiller, Humanities for the Public Good gathering in Chapel Hill North Carolina, James Baldwin, June Jordan Reading Room, Juneteenth Freedom Academy, Katina Parker, Laurie Carlos, lesbian, Leslie Parker, LGBTQ Soul Sanctuary, Lucille Clifton, Lucille Clifton ShapeShifter Survival School, M Archive After the End of the World, Mai’a Williams, Mama Mosaic theatre company, Margaret Wade, Mobile Homecoming Living Library, Mobile Homecoming project, Mobile Homecoming Trust Living Library and Archive, Penny Winton, Pushcart Prize, Revolutionary Mothering, Rondo Neighborhood St. Paul Minnesota, Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, Sangodare Julia Roxanne Wallace, School of Our Lorde, Signe Hardily, Spelman College Atlanta Georgia, Spill Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity, SUNY State University of New York New Paltz, Sylvia Williams, Sylvia Wynter, The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde: Biography as Ceremony, Truth Be Told, Undrowned Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, University of Minnesota Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts, UTNE Reader Visionaries Transforming the World, Vox teen newspaper, Youth Communication, Zenzele Isoke

Sandra Gail Lambert: Becoming A Writer

Sandra has been involved in many kinds of activism, including anti-racism through the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA); Lesbians for Empowerment, Action, and Politics (LEAP); and anti-nuclear protests and peace activism; and disability rights actions in South Carolina and Florida.

Saralyn Chesnut of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA)

Saralyn Chesnut is second from left in this photo from the 2013 Creating Change conference. Pat Hussain is at far right.

“ALFA’s lasting legacy is in women’s lives. The field of women’s studies was not just created by the feminist movement, but by the lesbian-feminist movement.”

Tag: Charis Books and More

Epicurean of the Heart: In Memory of Shay Youngblood

Alexis Pauline Gumbs: Black Feminist Love Evangelist

Sandra Gail Lambert: Becoming A Writer

Saralyn Chesnut of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA)