adrienne maree brown’s Reading List

Detroit-based adrienne maree brown is a writer, doula, and activist who has become a leading proponent of bringing joy into the struggle for liberation. She has a background in harm reduction and facilitating (or helping activists construct spaces conducive to accomplishing their goals).

adrienne has written several books and contributed to several publications, including YES! And Bitch. You can also hear her on multiple podcasts, such as How to Survive the End of the World, Octavia’s Parables, and Emergent Strategy.

Social justice facilitator adrienne maree brown was a Kresge Literary Arts Fellow, Knights Arts Challenge winner, and Ursula Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellow. Her writing draws from her work as an activist. Here are five of her books:

1. 1. Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (2015): Coedited by adrienne and Walidah Imarisha, this anthology features twenty writers who examine the link between speculative fiction and movements for social change.
2. 2. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017): Inspired by Octavia Butler’s work, Emergent Strategy looks at humanity’s relationship to change.
3. 3. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (2019): This book challenges readers to reassess the rules of activism. Pleasure Activism includes conversations with and quotes from other feminists, such as Cara Page, Audre Lorde, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
4. 4. We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice (2020): Some believe cancel (or call-out) culture has gone too far. In this nonfiction book, adrienne digs into cancel culture and how to move beyond an impasse.
5. 5. Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation (2021): Drawing from more than twenty years of facilitation work, this book, published by AK Press, explores the importance of mediation skills for individuals and organizations.

Here are a few books that have inspired adrienne:

• Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins (1990): In this book, Black feminists—including Alice Walker, bell hooks, and Angela Davis—share their thoughts and experiences as Black women in the United States.
• How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2017): The Combahee River Collective, a group of Black feminists, formed as a result of the antiracist and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. In this book, members of the group look back at what the Combahee River Collective accomplished in their quest for Black liberation.
• Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power by Audre Lorde (1978): This collection compiles feminist writer Audre Lorde’s essays and speeches.
• Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction by Sami Schalk (2018): This book looks at the intersection of Black feminist theory and disability studies.
• Misogynoir Transformed by Moya Bailey (2021): This book examines how Black women have used social media to challenge misogynoir, a term Bailey coined to define where misogyny and anti-Blackness meet.

Feminism is an intersectional movement with a focus on issues that touch every part of our lives, including reproductive rights, workplace culture, and caregiving. Gain access to exclusive videos on feminism with the MasterClass Annual Membership and get a crash course from leaders Gloria Steinem, Amanda Nguyen, Tina Tchen, and adrienne maree brown.