Virtual Event: Annie Finch

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes award-winning feminist poet, writer, and performer ANNIE FINCH for a discussion of her edited anthology Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. She will be joined in conversation by two contributors: Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist DESIREE COOPER and KRISTEN R. GHODSEE, author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

About Choice Words

A landmark literary anthology of poems, stories, and essays, Choice Words collects essential voices that renew our courage in the struggle to defend reproductive rights. Twenty years in the making, the book spans continents and centuries. This collection magnifies the voices of people reclaiming the sole authorship of their abortion experiences. These essays, poems, and prose are a testament to the profound political power of defying shame.

Contributors include Ai, Amy Tan, Anne Sexton, Audre Lorde, Bobbie Louise Hawkins. Camonghne Felix, Carol Muske-Dukes, Diane di Prima, Dorothy Parker, Gloria Naylor, Gloria Steinem, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jean Rhys, Joyce Carol Oates, Judith Arcana, Kathy Acker, Langston Hughes, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lindy West, Lucille Clifton, Mahogany L. Browne, Margaret Atwood, Molly Peacock, Ntozake Shange, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Sharon Doubiago, Sharon Olds, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Sholeh Wolpe, Ursula Le Guin, and Vi Khi Nao.

Praise for Choice Words

“This book is a treasure, a gift, and a long-overdue shining of light in the most secret, sometimes painful, and often defiant lives of women. I am grateful that this anthology finally exists.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author, Eat, Pray, Love

"Silence, as much as anything, is why abortion's such an easy target in America. Stories save lives. We need women to say, shamelessly, I had an abortion. I'm not sorry. I'm not afraid. This anthology is a valuable contribution to this work." —Molly Crabapple, author, Drawing Blood

"The poems, essays, and stories in Choice Words prove that women’s bodies cannot be nationalized." —Gloria Steinem