From its title and construction to its rhythms and its rigor, GIRL GURL GRRRL is a radical and magical diasporic curation of love for Black dialect, Black freedom, Black cool, Black culture, Black joy, and mostly—and specifically—Black women.” — Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
“In provocative and entertaining essays, an African-American fashion editor muses on the complex realities of being Black and female in today’s fast-changing world.” — People
“Kenya Hunt, the award-winning American journalist in London, provocatively threads cultural observations through relatable stories that illuminate our current cultural moment while transcending it.” — Refinery 29
“GIRL is an essential, vital and urgent exploration of Black womanhood, that should be on everyone’s reading list. Every page is meaningful and a call for empathy, hope and change. There is such power in the stories that are told, from Kenya’s own experience – as a mother, as a journalist, as an American in London, to Ebele Okobi’s essay on the unspeakable loss of a brother to police brutality. If any book should enrich – and disrupt – your life, let it be this.” — Harper's Bazaar
“Powerful, intelligent and vital – one of the year’s must-reads.” — Elle
“A provocative, heart-breaking and frequently hilarious collection of original essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother and a global citizen in today’s ever-changing world.” — Glamour
“Hunt, a gifted storyteller, has a strong voice all her own, and she explores a host of current concerns, including Black grief and ‘what happens when the Internet and social media do the eulogizing.’ Amid the ‘angst and chaos,’ Hunt hopes readers also see Black women as people who are ‘loving…growing, and finding the meaning in life as we go.’ And we do see their fullness in this collage of insightful analyses of the messy places where race, culture, and technology intersect. A powerful collection that is very much of the present moment of resistance but will also endure.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Hunt, deputy editor of the fashion magazine Grazia UK, debuts with a rich collection of personal essays about her life and career. . . . Hunt’s work will broaden perspectives and inspire readers.” — Publishers Weekly
"The book truly shines.... Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world." — Booklist
"This thought-provoking collection of ruminations from Black women on how they thrive and struggle in the complex world today is particularly relevant to this moment but will remain an important text for years to come." — Library Journal
"Girl Gurl Grrrl is unapologetically Black, because Hunt wants Black women to know they have nothing to apologize for." — Bust Magazine
“A mother of two, Hunt is a gifted storyteller with an intimate voice, akin to a girlfriend chatting over a few glasses of wine.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“By sharing how everyday Black women resist, persist and uplift one another, Hunt inspires the world to see them, and see them equally.” — Shelf Awareness
"The book truly shines.... Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world."
In provocative and entertaining essays, an African-American fashion editor muses on the complex realities of being Black and female in today’s fast-changing world.
GIRL is an essential, vital and urgent exploration of Black womanhood, that should be on everyone’s reading list. Every page is meaningful and a call for empathy, hope and change. There is such power in the stories that are told, from Kenya’s own experience – as a mother, as a journalist, as an American in London, to Ebele Okobi’s essay on the unspeakable loss of a brother to police brutality. If any book should enrich – and disrupt – your life, let it be this.”
From its title and construction to its rhythms and its rigor, GIRL GURL GRRRL is a radical and magical diasporic curation of love for Black dialect, Black freedom, Black cool, Black culture, Black joy, and mostly—and specifically—Black women.
A provocative, heart-breaking and frequently hilarious collection of original essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother and a global citizen in today’s ever-changing world.”
Powerful, intelligent and vital – one of the year’s must-reads.”
Kenya Hunt, the award-winning American journalist in London, provocatively threads cultural observations through relatable stories that illuminate our current cultural moment while transcending it.”
"The book truly shines.... Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world."
"Girl Gurl Grrrl is unapologetically Black, because Hunt wants Black women to know they have nothing to apologize for."
By sharing how everyday Black women resist, persist and uplift one another, Hunt inspires the world to see them, and see them equally.
A mother of two, Hunt is a gifted storyteller with an intimate voice, akin to a girlfriend chatting over a few glasses of wine.
★ 2020-09-08
Essays highlighting the successes, challenges, and perseverance of Black women in the 2010s.
“It’s a wondrous thing to be Black,” writes Hunt, a trailblazing global fashion editor and style director. In her debut book, she reflects on “a decade’s worth of personal and cultural milestones.” What made the last decade an “age of Black Girl Magic”? An internet boom, a new wave of feminism, a renaissance of Black creativity, and “the first-person essay economy” combined to give Black women heightened visibility, which Hunt and her co-essayists celebrate while noting how the magic of ordinary Black women began to “get left out, lost.” A quarter of the essays in Hunt’s collection are penned by others writing candidly on their personal, professional, and political journeys. These include Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s public policy director for Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey, who reflects on the loss of her brother, who was killed by police in California. Taken together, the essays form a chorus of Black diasporic voices across continents, covering the politics of Black hair, self-acceptance and White beauty standards, activism, motherhood, “the abysmally poor maternal health outcomes of Black women in the US,” and more. Hunt, a gifted storyteller, has a strong voice all her own, and she explores a host of current concerns, including Black grief and “what happens when the Internet and social media do the eulogizing.” She considers the Black church’s “fraught history with women” through the lens of singer Aretha Franklin’s public funeral. Amid the “angst and chaos,” Hunt hopes readers also see Black women as people who are “loving…growing, and finding the meaning in life as we go.” And we do see their fullness in this collage of insightful analyses of the messy places where race, culture, and technology intersect.
A powerful collection that is very much of the present moment of resistance but will also endure.
