Description: "Through braided memories that flash against the present day, Portrait of a Feminist depicts the evolution of Marianna Marlowe's identity as a biracial and multicultural woman--from her childhood in California, Peru, and Ecuador to her adulthood as an academic, a wife, and a mother. How does the inner life of a feminist develop? How does a writer observe the world around her and kindle, from her earliest memories, a flame attuned to the unjust? With writing that is simultaneously wise and shimmering, nuanced and direct, Marlowe confronts her own experiences with the hallmarks of patriarchy. Interweaving stories of life as the child of a Catholic Peruvian mother and an atheist American father in a family that lived many years abroad, she examines realities familiar to so many of us--unequal marriages, class structures, misogynist literature, and patriarchal religion. Portrait of a Feminist explores the essential questions of feminism in our time: What does it look like to live in defense of feminism? How should feminism be evolving today?"--
Brief description: Marianna Marlowe is a Latina writer who focuses on creative nonfiction that explores issues of gender identity, feminism, cultural hybridity, intersectionality, and more. Her short memoir has been published in Narrative, Hippocampus, The Woven Tale Press, Eclectica, Sukoon, and The Acentos Review among others. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Review Quotes: "A tale of self-discovery, courage, and liberation, Marianna Marlowe's spirited assertion of feminism is both timely and inspiring."--Jasmin Darznik, New York Times best-selling author of The Bohemians