The Big M: 13 Writers Take Back the Story of Menopause

For readers of Kink and What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About, an anthology from a bestselling author that redefines the way we think about menopause--＂leaves you feeling informed, empowered, and more connected to yourself and others on the journey＂ (Nedra Glover Tawwab, New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace).

This is narrative medicine at its finest: Lidia Yuknavitch and 12 of today’s sharpest, most daring writers break the silence. They are here to reclaim the story of menopause--for all of us and those on the way, because we are not the story they made of us. This is a new story, told on our own terms--a long overdue reckoning.

Exploring themes of freedom and mortality, sexuality and the patriarchy, The Big M is a chorus of voices, each writer navigating the profound changes in their bodies and lives in their own fiercely individual way. Funny, subversive, insightful, and deeply human, these stories form a living constellation--one you might take into your life in times of duress, transformation, or awakening.

The Big M includes work from a diverse group of influential writers, including: Roxane Gay, Cheryl Strayed, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Reyna Grande, Joey Soloway, Nana-Ama Danquah, Gina Frangello, Monica Drake, Lan Samantha Chang, Julia Alvarez, Darcey Steinke, and Pam Houston.

Lidia Yuknavitch is the nationally bestselling author of the novels Thrust, The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, and Dora: A Headcase, and of the memoirs Reading the Waves and The Chronology of Water. She is the recipient of two Oregon Book Awards and has been a finalist for the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize and the PEN Center USA Creative Nonfiction Award. She lives in Portland, Oregon.