Fast Famous Women

What do Sylvia Plath, Mae West, Taylor Swift, Shirley Chisholm, Helen Keller, Sally Ride, Toni Morrison, Dolores Huerta, Lizzie Borden, Billie Jean King, and Eleanor of Aquitaine have in common? They’re all stars in 2024’s FAST FAMOUS WOMEN: 75 Essays of Flash NonFiction, the latest volume in Gina Barreca’s FAST WOMEN series. As in previous titles, brilliant well-known writers and columnists with established voices are joined by a chorus of emerging writers from diverse backgrounds, some of whom had never before seen their work in a book with with an ISBN. New works by Jane Smiley, Caroline Leavitt, Mimi Pond, Molly Peacock, Phillis Levin, Darien Hsu Gee, Cheryl Della Pietra, and Ebony Root offer provocative and deeply personal reflections on the women in the public eye who shaped their own visions of a woman’s life, talents, role, and possibilities. FAST FAMOUS WOMEN is, in effect, the most glamorous of great dinner parties, welcoming all readers to the world of women’s lives lived in public view. Some guests whoop it up over champagne and oysters while others weep in corners; a few dance on the veranda and while others set out plates or, hands on hips, face the mess. Fast Famous Women is a literary event you won’t want to miss.

Gina Barreca is author of ten books, including the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted, Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Co-Education in the Ivy League, Sweet Revenge: The Wicked Delights of Getting Even, and It’s Not That I’m Bitter, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visibly Panty Lines and Conquered the World. Gina has appeared, often as a repeat guest, on CNN, TODAY, NPR, OPRAH, and GOOD MORNING AMERICA. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York but now lives with her husband in Storrs, CT. Go figure.