Black Feminist Book Club Reads: The Gilda Stories

From the venue:

Black Feminist Book Club Reads: The Gilda Stories

The Black Feminist Book Club reads books written by Black transgender, gender expansive, and/or women writers, which center the liberation, struggle, and lived experiences of oppressed people/marginalized groups through a Black feminist perspective. The group celebrates classic and contemporary Black authors of fiction and nonfiction, all in the comfort of a historic feminist bookstore where many of these authors once read or shared their works!  Our goal is for these texts to be welcoming and accessible regardless of your background or familiarity with the books.
Yemisi Combahee, a senior organizer with Black Feminist Future is the facilitator of this group. All community members are invited to attend with the acknowledgment that this is a space that centers Black women and gender expansive folks' thoughts, creativity, and lived experiences. We encourage folks to read the months book before our gathering but it is not required - come as you are, regardless of how much you've read!
This group meets in-person at Charis on the first Sunday of each month at 3pm.About our May book:
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Before Buffy, before Twilight, before Octavia Butler's Fledgling, there was The Gilda Stories, Jewelle Gomez's sexy vampire novel.This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who "shares the blood" by two women there, Gilda spends the next two hundred years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story.
2026 Books:

January: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

February: A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross

March: Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara

May: The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

June: The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde

July: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

August: The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison, and Fighting for Those Left Behind by Safiya Bukhari 

September: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange

October: Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da'Shaun L. Harrison

November: Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

December: Concentrate: Poems by Courtney Faye Taylor

In-person event guidelines:

All attendees must wear a face mask.
We will begin seating people at 2:45 PM ET.
As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate online at www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.By attending our event you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to info@chariscircle.org immediately.

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