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CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Deesha Philyaw
I think about what Toni Morrison said about Ralph Ellison titling his book Invisible Man, Philyaw says. She said, Invisible to whom? Were not invisible to ourselves, but as a larger society, when we look at what we call our canon, when you think about the books that kids have to read in high school or college, its not always reflective of the whole of who we are as a culture.
Philyaw will launch her book tour for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies with a virtual appearance on Thu., Sept. 3 as part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures Made Local series.
The stories in Secret Lives are richly rendered tableaus of the lives of Black women. In Peach Cobbler, a young girl misinterprets her mothers liaison with a pastor, thinking shes dating God. Instructions for Married Christian Husbands is a not-so tongue-in-cheek manual for men seeking to have an affair. And Jael, arguably the books centerpiece, features the alternating voices of a teenager and her great-grandmother, illustrating the gulf between them.
CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Deesha Philyaw
I think about myself as a child, as a girl, watching church ladies, Philyaw says, but also watching women outside of church. And even within the church theres a diversity of types. And as a kid, youre watching and thinking, Who am I going to be? And so often, were presented either with a monolith, or were presented with a binary: youre going to be the whore or the Madonna, in the church or out of the church, when real life is just not that black and white. It was important to me that the women and girls in the stories were different ages. They had different mindsets and experiences and outlooks.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is being released during a time of burgeoning awareness of Black communities and culture in the U.S. Philyaw acknowledges that theres been a corresponding increase in interest in these types of stories which have been traditionally overlooked.
We have to be really intentional about seeking stories about experiences that arent our own, Philyaw says, and that havent been spoon fed to us from day one that these are the stories worth reading. We have to reject that, all of us, and read more broadly. I think were at a moment now where folks are reaching out to that. Were in this moment where were seeing the interconnectedness of our stories, were seeing stories that have been left out. And this pandemic certainly shows us how were connected and rely on each other to survive, literally to survive. And we havent been good at that as a country. Thats not our history.
Made Local: Deesha Philyaw
A video conversation with Khirsten Scott, assistant professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, presented by Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. 6 p.m. Thu., Sept. 3. Free, but registration is required. pittsburghlectures.org
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