The Library at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center invites the community to participate in the March discussion of the center's Queer Memoir Reading Group, featuring Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz, "A fierce, unflinching account of ordinary girls leading extraordinary lives" (Poets and Writers). In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.

This is a virtual event over zoom. Advance RSVP to [email protected] is required to receive the zoom link. Limited free copies of the book are available -- request a copy with your RSVP. If you do not need a free copy, books can be purchased at this link, with 10% of your purchase supporting programs at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center. The book is available in print and ebook formats.

The discussion is facilitated by Mary Foltz and is sponsored by Lehigh University's Southside Initiative and Humanities Center. This program is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 

Live closed captioning is available at this virtual event.