All the Women in My Family Sing

All the Women in My Family Sing, a collection of essays written by women of color and edited by Deborah Santana, is an exceptional creation. I limited myself to three or four essays a day in order to savor them, and to let each voice speak to me. I fell in love with everyone in this collection, they have become my friends, their words reaching out into my soul and pulling me into their lives, their experiences. I related so much to some stories, and to others I could only stand by and listen, and learn, my own experiences so different.

All the Women in My Family Sing is such an absolutely necessary book, it lifts the voices of all women, all experiences, all thoughts, it lifts their voices up altogether as a collective. So many women’s voices are marginalized, pushed away, categorized into small, obscure departments, and I feel like this anthology does a fabulous job of not only drawing them out, but actually showing us that all experiences are valid and all women should be heard and read.

The anthology is divided into different sections pertaining to specific topics, and each essay spans between 4 and 6 pages in length. There are 69 amazing essays in total in the book. Each one unique and compelling, sometimes heartbreaking or shocking, other times enlightening and creative, sometimes all of the above. They are all completely inspiring. While reading this anthology I felt a renewed inspiration to complete the autobiographical novel I started back in 2011. The essays have been compiled from all across the board: established and published writers with long term writing careers and young, first time essayists, and all of the rest in between there. Again, every voice deserves to be lifted up high.

All of the Women in My Family Sing will be my go-to gift this year for all of those I love. I want EVERYONE to read it. I know it’s only April, but this book is going to be in my top 5 reads of this year, most likely my number 1. Not only written entirely by women of color, it was also developed, edited, produced, created, and marketed by women of color. The publisher, Nothing But The Truth Publishing, is doing to fantastic job raising the voices of the underrepresented.

If you are not aware of the publishing house Nothing But The Truth Publishing I suggest you go right ahead and check them out, because not only is their philosophy brilliant (and necessary), but they also have some brilliant content available in their catalogue.

I initially bought this book for my Kindle, but I love it so much that I will be buying it again in regular paperback too.