Carefree Black Girls by Zeba Blay
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Carefree Black Girls

A Celebration of Black Women in Pop Culture
by Zeba Blay
Due to publisher restrictions, this audiobook is unavailable for purchase in your selected country.
Length 6 hours 38 minutes
Language English
Narrators Zeba Blay & Clara Amfo

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Brought to you by Penguin.

INCLUDES A FOREWORD WITH CLARA AMFO

In 2013, film and culture critic Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term #carefreeblackgirls on Twitter. As she says, it was "a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online."

In this collection of essays, Blay expands on this initial idea by delving into the work and lasting achievements of influential Black women in American culture - writers, artists, actresses, dancers, hip-hop stars - whose contributions often come in the face of bigotry, misogyny, and stereotypes. Blay celebrates the strength and fortitude of these Black women, while also examining the many stereotypes and rigid identities that have clung to them.

In writing that is both luminous and sharp, expansive and intimate, Carefree Black Girls seeks a path forward to a culture and society in which Black women and their art are appreciated and celebrated.

Praise for Carefree Black Girls

'Blay is a talent, mixing an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture, past and present, with incisive commentary on race and gender.' Janet Mock, author of Redefining Realness and Surpassing Certainty

'Blay's welcome voice is candid, vulnerable and necessary. Her observations about the impact Black women have had and continue to have on pop culture are searing and timely and will have a lasting impact on how much the world sees and understands us.' Tarana Burke, founder of the MeToo movement, and author of You Are Your Best Thing

© Zeba Blay 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Biography & MemoirHistoryArtEssaysNonfictionSocial Science

Zeba Blay (Author, Reader)
ZEBA BLAY is a film and culture critic who has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, ESSENCE, Shadow and Act, Film Quarterly, and Indiewire. Formerly Senior Culture Writer at HuffPost, Blay has spent her nearly decade-long career writing about pop culture at the intersection of race, gender, and identity. Born in Accra, Ghana, she is based in the New York City area.

Clara Amfo (Introducer, Reader)
CLARA AMFO is a dynamic and bold broadcaster best known for her 10am - 1pm BBC Radio 1 show, home of the world-famous Live Lounge. Clara has interviewed some of the world's most prolific artists including Solange, Lizzo, Alicia Keys and Jay Z. In September 2021, Clara took over from Annie Mac as host of Radio 1's flagship new show, Future Sounds.


Clara is also host to her own successful podcast, This City, which launched in 2020 and has seen two incredibly popular series. A respected face on our screens, Clara has hosted ITV2's BRIT Awards coverage, was on the hosting team at the 2021 EE BAFTA Awards, is on the judging panel for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and was a fan favourite whilst competing in the 2020 season of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. In 2020, Clara was honoured by Mattel, being named as a Barbie Role Model and presented with her own Barbie doll in her likeness. With live music being one of her many passions, Clara is part of the core presenting team on BBC2 and BBC4 for their coverage of Glastonbury and Radio 1's Big Weekend.

Zeba Blay (Author, Reader)
ZEBA BLAY is a film and culture critic who has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, ESSENCE, Shadow and Act, Film Quarterly, and Indiewire. Formerly Senior Culture Writer at HuffPost, Blay has spent her nearly decade-long career writing about pop culture at the intersection of race, gender, and identity. Born in Accra, Ghana, she is based in the New York City area.

Clara Amfo (Introducer, Reader)
CLARA AMFO is a dynamic and bold broadcaster best known for her 10am - 1pm BBC Radio 1 show, home of the world-famous Live Lounge. Clara has interviewed some of the world's most prolific artists including Solange, Lizzo, Alicia Keys and Jay Z. In September 2021, Clara took over from Annie Mac as host of Radio 1's flagship new show, Future Sounds.


Clara is also host to her own successful podcast, This City, which launched in 2020 and has seen two incredibly popular series. A respected face on our screens, Clara has hosted ITV2's BRIT Awards coverage, was on the hosting team at the 2021 EE BAFTA Awards, is on the judging panel for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and was a fan favourite whilst competing in the 2020 season of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. In 2020, Clara was honoured by Mattel, being named as a Barbie Role Model and presented with her own Barbie doll in her likeness. With live music being one of her many passions, Clara is part of the core presenting team on BBC2 and BBC4 for their coverage of Glastonbury and Radio 1's Big Weekend.

Zeba Blay (Author, Reader)
ZEBA BLAY is a film and culture critic who has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, ESSENCE, Shadow and Act, Film Quarterly, and Indiewire. Formerly Senior Culture Writer at HuffPost, Blay has spent her nearly decade-long career writing about pop culture at the intersection of race, gender, and identity. Born in Accra, Ghana, she is based in the New York City area.

Clara Amfo (Introducer, Reader)
CLARA AMFO is a dynamic and bold broadcaster best known for her 10am - 1pm BBC Radio 1 show, home of the world-famous Live Lounge. Clara has interviewed some of the world's most prolific artists including Solange, Lizzo, Alicia Keys and Jay Z. In September 2021, Clara took over from Annie Mac as host of Radio 1's flagship new show, Future Sounds.


Clara is also host to her own successful podcast, This City, which launched in 2020 and has seen two incredibly popular series. A respected face on our screens, Clara has hosted ITV2's BRIT Awards coverage, was on the hosting team at the 2021 EE BAFTA Awards, is on the judging panel for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and was a fan favourite whilst competing in the 2020 season of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. In 2020, Clara was honoured by Mattel, being named as a Barbie Role Model and presented with her own Barbie doll in her likeness. With live music being one of her many passions, Clara is part of the core presenting team on BBC2 and BBC4 for their coverage of Glastonbury and Radio 1's Big Weekend.

Audiobook details

Author:

Narrators:
Zeba Blay & Clara Amfo

ISBN:
9781529193398

Length:
6 hours 38 minutes

Language:
English

Publisher:
Random House

Publication date:

Edition:
Unabridged

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Limited-time offer

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Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

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Reviews

Blay tells her Black girl truth and in so doing doesn't simply reclaim the narrative but constructs an entirely new one on her own firm and fertile ground. Blay is a talent, mixing an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture, past and present, with incisive commentary on race and gender. Blay's welcome voice is candid, vulnerable and necessary. Her observations about the impact Black women have had and continue to have on pop culture are searing and timely and will have a lasting impact on how much the world sees and understands us. Alongside perceptive ruminations on everything from colourism to Cardi B, Blay writes with refreshing candour on topics that will resonate with Black women, the world over. Her passion and incredible knowledge on all things race, gender and pop culture-related make this book a standout and one you'll struggle to put down. Blay's idea of Black womanhood is an inclusive one, where liberation is not just possible, but doable because it has the space for all Black women?cisgender, transgender, rich, poor, old, young, local, global?magnifying the potential for unity (and success) against the forces which mean them harm. Each essay carries with it truths that feel ancestral. Carefree Black Girls is the testimony I've been waiting to witness. "Blay's personal experiences with astute cultural analysis to explore how joy has become one of the most useful weapons in a Black woman's arsenal. An exuberant exploration of the ways Black women have defined pop culture. The creator of the viral #CareFreeBlackGirl cultural movement, Blay ventures beyond the "pithy, abstracted, tweet-able" declarations about Black women being "indeed essential to the... global zeitgeist" to offer a kaleidoscopic analysis of how American culture both needs and "belittles" Black female artists and storytellers such as herself....This fervent work will feel like a balm for many. Blay is one of the most formidable cultural critics writing today. Her words reflect intellect, wit, and a level of thoughtfulness that has long made her required reading. I love her candor, I love her passion, but above all, I adore the way she writes about Black women. Expand reviews