A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer
(2007)
Selections from the “Until the Violence Stops” Festival
Featuring writings by Abiola Abrams,
Alice Walker , Anna Deavere Smith, Ariel Dorfman, Betty Gale Tyson,
Carol Gilligan, Carol Michèle Kaplan, Christine House, Dave Eggers,
Deena Metzger, Diana Son, Edward Albee, Edwidge Danticat, Elizabeth
Lesser, Erin Cressida Wilson, Eve Ensler, Hanan al-Shaykh, Howard Zinn,
James Lecesne, Jane Fonda, Jody
Williams, Jyllian Gunther, Kate
Clinton, Kathy Engel, Kathy Najimy, Kimberle Crenshaw, Lynn Nottage,
Marie Howe, Mark Matousek, Maya Angelou,
Michael Cunningham,
Michael Eric Dyson,
Michael Klein,
Moises Kaufman, Mollie
Doyle, Monica Szlekovics, Nicholas Kristof, Nicole Burdette, Patricia
Bosworth, Periel Aschenbrand, Robert Thurman, Robin Morgan, Sharmeen
Obaid-Chinoy, Sharon Olds, Slavenka Drakulic, Suheir Hammad, Susan
Miller, Susan Minot, Tariq Ali, and Winter Miller.
This groundbreaking collection, edited by author and playwright Eve
Ensler, features pieces from “Until the Violence Stops,” the
international tour that brings the issue of violence against women and
girls to the forefront of our consciousness. These diverse voices rise
up in a collective roar to break open, expose, and examine the
insidiousness of brutality, neglect, a punch, or a put-down. Here is
Edward Albee on S&M; Maya Angelou on women’s work; Michael Cunningham on
self-mutilation; Dave Eggers on a Sudanese abduction; Carol
Gilligan on a daughter witnessing her mother being hit; Susan Miller on
raising a son as a single mother; and Sharon Olds on a bra.
These writings are inspired, funny, angry, heartfelt, tragic, and
beautiful. But above all, together they create a true and profound
portrait of this issue’s effect on every one of us. With information on
how to organize an “Until the Violence Stops” event in your community, A
Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer is a call to the world to
demand an end to violence against women.
