Diversity Book Club

"Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe

Celebrate Pride Month by joining us for a discussion of Maia Kobabe's 2019 banned graphic novel.

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, "Gender Queer" is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, "Gender Queer" is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.

The Diversity Book Club is hosted monthly by AAUW Alexandria / Women Building Cross-Cultural Friendships (WBCCF) and co-sponsored by the Alexandria Burke Branch Library.

WBCCF's goal is to give women the opportunity in a diverse and inclusive group to enrich their own lives through these relationships and help amplify the voices of all women in our community. WBCCF believes that the opportunity to come together to explore issues of race, religion, ethnicity, etc. through well-chosen books will not only further our individual learning but also create a setting in which we might ultimately decide on a community undertaking with wider implications.

The Diversity Book Club meets on the second Monday of each month at 7 PM. Please note that the group will meet on the third Monday of this month. 

This program will take place by Zoom and registration is required. After registering with Bonnie Hershberg, you will be emailed the link to join this Zoom meeting. 

If you have any questions about the program or would like to register, which is limited to the first 20 people, please contact Bonnie Hershberg by June 10 at hersh3b@gmail.com.