Paperback Edition
ISBN: 9781558613003
Publication Date: 02-13-2024

Foreword by Michelle Tea

Collecting the best of the underground blog Weird Sister, these unapologetic and insightful essays link contemporary feminism to literature and pop culture.

Launched in 2014, Weird Sister proudly staked out a corner of the internet where feminist writers could engage with the literary and popular culture that excited or enraged them. The blog made space amid book websites dominated by white male editors and contributors, and also committed to covering literary topics in-depth when larger feminist outlets rarely could. Throughout its decade-long run, Weird Sister served as an early platform for some of contemporary literature’s most striking voices, naming itself a website that “speaks its mind and snaps its gum and doesn’t apologize.”

Edited by founder Marisa Crawford, The Weird Sister Collection brings together the work of longtime contributors such as Morgan Parker, Christopher Soto, Soleil Ho, Julián Delgado Lopera, Virgie Tovar, Jennif(f)er Tamayo, and more, alongside new original essays. Offering nuanced insight into contemporary and historical literature, in conversation with real-life and timely social issues, these pieces mark a transitional and transformative moment in online and feminist writing.

“Weird Sister stands the test of time… the great variety of voices, topics, and approaches within this collection make it immensely appealing and important reading.” —BUST (“Lit Pick” Winter 2024)

“In this stimulating anthology, pieces balance a breezy style with intelligent interrogations of what it means to be a woman today. The result is an approachable examination of contemporary feminism.” —Publishers Weekly

“The Weird Sister Collection is a hilarious, delicious, and earnest dive into the intersection of feminism and culture. Reminiscent of not just zine-style writing but era-defining collections like To Be Real and Making Face, Making Soul, this experimental collection of writing is a must-have for anyone asking questions about identity, belonging, and the current and future state of not just feminism but all the intersectional ‘isms’ that can either hold our imaginations captive or free us.” —Samhita Mukhopadhyay, former executive editor of Teen Vogue

“Feminist thought is alive and well in The Weird Sister Collection. Whether it drives you to start a zine or tear down a statue of a Confederate general, one thing’s for sure: after you read this book, you won’t want to just sit there and suffer anymore.” —Rax King, author of Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer

“The Weird Sister Collection captures with audacious wit and unapologetic earnestness the zeitgeist of the eponymous blogging community that published at the intersection of the feminist and the literary. To read this book is to know that I am not alone in reading passionately in feminist community outside of the academy and traditional literary establishment. I am grateful for the space that Weird Sister made online and am immensely thankful now to have this collection with so many fierce writers in one place, re-creating the delightfully weird online village that continues to inspire so many.” —Susana M. Morris, coeditor of The Crunk Feminist Collection

“The Weird Sister Collection is a reminder that feminism doesn’t live solely in academia and activism, and in fact makes its most defiant moves at the margins of orthodoxy. The book’s mix of poetics, criticism, and pop culture is an unruly and potent brew that fizzes with life as it vaporizes feminist and literary conventions.” —Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl™, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement