Location
Please join the League of Women Voters of Redding and the Mark Twain Library for a virtual reading and discussion of Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, published in 2018 by Dottir Press, led by the author, Anastasia Higginbotham — the event will also include a brief collage/visualization workshop. Instructions for participating in the collage activity will be provided upon registration (this will be a simple, accessible activity*).
This program is a way to connect your instincts about racial justice through the book’s characters and images. In addition to the reading and collage, Higginbotham will offer resources for deeper exploration of “real history” and activities for reflection and making authentic choices about how you want to relate to race and racism.
Though the book’s audience is primarily children, this program is designed for adults to encourage communication with children about racism and whiteness. Children are also welcome to join in, especially for the collage.
*If making a physical collage is not possible or accessible, please let us know. With advance notice, the author would love to work with the library to adapt the activity to whoever will be present.
Registration is required for this Zoom program. Registered participants will receive an invitation prior to the program.
About our presenter:
Anastasia Higginbotham is an author, artist, and activist. She launched her Ordinary Terrible Things children’s book series in 2015 with Divorce Is the Worst, followed by Death Is Stupid and Tell Me About Sex, Grandma. Her 2018 book, Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, tackles white supremacy. All of her work is published by Dottir Press. Higginbotham makes her books in collage on grocery bag paper, using recycled materials, including jewelry and fabric. Her books, workshops, and author talks demonstrate a way to cope with change and loss, using the raw materials available to us and drawing on the wisdom of our own lived experiences. A direct challenge to the status quo, Higginbotham’s work undermines systems of domination, such as white supremacy and patriarchy, by empowering children to recognize when they are being lied to and demand to know the truth. She has spent much of her career working as a speechwriter and as a full impact self-defense instructor for children and adults. Her newest book, What You Don’t Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood (pub date: January 26, 2021), is about God and gays, and is a celebration of queerness, families that care for us, and radical self-love.
For more information about Anastasia Higginbotham, please visit the links below, which connect you to articles written by and about her, as well as radio and TV interviews.
