LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
With delicate precision, and a gleaming voice, Catherine Joy White’s This Thread of Gold interweaves the incredible, inspirational stories of exceptional Black female disrupters with her own story of self-discovery. Traversing continents across time to the present-day, it simmers with resilience, recreation and reclamation, three pillars which inform the structure of the book.
Part One present portraits of Reclamation to “explore how Black women accept what they cannot change and reclaim it”. In the first chapter, the author shares the power of her own female lineage: “Women as fierce and mighty as they are brave, as vulnerable and sensitive as they are proud and as beautiful as they are strong”. Women who link her to “a tapestry, rich in its colours and delicate, complex detail”.
Throughout, the writing has such visual, poetic potency, whether the author is sharing her own experiences, or presenting the lives of notable Black female resistors, among them Audre Lorde, Alice Walker and Diane Abbott; Aretha Franklin, Doreen Lawrence and Beyoncé.
With the dexterity of a master weaver, White draws the book’s components together with positive, wise beauty, as exemplified by this excerpt: “We know that if we just keep spinning, just keep weaving then the salt in our hands will eventually, overwhelmingly, irrevocably, transform into finest shimmering gold”.
Joanne Owen
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This Thread of Gold Synopsis
Weaving together narratives that celebrate the triumph of Black female resistance, Catherine Joy White takes us on a unique journey through the eyes of positive and inspiring disruptors.
Throughout history, acts of defiance have taken place in secret, in kitchens, churches, through trusted networks. Others were projected onto a global stage through art, politics and activism.
From Alice Walker to Beyoncé, from Audre Lorde to Doreen Lawrence, from Aretha Franklin to Zendaya: Catherine Joy White charts her own journey to self-discovery through the prism of extraordinary women to create a beautiful tapestry of Black joy.
Taking on the legacy of Angela Davis's Women, Race and Class, Audre Lorde's Sister Outsider and Saidiya Hartman's Wayward Lives, This Thread of Gold brings new life to the history of Black women's resistance.
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Press Reviews
Catherine Joy White Press Reviews
For centuries, black women have been written out of the dominant narrative, their stories untold, their art appropriated. This Thread of Gold ... attempts to correct the record and inspire the next generation of readers. -- Lucy Popescu - Camden New Journal
profiles a series of remarkable black women in order to restore their place in the dominant narrative -- Tom Gatti - New Statesman
Catherine Joy White is an extraordinary writer, the kind who turns non-fiction into poetry. her forthcoming book This Thread of Gold reveals beautifully how the legacy of Black women's writing across generations has woven itself into her heart and soul, and the power of their legacies. It's a stunning debut from a young author, and yet feels, and reads, like it has been decades in the making. -- Afua Hirsch - The Soho House Book Club
Catherine is not only an incredible writer but a much needed voice in our current cultural landscape. This Thread of Gold shines a spotlight on previously untold stories with grace and nuance - I couldn't put it down -- Ione Gamble From the moment I heard about this book, I was dying to read it, and when I got a hold of it I could not put it down. The passion of White's words is infectious. I was constantly fascinated and moved by the way she interwove the stories of the Black women who came before her, with her own experiences and her reflections on the two. I know this book will find many loving readers and I am very excited for them all. -- Okechukwu Nzelu An essential and overdue meditation on black womanhood. In offering us this beautifully written work - part memoir, part paean, part call to arms - Catherine Joy White has done herself and our ancestors justice. It manages to be poetic yet punchy, enraging yet uplifting, and it transforms our mechanisms for survival and resistance into high art. -- Sara Collins Monumental. A refusal to back down to an oppressive, reductive version of history. It's even more radical to do this with a tone of pure unadulterated joy; smiling rather than screaming in the face of those who would try and whitewash a rich, beautiful and momentous tapestry. What a fly kick in the face! Kill your masters one symphony at a time. -- Nima Taleghani -
Author
About Catherine Joy White
Catherine Joy White is a gender advisor for the United Nations, writer, actor and filmmaker. She grew up between Northampton, Yorkshire and Wales before moving to Paris, Geneva and back to Paris again. She holds degrees in English & French from the University of Warwick and Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford. She was named in 2022 on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Instagram: @catherinejoywhite
Twitter: @catjoywhite
Website: www.catwhite.co.uk
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