Publishers Weekly
09/14/2020
Hunt, deputy editor of the fashion magazine Grazia UK, debuts with a rich collection of personal essays about her life and career. Reflecting on her experiences as an African American woman in the U.K., Hunt lets readers follow along as she attends the U.K. premiere of Black Panther, confronts the coded racism of Airbnb owners, and reports on the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, the U.K.’s worst residential fire since WWII. To trace the beginnings of her fascination with fashion, Hunt recalls hearing her aunt describe attending the Ebony Fashion Fair, a “traveling catwalk expo,” in Virginia, and the encouragement Hunt received early on in her career from Bethann Hardison, one of the first high-profile Black models and an early activist for industry diversity. Celebrating girl as “the root word in the unique love language between Black woman,” Hunt invites some of the friends she’s made in the U.K. to contribute guest essays, including fashion blogger Freddie Harrel, who riffs on braiding as a female bonding ritual, and Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams, who describes becoming the first Black woman to win a British Book Award. Hunt’s work will broaden perspectives and inspire readers. Agent: Kate Evans, Peters Frasers Dunlop. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
From its title and construction to its rhythms and its rigor, GIRL GURL GRRRL is a radical and magical diasporic curation of love for Black dialect, Black freedom, Black cool, Black culture, Black joy, and mostly—and specifically—Black women.” — Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
“In provocative and entertaining essays, an African-American fashion editor muses on the complex realities of being Black and female in today’s fast-changing world.” — People
“Kenya Hunt, the award-winning American journalist in London, provocatively threads cultural observations through relatable stories that illuminate our current cultural moment while transcending it.” — Refinery 29
“GIRL is an essential, vital and urgent exploration of Black womanhood, that should be on everyone’s reading list. Every page is meaningful and a call for empathy, hope and change. There is such power in the stories that are told, from Kenya’s own experience – as a mother, as a journalist, as an American in London, to Ebele Okobi’s essay on the unspeakable loss of a brother to police brutality. If any book should enrich – and disrupt – your life, let it be this.” — Harper's Bazaar
“Powerful, intelligent and vital – one of the year’s must-reads.” — Elle
“A provocative, heart-breaking and frequently hilarious collection of original essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother and a global citizen in today’s ever-changing world.” — Glamour
“Hunt, a gifted storyteller, has a strong voice all her own, and she explores a host of current concerns, including Black grief and ‘what happens when the Internet and social media do the eulogizing.’ Amid the ‘angst and chaos,’ Hunt hopes readers also see Black women as people who are ‘loving…growing, and finding the meaning in life as we go.’ And we do see their fullness in this collage of insightful analyses of the messy places where race, culture, and technology intersect. A powerful collection that is very much of the present moment of resistance but will also endure.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Hunt, deputy editor of the fashion magazine Grazia UK, debuts with a rich collection of personal essays about her life and career. . . . Hunt’s work will broaden perspectives and inspire readers.” — Publishers Weekly
"The book truly shines.... Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world." — Booklist
"This thought-provoking collection of ruminations from Black women on how they thrive and struggle in the complex world today is particularly relevant to this moment but will remain an important text for years to come." — Library Journal
"Girl Gurl Grrrl is unapologetically Black, because Hunt wants Black women to know they have nothing to apologize for." — Bust Magazine
“A mother of two, Hunt is a gifted storyteller with an intimate voice, akin to a girlfriend chatting over a few glasses of wine.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“By sharing how everyday Black women resist, persist and uplift one another, Hunt inspires the world to see them, and see them equally.” — Shelf Awareness
Booklist
"The book truly shines.... Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world."
People
In provocative and entertaining essays, an African-American fashion editor muses on the complex realities of being Black and female in today’s fast-changing world.
Harper's Bazaar
GIRL is an essential, vital and urgent exploration of Black womanhood, that should be on everyone’s reading list. Every page is meaningful and a call for empathy, hope and change. There is such power in the stories that are told, from Kenya’s own experience – as a mother, as a journalist, as an American in London, to Ebele Okobi’s essay on the unspeakable loss of a brother to police brutality. If any book should enrich – and disrupt – your life, let it be this.”
Damon Young
From its title and construction to its rhythms and its rigor, GIRL GURL GRRRL is a radical and magical diasporic curation of love for Black dialect, Black freedom, Black cool, Black culture, Black joy, and mostly—and specifically—Black women.
Glamour
A provocative, heart-breaking and frequently hilarious collection of original essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother and a global citizen in today’s ever-changing world.”
Elle
Powerful, intelligent and vital – one of the year’s must-reads.”
Refinery 29
Kenya Hunt, the award-winning American journalist in London, provocatively threads cultural observations through relatable stories that illuminate our current cultural moment while transcending it.”
Booklist
"The book truly shines.... Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world."
Bust Magazine
"Girl Gurl Grrrl is unapologetically Black, because Hunt wants Black women to know they have nothing to apologize for."
Shelf Awareness
By sharing how everyday Black women resist, persist and uplift one another, Hunt inspires the world to see them, and see them equally.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
A mother of two, Hunt is a gifted storyteller with an intimate voice, akin to a girlfriend chatting over a few glasses of wine.
Library Journal
11/01/2020
Journalist Hunt writes an excellent collection of essays sharing her experiences and perspectives as a Black woman growing up in the United States; as an expat living in London; and as a writer, speaker, and commentator in media and fashion. Her essays probe the iconic phrase #BlackGirlMagic and what it means to experience life and media today as a Black woman. Standout essays candidly explore topics such as pregnancy loss, religion, and police violence, as well as major media events. Peppered throughout the volume are a handful of essays by other women who share their stories of success, resilience, vulnerability, and tragedy. If there is one tone that ties the book together, it is reflection. Both Hunt and the additional contributors bring a thoughtfulness to their narratives that leads the reader to pause and reflect as well. The final chapter, "The Way We Grieve," profoundly reflects on the emotional toll of repeatedly grieving Black people who become hashtags. VERDICT This thought-provoking collection of ruminations from Black women on how they thrive and struggle in the complex world today is particularly relevant to this moment but will remain an important text for years to come.—Sarah Schroeder, Univ. of Washington Bothell
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-09-08
Essays highlighting the successes, challenges, and perseverance of Black women in the 2010s.
“It’s a wondrous thing to be Black,” writes Hunt, a trailblazing global fashion editor and style director. In her debut book, she reflects on “a decade’s worth of personal and cultural milestones.” What made the last decade an “age of Black Girl Magic”? An internet boom, a new wave of feminism, a renaissance of Black creativity, and “the first-person essay economy” combined to give Black women heightened visibility, which Hunt and her co-essayists celebrate while noting how the magic of ordinary Black women began to “get left out, lost.” A quarter of the essays in Hunt’s collection are penned by others writing candidly on their personal, professional, and political journeys. These include Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s public policy director for Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey, who reflects on the loss of her brother, who was killed by police in California. Taken together, the essays form a chorus of Black diasporic voices across continents, covering the politics of Black hair, self-acceptance and White beauty standards, activism, motherhood, “the abysmally poor maternal health outcomes of Black women in the US,” and more. Hunt, a gifted storyteller, has a strong voice all her own, and she explores a host of current concerns, including Black grief and “what happens when the Internet and social media do the eulogizing.” She considers the Black church’s “fraught history with women” through the lens of singer Aretha Franklin’s public funeral. Amid the “angst and chaos,” Hunt hopes readers also see Black women as people who are “loving…growing, and finding the meaning in life as we go.” And we do see their fullness in this collage of insightful analyses of the messy places where race, culture, and technology intersect.
A powerful collection that is very much of the present moment of resistance but will also endure.
