“Fast Funny Women”
75 Essays of Flash Nonfiction
Edited by Gina Barreca
Fast Funny Women is a broad collection: 75 women writers, ages 20 to 89, were invited by editor Gina Barreca to make a party out of their life’s most unnerving, challenging, illuminating, desperate, and hilarious moments. Political campaigners, devoted teachers, lousy daughters, good mothers, would-be nuns, admired sportswriters, grad-school-wanna-bes, revenge-driven sisters, frustrated roommates, body-fluid-sorting professionals, lace-loving fashion mavens, intrepid daters, hungry lovers, justice-seeking nasty-women, ACE wedding celebrants, trapped wives, and women with all kinds of ammunition tell their stories—and their stories are all under 750 words. You know many of these brilliant women, but you’ve never heard them like this: with new works commissioned for the book from NYT Bestseller and member of the American Academy of Poets Marge Piercy, Pulitzer-Prize winner Jane Smiley, NYT bestseller graphic artist Mimi Pond, New Yorker staff cartoonist Liza Donnelly, Commander of the British Empire Fay Weldon, bestselling author of Love, Loss, and What I Wore Ilene Beckerman, Sylvia creator Nicole Hollander, and stand-up comics Lisa Landry and Leighann Lord.
From the original description:
These seventy-five flash nonfiction pieces written by internationally celebrated women authors and dazzlingly hilarious newcomers, are no flashes in the pan: they provide a feast of insights, generously garnished with wit, spice and an exhilarating attention to craft. In Fast Funny Women, you’ll find everything you want from thoughtful essays in a short, delicious form. Perfect for students of writing, writers of humor, and all readers who welcome laughter, insight, and perspective into their lives.
The women gathered here have all the answers, especially if the questions are “Do women have a sense of humor?” and “What do women want?” Their responses might surprise you; they will inspire you; and you’ll find the world a funnier place.
New works by Jane Smiley, Marge Piercy, Fay Weldon, Darien Hsu Gee, Mimi Pond, Liza Donnelly, Nicole Hollander, Ilene Beckerman, Jo-Ann Mapson, Lisa Landry, Leighann Lord, and Pam Katz, right alongside Dawn Lundy Martin, Susan Shapiro, and “Judge Judy” Sheindlin.
Praise
“Barreca is sharp analyst of women’s humor…observant, witty, acerbic, and knowledgeable.” –Los Angeles Times
“You can count on Gina for essays that are fun, feminist, and provocative.” –Roz Warren in Women’s Voices for Change
“Barreca is an unfailingly winning narrator…” –Publishers Weekly
“Barreca learned to do what any sassy smartypants would: challenge stale ideas and press buttons.” –Chicago Tribune
“I always thought that some good looking guy like a young Sean Connery or Clark Gable at any age or same about Burt Lancaster—were God’s gift to women… But Gina is really God’s gift to women. She gives so much of herself and makes us all feel smart and funny and beautiful.” –Ilene Beckerman, contributor to FAST FUNNY WOMEN and NYT bestselling author of LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE
Publication Information
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Woodhall Press
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN-10: 1949116204
ISBN-13: 978-1949116205
