The Weird Sister Collection: Writing at the Intersections of Feminism, Literature, and Pop Culture

by Marisa Crawford (Editor), Morgan Parker (Contributor), Christopher Soto (Contributor)

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.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Feminism

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 13, 2024

About the author

Marisa Crawford is the author of the poetry collections The Haunted House, Reversible, and, most recently, DIARY (Spuyten Duyvil, 2023). She is the editor of The Weird Sister Collection (Feminist Press, forthcoming 2024), and co-editor, with Megan Milks, of We Are The Baby-Sitters Club: Essays & Artwork from Grown-Up Readers. Marisa is co-host of the 90s rock podcast All Our Pretty Songs. She lives in New York.

Reviews

[Sam Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

OHHHHHHHH MYGOSHHHHHHHH. I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favorite books of the year, and yes, I know it’s only January, but trust me on this one yall. Some of the greatest feminist writers of all time have come back together to commit to the weird sister lifestyle and literary passages. I am completely thankful to the Feminist Press, Marisa Crawford, the contributing authors, poets, artists, and illustrators for granting me advanced physical access to this work of art before it hits shelves for the public on February 13, 2024. – The perfect Galentines’ Day gift for all of your baes.

I laughed, I gasped, I shed a few tears for these essays including the one defending Women’s Trash in media, or Fifty Shades of Grey, if you will and how glorified male on female violence, masked with some uncomfortable sex has shook mothers and elderly women everywhere, while it started off as a little fanfic erotica. I also really enjoyed the essay that attacked Pretty Little Liars and other critical analyses on the media we as women can’t help but to consume.

I consumed this book in a day, and literally had to interrupt my husband from his relaxing gaming sesh to read him several passages so he could laugh along with me, and gawk at the beautiful and staunchly emboldened writing that was conveyed, page after page.

Do yourself a favor and pre-order this baby now.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an almost no-skips essay collection! (I’m just not a huge fan of interviews in print.) Highly recommend.

[Keight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finding the ideal reading for summer vibes is always a challenge, and I have definitely struggled through books too heavy for the season, but lucky for me I noticed this anthology still unread on my bookshelf. It turns out a feminist lit/pop culture anthology is perfect for those humid and sandy moments of the warm months. Collected from the blog pages of WEIRD SISTER, these essays are deeply thoughtful but also very manageable for dipping in and out of between ocean dips. I’d never considered how great an anthology is for distracted times, as a way to find expansion within relative brevity. Luckily for me, in addition to publishing this excellent collection, founder and editor Marisa Crawford just wrote a listicle on other feminist & gender-expansive anthologies for Electric Lit, so I already have my recommendations of what to read for summertimes to come.

[Jessica Ranard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was above me in terms of age, but as a queer who came out in the 2010's, I looked up to those nineties dykes who idolized being San Fransisco Trash, and being a feminist before it was ever something you'd wear on a tshirt, and having hairy legs and having your personality be determined by the dildo you bought. Anyways The Weird Sister Collection is a collection of essays & micro-essays from that time. Read work from Morgan Parker, Megan Milks, Melissa Crawford, Jennifer Tamayo, etc about The L Word, Afrofuturism, Riot Girl & Virginia Woolf, Sister Spit,and anything that is punk and gay and feminist and about pop culture and feminist critiques of said pop culture. This book made me feel like spitting and being in a van if that makes sense. Also, I loved it if I didn't say that already.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you keen to get off the earth once and for all? Do you feel locked in a fractious relationship with time? All things considered, would you “rather be mayonnaise than flesh”? If so, check out The Weird Sister Collection edited by Marisa Crawford, founder of the Weird Blog. Whip up your finest beet salad and Tapatío for your next menarche party, interrogate Eileen Myles’ Snowflake / different streets forward and back, shake the hand of San Antonio’s infamous Mansplaining Statue, make creepy art for creepy folx, and defend your right to read what you like, like what you read and be who you are.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 As someone who was not aware that this was an online based blog before it was a book I did not have any expectations of what I was about to read which I think was a good thing. Some essays held a bit of interest, but I think mostly I am not the intended audience for this book. Perhaps someone a bit more interested in abstract poetry would find it more interesting.

[kaitlyn]

dnf'ed because it's due back at the library :(

[Verity O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars solely for Sam Cohen's piece about the L Word-potentially have never felt so seen sadly for me and Jenny!