Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology

by Makeda Silvera

Uncompromising in its honesty, at times humorous, angry, confrontational, and erotic, Piece of My Heart celebrates the lives of women both out and coming out.

Genres: Anthologies, LGBT, Lesbian, Queer, Fiction, Short Stories, Poetry

393 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Makeda Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and spent her early years there before immigrating to Canada in 1967. Now living in Toronto, she is co-founder of Sister Vision: Black Women and Women of Colour Press, where she is the managing editor. Her previous publications include Silenced, an acclaimed collection of oral histories of Caribbean domestic workers in Canada; Growing Up Black, a resource guide for youth, and Remembering G And Other Stories, her first book of fiction. She is also the editor of Piece of My Heart, a ground-breaking anthology of writings by lesbians of colour.

Reviews

[Shannon Wyss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great, if somewhat dated, anthology of writings by and about lesbians of color. The women in the book are all cisgendered and mostly of Caribbean, Latin American, or API descent. But it's a great look at their lives in the US and Canada.

As with so much lesbian-focused writing, bisexual women are almost completely marginalized here. There are a few mentions of bisexuality. But they are vastly outnumbered by the lesbian-identified writers. This is a huge gap in this book. Ignoring bisexual women and their experiences is unacceptable.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something I should have read 20 years ago. An important anthology that spoke to the time when it was written. Some of the themes are are still very relevant. Enjoyed many of the writers in this anthology.

[AK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should be allowed to give this more than five stars

[HeavyReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the third book given to me by Jerry after his lesbian literature class. This one is the most broad, least specific, simply about "lesbians of color" and not about lesbians from a particular ethnic group.