What do you think?
Rate this book
GIRL
‘Powerful, intelligent and vital – one of the year’s must-reads’
Hannah Nathanson, Features Director, ELLE
Featuring contributions from Candice Carty-Williams, Jessica Horn, Ebele Okobi, Funmi Fetto and Freddie Harrel.
In the vein of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, but wholly its own, Girl is a provocative, heartbreaking 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.
Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated. But for every new milestone, every magazine cover, every box office record smashed, the reality of everyday life remains a complex, nuanced, contradiction-laden experience.
Award-winning journalist and American in London Kenya Hunt threads razor sharp cultural observation through evocative and relatable stories, both illuminating our current cultural moment and transcending it.
Hannah Nathanson, Features Director, ELLE
Featuring contributions from Candice Carty-Williams, Jessica Horn, Ebele Okobi, Funmi Fetto and Freddie Harrel.
In the vein of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, but wholly its own, Girl is a provocative, heartbreaking 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.
Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated. But for every new milestone, every magazine cover, every box office record smashed, the reality of everyday life remains a complex, nuanced, contradiction-laden experience.
Award-winning journalist and American in London Kenya Hunt threads razor sharp cultural observation through evocative and relatable stories, both illuminating our current cultural moment and transcending it.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published December 2, 2020
16 people are currently reading
1017 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 23, 2021
I know that I live in a very privileged position purely based on the colour of my skin and so whenever possible I will try to read books by authors or writers who can give me insight into their lived experience so I can at least attempt and possibly begin to understand a world so close yet so separate from my own. Girl by Kenya Hunt is one such book.
Through a series of essays you are given an insight into what it is like to be a black woman in a modern world. The everyday struggles that those of us in privileged positions take for granted. Until the harsh realities are presented to you then you don’t have a clue. It is books like Girl (among others) that are helping to change and re-mould the narrative that will hopefully be more prevalent in the future.
Girl – Essays on Black Womanhood by Kenya Hunt is available now.
Through a series of essays you are given an insight into what it is like to be a black woman in a modern world. The everyday struggles that those of us in privileged positions take for granted. Until the harsh realities are presented to you then you don’t have a clue. It is books like Girl (among others) that are helping to change and re-mould the narrative that will hopefully be more prevalent in the future.
Girl – Essays on Black Womanhood by Kenya Hunt is available now.
March 30, 2021
These essays showed such an interesting standpoint from a black woman working in the fashion industry who has experienced the highs and lows of life in both America and Britain. Kenya Hunt did a fantastic job of comparing/contrasting life in Britain and America for a black woman in her industry (and in her private and social) life - a perspective that I really liked seeing and learning from.
This was a great essay collection, with fab inclusion from other empowered black women, and I hope Kenya Hunt releases more writing in the future as it would be an auto-buy and read for me.
This ended up being a 4* and not a 5* for me as a few of the essays towards the end weren't as coherent on the theme/s they were tackling and I found my interest diverting slight because of this.
This was a great essay collection, with fab inclusion from other empowered black women, and I hope Kenya Hunt releases more writing in the future as it would be an auto-buy and read for me.
This ended up being a 4* and not a 5* for me as a few of the essays towards the end weren't as coherent on the theme/s they were tackling and I found my interest diverting slight because of this.
February 28, 2021
‘History is filled with Sally Hemingses. Black women behind the white men taking centre stage in history, invisible women with barely a footnote: the labourers who built the landmarks and powered the industries that propped up flocks economics with their bare, calloused hands.’
January 31, 2021
Riveting!!
From start to finish Kenya had me. I struggled at times to put the book down. Her breakdown of the definition “black woman” and what it means to encompass such a label was powerful.
Her experiences as a black woman working and living in an environment where she finds herself a minority was heartfelt and moving.
But her tenacity and determination along with friends, who also find themselves in a similar position to make a difference, was so motivating.
The book left me feeling empowered, elevated and inspired.
Thankyou Ms Hunt!
From start to finish Kenya had me. I struggled at times to put the book down. Her breakdown of the definition “black woman” and what it means to encompass such a label was powerful.
Her experiences as a black woman working and living in an environment where she finds herself a minority was heartfelt and moving.
But her tenacity and determination along with friends, who also find themselves in a similar position to make a difference, was so motivating.
The book left me feeling empowered, elevated and inspired.
Thankyou Ms Hunt!
January 17, 2021
I loved these essays. The reflections on being a Black American in London and the state of modern activism were particularly interesting for me (as a white Londoner who works in digital media...) and the epilogue on grief and 2020 was really moving. Kenya writes so thoughtfully and passionately. If I learned one thing from this above anything else it is that optimism in the face of oppression truly isn’t ignorance but a powerful form of resilience.
Everyone should welcome this collection to their bookshelves imo.
Everyone should welcome this collection to their bookshelves imo.
February 19, 2021
I’m not too big on essays but this book had many relatable topics about being a Black woman.
From #BlackGirlMagic to Sarah Hemings, our blackness was put in to the spotlight. There were chapters which I couldn’t relate too all that much however it was excellent to see the parallels to women growing up in Britain and growing up in the United States.
For every Black woman, this is a good read and for those from other backgrounds, there is much that you can learn and understand about us as a collective from this beautiful collection of essays.
From #BlackGirlMagic to Sarah Hemings, our blackness was put in to the spotlight. There were chapters which I couldn’t relate too all that much however it was excellent to see the parallels to women growing up in Britain and growing up in the United States.
For every Black woman, this is a good read and for those from other backgrounds, there is much that you can learn and understand about us as a collective from this beautiful collection of essays.
October 29, 2024
This book was a good read and the author speaks on the themes in a digestible way. She doesn’t just focus on the struggle of being a Black woman in this society - there’s also a focus on the wonderful aspects of Black womanhood. I also enjoyed the inclusion of essays from other writers.
March 30, 2021
“...the growth isn’t in the denying of difference but in the way we learn to discuss, embrace and live with it together”
April 30, 2021
I seem to have picked up a stack of half hour reads at the library...
December 31, 2020
Girl is an intriguing, witty, and sometimes a sad collection of essays about what it means to be a black woman in the modern world.
🖤
As always, with collection of essays, some of them will be more appealing to different people than others. And this is what makes this book so powerful. Everyone can find a therapeutical message or simply nod in approval while reading about a different subject. The segments that intrested me the most was Kenya's path to becoming a mother, racism while trying to rent a property and the essay about actual activist in a modern world.
🖤
On top of that, I was pleased to find essay written by author we already have on our bookshelf, Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie. I read about her experiences trying to convince the world that the main character in her book is not the author herself.
🖤
Overall - strong and fearless book.
🖤
As always, with collection of essays, some of them will be more appealing to different people than others. And this is what makes this book so powerful. Everyone can find a therapeutical message or simply nod in approval while reading about a different subject. The segments that intrested me the most was Kenya's path to becoming a mother, racism while trying to rent a property and the essay about actual activist in a modern world.
🖤
On top of that, I was pleased to find essay written by author we already have on our bookshelf, Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie. I read about her experiences trying to convince the world that the main character in her book is not the author herself.
🖤
Overall - strong and fearless book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews