June 2020 News
Dear Friends,

Sheltering in place, I feel often that I'm caught between two locations: Nebraska, where I am, and New York, where I work. With protests erupting across the nation, there are now even more communities occupying my heart and my mind.

Our authors, currently sheltering all over the country, continue to offer me insight. I'm grateful for the work they do to help us not only make sense of our time but build a better future together, no matter how far apart we may feel.

Wishing you all healing, Abi
Abigail Grimminger holds Carl Anthony's memoir: The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race .
Call for Racial Justice Reading Recommendations
Urban Alchemy book cover
New Village Press is compiling a reading list (beyond our own titles) on racial justice issues in the United States. Through this list, we hope to build understanding of the many forms of injustice present in our nation and shine a light on creative and promising ways that communities have responded. To that end, we are calling for your recommendations of reading you find particularly illuminating! Please make suggestions of books and other media by commenting on our social media post or emailing the title, author, and one sentence annotation to books@newvillagepress.net
Such a Pretty Girl Audiobook Virtual Launch
The New York University Center for Disability Studies hosted a virtual reading of Nadina LaSpina’s memoir Such a Pretty Girl: A Story of Struggle, Empowerment, and Disability Pride to mark the launch of the new audiobook edition, now available from Audible , Barnes & Noble , and Kobo .
This is an empowering and feminist book. It shows an immigrant, writer, teacher, and activist’s perspective on pivotal moments in history. In an intimate way, Such a Pretty Girl shows how far disability rights have come in the past 70 years and touches on inequalities that still exist.  
—Grace LaPointe, Book Riot 
New Album Features Lyrics by Life-Sentence Poet Spoon Jackson
For the past 10 years, Ani DiFranco and Zoe Boekbinder have collaborated with several incarcerated artists to create the album Long Time Gone . It includes a song performed by Ani DiFranco with lyrics from Spoon Jackson’s poem “Nowhere but Barstow and Prison.” Listen to the song. The album will be released June 5th and profits will benefit the Southern Center for Human Rights. Rolling Stone story on it!
Long Time Gone / By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives Combo Pre-sale
You can preorder a copy of the album Long Time Gone with Spoon Jackson’s double memoir By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives , which he co-wrote with teaching artist Judith Tannenbaum. All profits from this sale will be donated to communities impacted by mass incarceration, and the funds will be administered by the Southern Center for Human Rights. Buy combo.
Prison Prism

Righteous Babe Radio is hosting a week-long festival called Prison Prism leading up to the release of the album Long Time Gone by the Prison Music Project. From June 1 to 5, all regularly scheduled programs on Righteous Babe Radio will be replaced with conversations and forums between artists and activists, both incarcerated and free. 
The Prison Music Project Sessions

June 5 at 8 PM CST

Ani DiFranco, Zoe Boekbinder, and more will deliver a performance of Long Time Gone filmed at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans before an invisible audience. Concert profits will benefit Sister Hearts Re-entry Program and the Center for Life Without Parole Studies.
Supporting Sabra Moore
In May, the artist, activist, and author of Openings: A Memoir from the Women's Art Movement, New York City 1970–1992 , Sabra Moore, suffered a stroke, and her husband, artist Roger Mignon, began treatments for advanced cancer. To help them through these difficult times, friends have generously contributed to a GoFundMe. Sabra and Roger are profoundly grateful for an outpouring of community support.
New Village is offering a 50% discount coupon—SABRA50—for Sabra Moore’s memoir Openings. Valid through July 3.
Network of East-West Women Anniversary
This month we celebrate the 29th anniversary of the first meeting of the Network of East-West Women, June 7–9, 1991. Ann Snitow's Visitors: An American Feminist in East Central Europe describes the founding of the Network and many of its early accomplishments.

Visitors is a book about women fighting for their rights during the rise of the Right in Europe. It shows how they were able to embrace change, thrive on complexity, and survive backlash, because they were nourished by the deep friendships forged through political commitment.
Mindy Thompson Fullilove Updates
RPA Assembly with Mindy Fullilove

Mindy Fullilove, author of Root Shock , Urban Alchemy , and the forthcoming Main Street , led a panel discussion with other voices in planning and community on “Confronting COVID-19 in Our Communities.” Food and housing security were all too common needs. Watch a video recording of this Regional Planning Association program here.
Countdown to Main Street Blog

Throughout the pandemic, Mindy Fullilove has been using her blog to reflect upon how we can continue to contribute to our communities and protect our mental health in a time of social distancing. The title is taken from her forthcoming book Main Street: How a City's Heart Connects Us All. Find her blog here.
400 Years of Inequality Online Event

Monday, June 8, 2020 – 7:30 PM EDT

400 Years of Inequality is partnering with Voices of a People’s History of the United States to bring you “Why We Fight: Voices from the Struggle for Health Justice.” The event will feature the voices of healthcare workers and activists, dissenters, and visionaries fighting for the right to health, past and present.
University of Orange – Placemaking 12

Every spring the University of Orange popular education center in Orange, NJ, has hosted a Placemaking event. As the region continues to shelter in place, the people's University of Orange has called on former urbanists-in-residence and the larger urbanist community to share what this moment is teaching us. See what they’ve had to say here.
Mass Poor People's Assembly and Moral March on Washington
Saturday, June 20th at 10:00 AM EST & 6:00 PM EST
Sunday, June 21st at 6:00 PM EST

This virtual event will be the largest digital gathering of poor, dispossessed and impacted people, faith leaders, and people of conscience. The goal is to dramatize the pain and prophetic leadership of the poor and build power to create change.
Waging Peace in Vietnam Resources

Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War hasn't been touring its exhibit this spring, but has brought its history lessons to the web. Visit wagingpeaceinvietnam.com to see what the editors, Ron Carver, David Cortright, and Barbara Doherty are sharing about peace protests and historic resistance to immoral military aggression.
Other Recent and Forthcoming Titles
One of our latest releases, A Man of the Theater: Survival as an Artist in Iran tells the personal story of a theater artist caught between the two great political upheavals of Iran's 20th century.

Nasser's tale of his art and its encounter with power is told with the poignant humour and devastatingly profound honesty that characterizes his life and his work.
—Syrus Samii, author, The Blue Flower of Forgetfulness
Margaret Randall's forthcoming color-illustrated book My Life in 100 Objects tells her story through the objects and images she's collected throughout her life.

Even as they stretch all the way back to her childhood in the ’40s, or her young adulthood in the ’60s, her stories have never been more of the moment: who gets to come to this country, who gets to love whom, and every other hard-won freedom still at stake today. —Garrett Caples, Editor, City Lights Spotlight
Placemaking with Children and Youth
Engaging young people in community planning is foundational to building a democratic society. The Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRRES) has recognized Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities in their social media, their Community of Practice, Safe Children, Safe Schools resource, and their newsletter.

Placemaking with Children and Youth was also recently recognized as a comprehensive resource by UNESCO’s Section of Education for Sustainable Development and the UNESCO Cities Platform.