Dialogue Books to publish bell hooks' 'exceptional' memoir for first time in the UK

Dialogue Books has signed bell hooks’ memoir Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood for first time UK publication. 

Editorial director Hannah Chukwu acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Whitney Lee at the Fielding Agency. Dialogue will published with an "evocative" introduction by journalist and author Yomi Adegoke. 

bell hooks is the pen name for the late feminist author and activist Gloria Jean Watkins. Originally published in the US in 1996, Bone Black is a "stirringly intimate" account of growing up in the American South. Through the telling of her childhood, hooks "sheds light on the vulnerability of children, the special unfurling of female creativity and the imbalance of a society that confers marriage’s joys upon men and its silences on women". 

The publisher added: "Bone Black allows us to bear witness to the awakening of a legendary author’s awareness that writing is her most vital breath." 

Adegoke commented: "Like so many writers, black, female writers in particular, bell hooks has been an eternal inspiration to me personally. It is an honour to have been asked to write the introduction to her thought provoking, beautifully realised memoir. Bone Black is an unforgettable work, allowing us a glimpse into the girlhood of one of the most acclaimed feminist thinkers of our time."

Chukwu added: "I feel honoured to be bringing this exceptional book to UK readers for the first time – bell hooks’ has left an incredible legacy, and Bone Black beautifully charts her journey towards becoming the pioneering, revolutionary writer we know and adore."