Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Diary of Life on Welfare Resonates In Our Current Recession
Dear Self, Diary of a Welfare Mother: Next Generation Indie Book Gold Winner, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Bronze Award.
Foreclosures, layoffs, evictions, bankruptcies, abandoned projects, and the individuals, families and industries caught in the middle: the effects of the current economic downturn affect all of us and has stretched the limit on the welfare system.
Dear Self, chronicles the journal of a young African American mother struggling to raise her seven children amidst the crushing poverty of housing projects, impassive public policy and deep-rooted discrimination. Restricted by unfortunate circumstance, 39-year old Richelene Mitchell expresses her intense literary yearning and activist awareness by writing letters to herself.
An open and moving memoir of the trials and platitudes of life, Dear Self is very likely the first literary work of its kind. Narrations in crystalline prose tell of a system that snares it's most vulnerable; of endless poverty and sacrifice, hope and conflict, societal prejudices and a precarious health condition endured in secret. Her dignity and intellect unrepressed by her economic and social status, Richelene's hopes and dreams falter with her tenuous hold on life. She writes how spirit-breaking 'adequate' can be, stretching pennies and food stamps for her children and trying to keep a warm home.
An award winning memoir, Dear Self is exceedingly relevant in understanding the reality of the dark corners and sharp edges of poverty in America today. An exhausting reality that continues to be faced by millions of American people whose quiet plight is rarely voiced or heard.
ISBN 978-0-9792281-0-0
For book orders, please contact:
NID Publishers
sales@nidpublishers.com
P.O. Box 657, Hayward, CA. 94543-0657
Ofc: (510) 387-2604 Fax: (510) 315-3035
For interviews and book signings with Imam Zaid Shakir please contact:
monteil@nidpublishers.com .
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