On her Instagram, Djamila Ribeiro recalled the path taken by ‘Lugar de Fala’, the first release in the collection Plural Feminisms (2017). The book arrives in August to the English-speaking public under the name ‘Where We Stand’. Yale University Press is publishing it. With more than 50,000 copies sold, the book was also the second bestseller at the 2018 edition of the Paraty International Literary Festival (FLIP), and the ninth bestseller at the 2019 edition.

The English edition of Lugar de Fala, Where we stand, is out in August. The book will be published by Yale University Press and has a foreword by the giant Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As this dream came true, I began to think about the journey I had made.

The first photo is from 2017, when I autographed more than 800 copies for pre-sale. The second and third photos show the launch in Rio de Janeiro, also in 2017, when we closed a street in the Lapa neighborhood with more than three thousand people! The fourth photo shows the launch in Belo Horizonte in 2018, when we broke the attendance record at the Sesc Palladium theater.

And there have been hundreds of launches all over Brazil and abroad. In the beginning, I carried the books in my suitcase to sell, and partners bought plane tickets so I could travel and donate copies. We’ve done the same for other authors in the Plural Feminisms Collection and we’ve donated thousands of copies!

The first book, from a collective and independent project, finalist for the Jabuti Prize (the most important literature prize in Brazil) and second best-selling book at Flip 2018. It opened doors for other publishers, the first to be translated and the one that is now taking me to the USA. Lugar de Fala is required reading for the entrance exam at the Federal University of Paraná and is included in several course bibliographies, including in France. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected.

There have been many attempts at delegitimization and attacks. People dismissed the concept without ever having read the book, others tried to disrupt the continuity of the Plural Feminisms Collection. There were many challenges. I suffered, I cried, I wiped away the tears. I kept going.

Today, writing another book, participating in new editorial projects, I am grateful for the courage to have written this book. Today, about to teach in the USA, with this book available in English, I see how it was all worth it. There are many barriers when we decide to follow an independent and honest path, especially when we are black women who put ourselves forward intellectually. But we must keep going, with our spines erect and our hearts calm. Nothing comes without a struggle.

When we know who we are and what we want in the world, ancestral forces sustain us. We are strengthened by this axé ancestral❤️🏹🔥