Talking to the Girls
Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Edited by Edvige Giunta and Mary Anne Trasciatti
A powerful collection of diverse voices, Talking to the Girls brings together original personal essays from artists, activists, scholars, and family members of the Triangle workers. Nineteen contributors from across the globe speak of a singular event with remarkable impact. One hundred and eleven years after the tragic incident, Talking to the Girls articulates a story of contemporary global relevance and stand as an act of collective testimony: a written memorial to the Triangle victims.
WINNER of the Susan Koppelman Award for the best anthology, multi-authored, or edited book in feminist studies in popular and American culture!
Published by New Village Press
Distributed by NYU Press
Publication Date: March 22nd, 2022
Pages: 350
Trim: 6 x 9 in
Images: 50 b/w illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-61332-150-8
Price: $26.95
Primary edition: paperback
Also available in ebook and hardcover
About Edvige Giunta
Edvige Giunta is a professor of English at New Jersey City University. She is the author of Writing with an Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors and co-editor of five anthologies, including The Milk of Almonds and Embroidered Stories. Born in Sicily, she first became interested in the Triangle fire as a young activist. She has trained scores of students in the art of memoir and created the first course devoted to the Triangle fire.
Read an interview with the editor here.
About Mary Anne Trasciatti
Mary Anne Trasciatti is President of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. The daughter and granddaughter of garment workers, she has devoted the past twelve years of her life to ensuring the creation of a Triangle Fire Memorial. She is a professor of Rhetoric and Director of Labor Studies at Hofstra University in Long Island, and is co-editor of the forthcoming Where are the Workers? Labor’s Stories at Museums and Historic Sites
“This work brings labor’s history to life with stories and voices that have echoed down through generations. Apropos in these times as we are reminded of the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire that fueled union organizing and union demands for enforceable occupational safety standards. As we learned then and painfully know now, workplace safety doesn’t just happen. The essays create a rich, unique view of our past while calling us to stand in solidarity today.”
—Sara Nelson, International President, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO
“This deeply moving and poignant anthology reminds us that the past is not over. By feeling the truth of the Triangle Fire—the trauma, the loss, and the fury—each essay invites us to remember the beauty of workers and organizers then and today who fight for a world where the wellbeing of workers is not sacrificed for capitalist greed.”
—Jennifer Guglielmo, Associate Professor of History, Smith College; author of Living the Revolution, and co-director, “Putting History in Domestic Workers’ Hands”
“Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Fire, is the first anthology of personal essays about this landmark tragedy—and spur for change—in American life. As such, these stories by survivors, family members, descendants, scholars, and activists are as sharp and sad and enraging and resolute as the fire itself was in galvanizing us to justice. Editors Edvige Giunta and Mary Anne Trasciatti do more than edit here, they know how to listen, and let these many varied voices bear witness.”
—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland
Reviews of Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire can be found below:
