I’ve been checking in with Thrums Books authors to see how they are living their lives in these turbulent times. With unwavering purpose, is what I learned. Read on. HEART-FELT IN AFGHANISTAN Mary Anne Wise, in addition to being a co-founder of Multicolores rug hooking cooperative in Guatemala and co-author of Rug Money: How a […]
19
Jun
Jun
Rangina Hamidi is a world-class problem solver. This becomes abundantly clear as you read her personal story in Embroidering Within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future, co-authored with Mary Littrell. When the problem was women in Kandahar, often widowed with no means of support and always sequestered, she founded Kandahar Treasure. This allowed women to […]
17
Jan
Jan
Today is the annual Women’s March on Washington Reading about the scheduled activities reminded me of when our publisher Linda Ligon went to Washington, D.C. for the first march in 2017. She wore, somewhat reluctantly, the signature handknitted “Pussy hat.” Linda later wrote about how the experience of attending the march changed her perception about […]
29
Mar
Mar
The terrific Fiber Nation podcast that aired last week, featuring Linda Ligon’s stories about our authors and their work, prompted questions about Kandahar Treasure and Multicolores. These are two women’s craft cooperatives Linda mentioned in the podcast, and the focus of two of our books: Embroidering within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future and Rug […]
30
Nov
Nov
Enjoy this dispatch author Mary Littrell sent us from a textile conference she and co-author Rangina Hamidi attended in early November. Thanks, Mary! Each fall, over 500 university professors in fashion design and retailing gather for their annual conference of the International Textile and Apparel Association. A highlight each year is the Jan Else Distinguished […]
02
Feb
Feb
Author Mary Littrell shares her experiences from her recent book talk at the Wheelwright Museum. My public talk for Embroidering within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future drew a full house last Sunday in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Following a week of three horrific attacks in Afghanistan, Santa Feans seemed eager to hear a message […]
03
Nov
Nov
Earlier this week, Thrums Books had the extraordinary honor of being guests at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D. C. We were co-hosts, along with the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, of a book launch reception for Rangina Hamidi and Mary Littrell’s new book Embroidering within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future. The evening began with […]
25
Aug
Aug
In the opening chapter of their new book Embroidering within Boundaries–Afghan Women Creating a Future, Rangina Hamidi and Mary Littrell provide an honest depiction of the harsh realities of daily life for Afghan women. “As a woman with limited or no schooling and in a culture that prohibits women from appearing in public, the Afghan […]
21
Jul
Jul
I’m thinking about Paula Lerner. This woman who worked tirelessly and fearlessly in Afghanistan to tell the story of women in that desperate, war-torn country. This woman who left an archive of powerful images so we can see and remember what she saw and experienced. I had never heard of Paula Lerner until a couple […]
30
Oct
Oct
A Wedding Room We went to a wedding in Kandahar: my travelling companion, Mary Littrell, and her co-author, Rangina Hamidi, and I. It was not a village wedding, because it’s not especially safe to go out into the Afghan countryside now. It was in a hotel that specializes in hosting weddings, and this was wedding […]
