As I Said: A Dissent (Ricochet Editions), Abby Minor’s debut poetry collection, is a maximalist excavation of the histories of abortion and contraception in the United States. From a polyvocal documentary poem surveying “the wickedest woman in New York” to lyrical prose-poem interviews with her matrilineage who experienced abortions pre-Roe, Abby Minor seeks to examine and break traditions of lyric poetry, abortion storytelling, and the cliches of abortion/pregnancy as subjects. As Brenda Coultas applauds, “I love this wild ride of soft beauty and harsh realities through the tabloid hell of nineteenth-century New York City and the poet’s own Appalachia.”

Born and raised in central Pennsylvania, Abby Minor is a graduate of Smith College and Penn State’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Founding Director of non-profit Being Heard, later Ridgelines Language Arts and an advisory board member of Abortion Conversation Projects, she has taught poetry writing and art classes in her community since 2012 and received Bitch Media’s 2018 Writing Fellowship in Sexual Politics.

Co-sponsored by the program for the Study of Women & Gender

Featured works by Abby Minor:
American Quartet
Your Country and Everyone In It