Additional information
by Betsy Fagin (Author)
"Feminist and humanist, the vision here is both passionate and compassionate. It's a pageturner to be sure." --Kazim Ali
Betsy Fagin's self-driving reimagines the American road trip through the lens of a contemporary woman's journey. Rooted in the tradition of the on-the-road narrative, Fagin's poems interrogate the foundations of freedom, representation, and privilege while dismantling romanticized myths of Western expansion and the cis, white, male-dominated tales of the open road. Through sharp, playful, and incisive verse, Fagin celebrates Black, queer, feminist presence and futures, confronting the erasures and delusions in America's frequently told stories.Using images of the great American West and the highways that connect it, she charts a path through landscapes of disenfranchisement toward self-determination and agency. Throughout the collection, self-driving redefines freedom as both a state and a mindset. In a bold declaration, Fagin writes: "I knew my rights / were all the rights, my freedoms all the freedoms," embodying a call for expansive liberation. This collection is a powerful exploration of identity, impermanence, and the boundless possibilities of reimagined narratives.
Author Biography
Betsy Fagin is the author of self-driving (Autumn House Press), Fires Seen From Space (Winter Editions), All is Not Yet Lost (Belladonna), Names Disguised (Make Now Books), and a number of chapbooks. Her work has received support and awards from the American Library Association, Library Journal, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Provincetown Community Compact. Raised on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway people (Washington, DC), she currently lives in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY) and works as a librarian and a meditation teacher.
