"The Apology" Sparks Revolutionary Conversation in the Media, and Calls for Transformation
6/6/2019
Since its release on May 14th, The Apology, a best seller, has been met with critical praise, while sparking necessary dialogue on sexual assault, accountability, and transformation.
The conversation that the book is engendering has been profound, as Eve continues her book tour, while speaking to and being interviewed by various media outlets. Not only is the book being hailed as a timely and necessary in the post #MeToo era; it has also sparked a great deal of dialogue about what the anatomy of a true apology is.
At this cultural moment of public reckoning with violence against women, Eve's message has the power to prompt real transformation and healing—not only in those who have been abused but also in the ones who have hurt them—a step toward change that is necessary and long overdue.
"An extraordinary creative act, rewriting and reclaiming the narrative via an imagined apology from the perpetrator of unimaginable physical and emotional harm - a brutal but ultimately empowering feat. I read it breathlessly, curled up in my car, in the time it took my daughter to play a half of hockey. Ensler has long been lauded as writer/creator of The Vagina Monologues and V-Day. This is the story of her lost girlhood, secret no more whereby she gets to choose how the story ends - or rather, how life begins again."
— Laura Bailey, British Vogue
"…as exquisite as it is excruciating."
— Nneka McGuire, Washington Post
"Playwright Ensler's The Vagina Monologues debuted in 1996 and became an international phenomenon, with women recounting their stories about sexuality, genitalia, and body image. Now the celebrated dramatist turns to prose in her slender fever dream of a book to give herself something she couldn't get any other way. Assuming the voice of her late father, Ensler imagines his apology for raping, molesting, and abusing her throughout her childhood and conjures a reckoning with himself and what led him to these atrocities. Between the lines, readers can understand that she is coming to terms with her past and offering a blueprint for others who identify with her story."
— National Book Review, 5 Hot Books
US leg of "The Apology" book tour continues
Eve will be making appearances across the United States this summer and into early fall. Find her on tour at the following stops:
Thursday, June 6 at 7pm Swedish American Museum, Chicago, IL. In partnership with Women & Children First. In conversation with Donna Seaman, Booklist editor. Tickets >
Friday, June 7 at 7:30pm Maplewood-South Orange Book Festival, The Woodland, Maplewood, NJ. In conversation with Jennifer Baumgardner, Women's Review of Books editor. Tickets >
Saturday, June 8 at 3:30pm Printers Row Festival, Cindy Pritzker Auditorium at Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL. In conversation with Natalie Moore of WBEZ. Free entry. Info >
Monday, June 10 at 8pm Live Talks LA, Moss Theater, Los Angeles, CA. In conversation with Idina Menzel. Tickets >
Tuesday, June 11 at 6:30pm Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA. In conversation with Lauren Schiller, host of "Inflection Point" on KALW. Tickets >
Thursday, June 13 at 7:30pm Bay Area Book Festival Women's Lit Event Series, First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA. In conversation with Brooke Warner of She Writes Press. Tickets >
Friday, June 14 at 7pm Hugo House, Seattle, WA. In partnership with Elliott Bay Books. In conversation with Amy Wheeler. Info >
Thursday, September 12 at 7:30pm Spoken Interludes, Riverview, 1 Warburton Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Talk & Signing w/ Jeff Gordinier & Taffy Brodesser-Acker
Friday, October 25 at Yale University, New Haven, CT. Talk & Signing – Department of Psychiatry/women's mental health conference
"The Apology" Book Website Explores the Themes Raised in the Book
For over 21 years, V-Day, the global activist movement that grew out of The Vagina Monologues, has galvanized women survivors to tell their stories, break the silence, and call out the systemic violence that perpetuates sexual violence against all women, including cis women, trans women, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence. Yet, we haven't seen men move into the process of true apology. Of reckoning with their actions and moving towards accountability and transformation. Now is that time.
Building upon years of work with survivors, activists and anti-violence groups, V-Day launched theapologybook.net as an online space for readers, activists and survivors to process and explore the themes raised in the book, for perpetrators to begin their own processes of accountability and apology, and for survivors to write imagined apologies and offer themselves healing.
We hope you and your loved ones will find the website to be inspiring and useful.