Stairs and Whispers: Deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (anthology)

The cover of Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back; edited by Sandra Alland, Khairani Barokka and Daniel Sluman. The title and editors are displayed in white font with occasional yellow decorations. Behind the words is a stylised photo of a building under construction with heavy scaffolding.

Order Info

Also available from Category Is Books (Glasgow). Link to Category Is Books order page.


Description

  • Co-editors Sandra Alland, Khairani Barokka, Daniel Sluman
  • features film-poems curated by Alland, visual poetry, text-based poetry, essays and audio versions
  • Has gone into multiple reprints in 5 years

Sandra Alland, Khairani Barokka and Daniel Sluman co-edit Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back, a ground-breaking anthology examining the poetics of disabled and D/deaf cultures. With contributions that span Vispo to Surrealism, and range from hard-hitting political commentary to intimate lyrical pieces – these poets refuse to perform or inspire according to tired old narratives. The first of its kind and packed with fierce poetry, essays, photos and links to accessible online videos, Stairs and Whispers showcases a diversity of styles, opinions, and survival strategies for a world that often works to shut us down.

Watch a captioned BSL video or listen to an audio recording for more information.

“This book is truly essential. Buy, beg, borrow or steal it. It will change you as it has changed me.”
– Sheila Black, Wordgathering (Philadelphia), 2017

“Stairs and Whispers is an incredible addition to crip literature that I’m excited to add to my shelf! The poems and essays featured here are at once devastating, enraging, and uproarious for me as a queer neurodivergent writer of colour.”
– Lydia X. Z. Brown, activist, writer and speaker, 2017

Read more reviews of Stairs and Whispers.