Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Backtalker: An American Memoir
Kimberlé Crenshaw—pioneering civil rights scholar who gave the world intersectionality and critical race theory— reads from her new memoir, Backtalker: An American Memoir. The book uses the story of Crenshaw's own life as a vehicle for something larger: making intersectionality and critical race theory, two of the most debated and misunderstood ideas in American public life, legible through lived experience. From a kindergarten school play to the Anita Hill hearings to the movement against police violence, Crenshaw shows how these frameworks aren't abstractions—they are tools for seeing what others miss, and for naming what has too often gone unnamed. As a UCLA Distinguished Professor of Law, Crenshaw’s lifelong refusal to stay quiet permanently reshaped the national conversation about race, gender, and justice. This reading will be followed by an onstage moderated conversation with Crenshaw delving deeper into the stories that have brought the importance of intersectionality and critical race theory to life.
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Kimberlé CrenshawPhoto: Annabel Clark
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Backtalker: An American Memoir (2026) by Kimberlé Crenshaw
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