In her new book, Saving Our Own Lives: A Liberatory Practice of Harm Reduction, Shira Hassan tells the stories of how sex workers, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, queer folks, trans, gender non-conforming, and two-spirit people are – and have been – building systems of change and support outside the societal frameworks of oppression and exploitation.

At a political moment when Liberatory Harm Reduction and mutual aid are more important than ever, this book serves as an inspiration and a catalyst for radical transformation of our world.

Join us for the virtual book launch event for Saving Our Own Lives with Shira Hassan, Mariame Kaba, adrienne maree brown , Erica Woodland and Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN).

“Saving Our Own Lives is rooted in Shira Hassan’s extensive experience and commitment to harm reduction as a liberatory practice. This is a book grounded in deep love for those who are most marginalized in our society and respectfully documents their stories and emancipatory analyses. This open-hearted book is illuminating, informative and inspiring. It will have a forever place on my bookshelf.” —Mariame Kaba

Pre-order your copy of Saving Our Own Lives here.

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Speakers:

Shira Hassan is the author of Saving Our Own Lives and a lifelong harm reductionist and prison abolitionist. Shira has been working on community accountability for nearly 25 years and has helped young people of color start their own organizing projects across the country. She has trained and spoken nationally on the sex trade, harm reduction, self injury, group work and healing & transformative justice.

Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator and curator who is active in movements for racial, gender, and transformative justice. She is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration. She is the author of We Do This ‘Til We Free Us and No More Police.

adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public through her multi-genre writing, her music and her podcasts. adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transformation. She is the author/editor of seven published texts and the founder of the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, where she is now the writer-in-residence.

The Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN) is an organization by and for Indigenous youth that works across issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice throughout the United States and Canada.

Erica Woodland is a facilitator, psychotherapist, healing justice practitioner and the Founding Director of the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network, a healing justice organization that envisions a bold vision of care rooted in collective healing and liberation. He is co-editor and co-author of the forthcoming book Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care and Safety (North Atlantic Books, 2023).

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This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work. Donations from this event will go towards sending copies of Saving Our Own Lives to organizations who support sex workers.