Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life

In this inspiring account, memoirist Griest (Mexican Enough) weaves her personal story of surviving as a struggling writer with those of a dozen female artists. In her 20s and 30s, the author was weighing her artistic dreams against the sacrifices of a creative life, ”from postponing children to living nomadically to save on rent.” Traversing the globe to profile other women artists who decided their careers were worth the risk, she spotlights Surupa Sen, who practices a style of classical Indian dance called Odissi; Hope Azeda, a playwright who grew up amid the Rwandan genocide and uses her own and others’ testimonials to produce theatrical performances interrogating the legacy of war; and novelists such as Vilborg Davíðsdóttir who use art as a form of dissent and truth-telling. Reflecting on how she grappled with self-doubt, cancer, and economic precarity to pursue her writing career, Griest candidly describes the realities of being a woman in the art world—losing out on lucrative contracts to men, dealing with sexist directors and producers, being held to unfair standards of physical attractiveness—while offering an emotional ode to its life-affirming value (“We show the world what other worlds are possible”). It’s a potent testament to the value of pursuing one’s passion. (June)