"An intimate, wide-ranging, and riveting collection that should be required reading for everyone in this country.”—Melissa Febos, national bestselling author, Girlhood and The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex

“The stories in this collection, each one so generously told, are educational, yes, but also a powerful embodied window into understanding the violence and beauty of our time.”—Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, editor, Our Red Book: Intimate Histories of Periods, Growing, and Changing

“Reading this anthology felt like meeting a long-lost auntie—warm and wise, full of life-truths both urgent and intimate, thoughtful and wry. Rarely have I encountered essays that speak to my life and the lives of those around me in such immediate, visceral ways. Beautifully curated, this anthology is both timely and timeless and belongs on the shelf of not just any person with a uterus, but anyone who loves somebody with one.”—Erica Berry, author, Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear

Chloé Caldwell is the author of the national bestseller Women, the memoir The Red Zone, and the essay collections I’ll Tell You in Person and Legs Get Led Astray. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Bon Appétit, The Cut, MSNBC, Autostraddle, Longreads, and Nylon, as well as in anthologies, including Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York, Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class, and SLUTS. Her most recent book is Trying. 

Ivan Coyote is a writer, storyteller, and performer. Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, they are the author of thirteen books and the creator of four films, seven stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music. Coyote’s books have won the ReLit Award and the Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes, been named a Stonewall Honor Book, been longlisted for Canada Reads, and been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for nonfiction and the Governor General’s Award for English-language Non-fiction twice. 

Ali Francis is an Australian journalist, essayist, and former Bon Appétit staff writer based in Salt Lake City. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Cut, The Guardian, the BBC, Narratively, Off Assignment, and more. Her debut book is The Curious Lives of Vegetables.

Nina de Gramont is the author of nine books, most recently The Christie Affair. Her work has appeared in Harvard Review, Colorado Review, Pembroke, Post Road, and StoryQuarterly, among others. Her next novel, Peregrine Hill, is forthcoming. She lives in coastal North Carolina.

Myriam Gurba is a writer and activist. Her first book, the short story collection Dahlia Season, won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. O, the Oprah Magazine ranked her true-crime memoir Mean as one of the “Best LGBTQ Books of All Time.” Her essay collection Creep: Accusations and Confessions was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award for criticism and won the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Nonfiction. She has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vox, and TheParis Review. Her most recent book is Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings.

Jessica Hendry Nelson’s Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief won the AWP Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction and was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She is also the author of If Only You People Could Follow Directions and coauthor of Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology. She is an associate professor in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Anushay Hossain is a feminist author, podcast host, and a powerful women’s health advocate committed to ending the systemic sexism and racism baked into the American health care system. Her bestselling book, The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women, and her show, The Pain Gap Podcast, provide a vital platform for critical conversations about medical gaslighting and misogyny, creating a much-needed examination of the women’s health crisis in the United States.

Mikki Kendall is a writer, diversity consultant, and occasional feminist; she has appeared on the BBC, NPR, The Daily Show, PBS, Good Morning America, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, WBEZ, and Showtime, and discusses race, feminism, police violence, tech, and pop culture at institutions and universities across the country. She is the author of The New York Times–bestselling book Hood Feminism (recipient of the Chicago Review of Books Award and named a best book of the year by the BBC, Bustle, and TIME). She is also the author of Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists, a graphic novel illustrated by A. D’Amico. Her essays can be found in TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian, TheWashington Post, Essence, Vogue, The Boston Globe, NBC, and a host of other publications.

Gwen E. Kirby is the author of the short story collection Shit Cassandra Saw, and her stories and essays have appeared on Lit Hub, Electric Literature, One Story, and elsewhere. She has an MFA from Johns Hopkins University, a PhD from the University of Cincinnati, and is an assistant professor of English at Carleton College.

Shannan Mann is the creative director of Only Poems and product manager at Chill Subs. Other writing has appeared in The Missouri Review, EPOCH, Poet Lore, Tolka, Literary Review of Canada, and elsewhere.

Sydney Mayes is a poet from Denver, Colorado. She is the inaugural ONLY POEMS Poet of the Year, and her work can be found in The Atlantic, Prairie Schooner, The Kenyon Review, and Poets.org, among other publications. A finalist for the Furious Flower Poetry Prize and the Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry, Mayes has received scholarships and support from Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Community of Writers, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she serves as the executive editor of Nashville Review. 

Melody Moezzi is a writer, speaker, attorney, and award-winning author. Her latest book is The Rumi Prescription: How an Ancient Mystic Poet Changed My Modern Manic Life. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Oxford American, The American Scholar, and other outlets.

Soraya Palmer is the author of The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, which won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for debut fiction and was shortlisted for the PEN Open Book Award. She was born and raised in Flatbush, and is a licensed clinical social worker who has organized and advocated for criminalized survivors of gender-based violence. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Nicholas.

Justine Payton is a writer and editor living in northern Michigan. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and her work can be found in Bellevue Literary Review, Isele Magazine, The Masters Review, Terrain.org,and others. She is currently working on a novel and a collection of essays on the nature of resilience. 

Suzanne Poppema, MD, is a graduate from Harvard Medical School, a now retired family physician and abortion provider, and an ongoing activist for making medical abortions accessible online. She is a founder and was a leader of Physicians for Reproductive Health, a HEAL Trafficking board member, and a leader of the National Abortion Federation. She is also the author of the book Why I Am an Abortion Doctor.

Supraja Rajagopalan, MD, is an OB-GYN at Fenway Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. She specializes in gender-affirming gynecologic surgery. A lifelong book lover and curious traveler, she finds joy in discovering new stories and new places. Her work bridges clinical care, education, and advocacy for equitable reproductive health care.

Becca Rea-Tuckeris a reproductive justice advocate, baker, and writer. She is the author of The Abortion Companion: An Affirming Handbook for Your Choice and Your Journey and Baking by Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today!). Her work explores bodily autonomy, stigma, food, joy, and shame and has been featured in Lit Hub, Marie Claire UK, Vogue Italia, Oxford Review of Books, and more. She is the creator of @thesweetfeminist and is famous for her brownie recipe. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her family.

Jamaica Ritcher is a writer and educator in Moscow, Idaho. She teaches composition, personal and exploratory writing, life writing, and other courses at the University of Idaho. Her own creative nonfiction appears in Hunger Mountain Review, Literary Mama, on NPR, and elsewhere.

Lynn Schmeidler’s story collection Half-Lives won the Autumn House Press Rising Writer Prize in Fiction. Her writing won BOMB’s Fiction Contest, was nominated for Best of the Net, given special mention by the Pushcart Prize, and was listed under Distinguished Stories in Best American Short Stories. She’s also the author of three poetry books. Schmeidler lives in the Hudson Valley.

Nafissa Thompson-Spires earned a doctorate in English from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Illinois. Her work has appeared in StoryQuarterly, Lunch Ticket, and The Paris Review Daily, among other publications. She is the author of the short story collection Heads of the Colored People and the novel The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford.