Full of Myself - Large Print by Austin Channing Brown (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In a time of rising authoritarianism and attacks on personal freedoms, the New York Times bestselling author of I'm Still Here chronicles her efforts to live as her full self in a society that wants women--and Black women in particular--to do anything but that.

"A book that resonates and asks us to dig deep--not with judgment, but so that we better understand ourselves and the world around us."--Phoebe Robinson, bestselling author, founder of Tiny Reparations Books

"In these pages, Austin Channing Brown shows us how to survive and thrive even now."--Glennon Doyle, bestselling author of We Can Do Hard Things

As an antiracism educator and writer leading through America's cycles of racial unrest, Austin Channing Brown reached a crossroads. "I love my work," she writes, "and I am tired. We are tired. Tired of protesting. Tired of 'saving democracy.' Tired of educating and explaining." She began to ask, "What do I deserve, not just as a citizen but as a human?"

Full of Myself answers that question. Weaving personal narrative with perceptive social commentary, Brown offers a look at the mechanisms that limit who Black women are allowed to be--at work, at home, in community--and the defining moments when she decided that self-possession is the justice work she had been made to undervalue. From skinny-dipping in the ocean to becoming a mom, she delves into the drama of life and invites readers to begin defining themselves not as empty vessels to improve the world, but as a people born free in spirit, in hope, in joy.

For Black women seeking to understand the true roots of their burnout, or for anyone wondering what it means to live joyfully in a hostile world, Full of Myself is a breath of fresh air and an invitation to full humanity.

Review Quotes

"Full of Myself is not a book about despair. Rather, its core focus is its beautifully written moments of hope, of joy."--Hojung Lee, Sojourners

"Once again, Austin Channing Brown has written a book that resonates and asks us to dig deep--not with judgment, but so that we better understand ourselves and the world around us."--Phoebe Robinson, bestselling author, founder of Tiny Reparations Books

"Brown is in absolute control of her literary superpowers and absolutely free enough to reckon with not feeling super at all. Here we have a spectrum of fullness and peculiar longing that is born of rugged honesty and tender care. . . . Exquisite work."--Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Heavy

"Full of Myself is the book we need in this moment when each of us must fight to maintain our birthrights of freedom, peace, and shared humanity. In these pages, Brown shows us how to survive and thrive even now--by refusing to abandon ourselves, by maintaining self-sovereignty, by remembering that we belong to ourselves and to one another."--Glennon Doyle, bestselling author of We Can Do Hard Things

"Black women long ago learned how to feed families on scraps from a decaying American table. In this collection of essays, Brown shows us how to get up from the table when love is no longer being served."--Sonya Renee Taylor, bestselling author of The Body Is Not an Apology

"Authentic, vulnerable, heartbreaking, and inspiring. . . . You need to read this book."--Jenny Lawson, bestselling author of Furiously Happy

"Austin Channing Brown is a singer of Black girl songs, a teller of Black girl tales. Here Brown emerges fully, unafraid to take up space, refusing to play nice anymore with churchy demands to be meek and mild. All the woman she is, and all the women we are, are given a hearing. And knowing that I have been heard, I emerge, as she invites us all to do, full of myself, indeed."--Britney Cooper, bestselling author of Eloquent Rage

"For every Black woman who has given far too much to a society hell bent on her destruction, who has sacrificed her very selfhood in the name of 'progress', who is at last on a journey to reclaiming the sound of her own voice, let these pages be your guide--honest and defiant."--Cole Arthur Riley, bestselling author of Black Liturgies and This Here Flesh

"Full of Myself is more than a memoir--it's a Rosetta Stone for self-discovery, a declaration of worth, and a call to manifest our truest stories."--Erika Alexander, artist, futurist, architect of change

"I adored this book. This intimate, stunning journey to self-acceptance invites all of us to give ourselves permission to become full of ourselves--imperfections and all."--Kyra Sedgwick, actor, director, producer

"A dedication to everything I've ever thought or felt as a Black woman--everything I've whispered, and everything I've dared to say aloud."--Bree L. Frank, founder of Hue You Know

"Very good, daughter. That was very good."--Eric V. Price Sr., Austin's late father

About the Author

Austin Channing Brown is an author and speaker providing inspired leadership on racial justice in America. She is the New York Times bestselling author of I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, a Reese's Book Club pick. Her work has been featured by outlets such as On Being, Chicago Tribune, and WNYC.