Join us to celebrate Bridgett M. Davis’ new memoir Love, Rita on Sunday, March 30th from 3:30-4:30 PM! She will be in conversation with author Camille Acker.
About the Book
A searing tribute of sisterhood and family, love and profound loss from the acclaimed author of The World According to Fannie Davis.
In Love, Rita, Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister, Rita, who knew Bridgett before she knew herself. Just four years apart in age, as the two sisters grew into young adulthood, they left behind their childhood rivalry and became best friends. Rita was a vivacious woman who attended Fisk University at age 16, and went on to become a car test driver, an amateur belly dancer, an MBA, and later a popular special ed teacher; in doing so, she modeled for her younger sister Bridgett how to live boldly. And in the face of family tragedy, the two sisters leaned on one another to heal; their closeness grew, until Rita’s life was cut tragically short by lupus when she was just forty-four. This led Bridgett to ask the simple, heartbreaking question: Why Rita?
A brave and beautiful homage that celebrates the special, complex bond of sisterhood yet also reveals what it is to live, and die, as a Black woman in America.
This moving memoir, full of joy and heartbreak, and family history alongside American history, uses Rita’s life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women—and the men they love. This poignant, deeply resonant portrait of an unforgettable woman and her impact on those she left behind is essential reading for fans of Jesmyn Ward, Kiese Laymon, James McBride, Linda Villarosa, and Tressie McMillan Cottom.
About the Author
Bridgett M. Davis (pronounced Brih-jet) is the author of the memoir, Love, Rita, published by Harper Books in spring 2025.
Her first memoir, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The
Detroit Numbers, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine, and featured as a clue on the quiz show Jeopardy! The upcoming film adaptation will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and released by Searchlight Pictures. She is author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow, named a Best Book of 2014 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and Shifting Through Neutral, shortlisted for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award. Davis is also writer/director of the 1996 award-winning feature film Naked Acts, newly restored and released to critical acclaim, screening in theaters across the US and globally and now available on DVD, BluRay and select streaming services.
Davis is Professor Emerita in the journalism department at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center, where she taught creative, narrative and film writing. Her essays have appeared most recently in The New York Times, the LA Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia Journalism School, she lives in Brooklyn with her family. Visit her website at www.bridgettdavis.com.
Camille Acker is a writer, editor, and educator. She is the author of the short story collection Training School for Negro Girls. She grew up in Washington, D.C. and holds a B.A. in English from Howard University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University. Her writing has received support from Tin House, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, and Electric Literature, among other publications. She has taught students at universities and in community arts organizations across the country. In 2022, she was named a Fellow by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. She has two books under contract with Random House and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.