Talks & Entertainment

More than a decade after the New York Times bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House spoke up loud and clear for a generation of young women, nine of the original contributors are back—along with sixteen captivating new voices—to share their ruminations from an older, stronger, and wiser perspective about love, sex, work, family, independence, body-image, health, and aging: the critical flash points of women’s lives today.

“Born out of anger,” the essays in The Bitch in the House chronicled the face of womanhood at the beginning of a new millennium. Having aged into their forties, fifties, and sixties, those contributors—today less bitter and resentful, and more confident, competent, and content—capture the spirit of post-feminism in The Bitch is Back, a provocative companion anthology.

In The Bitch is Back, Cathi Hanauer (the editor of the anthology), Kate Christensen, Sarah Crichton, Debora Spar, Ann Hood, Veronica Chambers, and other women offer unique views on womanhood and feminism today. Some of the “original bitches” (OBs) revisit their earlier essays to reflect on how their lives have changed in the intervening years—whether they stayed coupled, left marriages, or had affairs; developed cancer or other physical challenges; coped with partners who strayed, died, or remained faithful; became full-time wage earners or homemakers; remained childless or became parents; or experienced other meaningful life transitions.

Hanauer will be in conversation with her husband Daniel Jones, the editor of the New York Times “Modern Love” column and author of Love Illuminated: Exploring Life’s Most Mystifying Subject—With the Help of 50,000 Strangers.