What is it?
Told in the rare voice of a once-covered woman, and the very first memoir ever of a gay person from the Hasidic fold, Uncovered is the moving story of Leah Lax's journey toward a home where she truly belongs.
Gloria Steinem, National Book Award winner Mark Doty, and NYTimes Bestseller Rosellen Brown all express glowing admiration for this moving memoir.
Why should you support it?
Because covered women in fundamentalist communities are accustomed to silence in public. To break that silence often means personal risk--so their voices are almost never heard, although there are millions around the world.
Because gay people who hid are only beginning to tell their stories to the world, and those who live or lived a fundamentalist life are doubly hesitant.
Because this is the very first such voice to come out of Jewish fundamentalism.
What you will be paying for:
First, printing. Then, getting the word out involves hundreds of mailings and submission fees, including free advance copies to reviewers and media sources. Then, travel to bookstores, conferences, book fairs, and universities, all of which rarely provide travel funds or speaker fees. But the success of Uncovered also requires hiring someone to produce high grade PR materials, with access to professional networks of book trade publications, bloggers, reviewers, etc.
The actual cost of all of this is far more than the Kickstarter goal.
My dream (!):
Translation and international distribution around the world--anywhere there is a Hasidic presence. Why? Because local people watch the Hasidim as through a glass wall, no access, and they wonder. Because such communities embody the powerful influence of fundamentalism around the globe.
Risks and challenges
The biggest risk is that this book will not succeed despite strong recommendations from national figures, because it has become largely the unfunded author's responsibility to get a book out and spread the word. That's where you come in.
Once this project is funded, there is little risk because I WILL DO MY PART. I will contact bookstores, reviewers, university programs, organizations, conferences both local and international, book fairs, salons, bloggers, competitions, etc. I will hire a publicity professional. I will travel and read and answer questions, thanks to your funding, and engage in the charged conversations that Uncovered invites: about the realities of a covered woman's life, and why they don't speak out, about similar religion-generated sexism in our society, and the relationship of fundamentalism, faith, and sexuality--all so deeply relevant today.
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Funding period
- (45 days)