The vividly told gloriously illustrated memoir of an artist born with disabilities who
searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies Golem Girl is
luminous a profound portrait of the artist as a young and mature woman an unflinching social
history of disability over the last six decades and a hymn to life love family and spirit.
David Mitchell author of Cloud Atlas WINNER OF THE BARBELLION PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL
BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS
REVIEWS What do we sacrifice in the pursuit of normalcy? And what becomes possible when we
embrace monstrosity? Can we envision a world that sees impossible creatures? In 1958 amongst
the children born with spina bifida is Riva Lehrer. At the time most such children are not
expected to survive. Her parents and doctors are determined to fix her sending the message
over and over again that she is broken. That she will never have a job a romantic relationship
or an independent life. Enduring countless medical interventions Riva tries her best to be a
good girl and a good patient in the quest to be cured. Everything changes when as an adult
Riva is invited to join a group of artists writers and performers who are building Disability
Culture. Their work is daring edgy funny and dark it rejects tropes that define disabled
people as pathetic frightening or worthless. They insist that disability is an opportunity
for creativity and resistance. Emboldened Riva asks if she can paint their portraits inventing
an intimate and collaborative process that will transform the way she sees herself others and
the world. Each portrait story begins to transform the myths she s been told her whole life
about her body her sexuality and other measures of normal. Written with the vivid cinematic
prose of a visual artist and the love and playfulness that defines all of Riva's work Golem
Girl is an extraordinary story of tenacity and creativity. With the author's magnificent
portraits featured throughout this memoir invites us to stretch ourselves toward a world where
bodies flow between all possible forms of what it is to be human. Not your typical memoir about
what it s like to be disabled in a non-disabled world . . . Lehrer tells her stories about
becoming the monster she was always meant to be: glorious defiant unbound and voracious.
Read it! Alice Wong founder and director Disability Visibility Project
