I wanted to write characters who confront their humanity—all of it, but especially the ugly and visceral parts, and get to have the “release” we all deserve.
Ann Rower was 53 when she made her literary debut with this collection of personal essays and stories. Initially published by Semiotext(e) in 1991 as the first entry of their Native Agents series that platformed women in an overly male literary landscape, If You’re a Girl captured the spit and vinegar of mid-late twentieth-century female bohemia.
As a novelist, you have to decide, what doesn’t serve the drama at that particular point. Even biographers have had to make serious decisions about what to include.