Book Talk: Feminist Press
On the occasion of the opening of ICA LA’s Bookshelf Residency with Feminist Press, we are pleased to present an afternoon program to celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the press and the new expanded edition of the debut novel by Louise Meriwether Daddy Was a Number Runner. Originally published in 1970 with a foreword by James Baldwin, the book is heralded as a modern classic depicting the childhood of a young Black girl in 1930s Harlem as she discovers, through family, friendships, and awakening political consciousness, the power to survive under pressure.
Jeanne Thornton, Senior Editor of Feminist Press, will provide the welcome and introduce Cheryl Hill, the literary executor of Louise Meriwether’s estate, to present the latest edition of the novel, Meriwether’s literary legacy, and the author’s life combining art and activism. Writer, director, producer, and activist Felicia D. Henderson will also join the conversation to discuss the book’s enduring impact since its emergence over 50 years ago.
Since 1970, Feminist Press has published books that ignite movements and social transformation. Florence Howe and a collective of women of diverse backgrounds, based around Goucher College in Maryland, founded a crucial publishing component of second wave feminism that continues today with the goal of lifting up insurgent and marginalized voices to build a world where everyone can recognize themselves in a book.
This program is part of the national project Fall of Freedom.
3PM—4PM: Book Talk: a celebration of Louise Meriwether with Feminist Press, Cheryl Hill, Felicia Henderson, and Jeanne Thornton
4PM—6PM: Reception for Feminist Press: Timeline, an exhibition in the Annex Gallery celebrating 55 years of the independent publisher and their current residency at ICA LA
Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda.
This Fall, we are activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance. Beginning November 21–22, 2025, galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, and concert halls across the country will host exhibitions, performances, and public events that channel the urgency of this moment. Fall of Freedom is an open invitation to artists, creators, and communities to take part—and to celebrate the experiences, cultures, and identities that shape the fabric of our nation.
Art matters. Artists are a threat to American fascism.
To learn more and get involved, visit the #FallOfFreedom website.
Cheryl Hill is a filmmaker and the cofounder of Harlem Film Company, an integrated film and digital media studio with a focus on social justice and the stories of Black and Brown people. She produced the features Chapter & Verse and The Patterson with HFC. Hill produced and directed the critically acclaimed Crucible of the Millennium, a multipart series, for PBS. She also served as a producer on three Disney movies, including Cheetah Girls, and on Kathleen Collins’s film Losing Ground, named by the New Yorker in 2023 as one of the greatest independent films of the twentieth century. Cheryl was recently honored with a Pioneer Award from African American Women in Cinema. She is the literary executor for Louise Meriwether’s estate.
Felicia D. Henderson is an accomplished, award-winning showrunner, writer, director, producer, educator, and artivist, with over twenty-five years of film, television, theater, and comic book content credits. She created Showtime’s Emmy Award-nominated, three-time NAACP Image Award-winning series, Soul Food, television’s first successful African American drama, and wrote, directed, and produced the Humanitas Prize-nominated and multiple festival winner The Rebel Girls, a true story based on a group of girl-warriors who were arrested in 1963 for attempting to integrate a movie theater in Southern Georgia. Her writing and producing credits include First Kill, The Punisher, Empire, Gossip Girl, Fringe, Sister Sister, Moesha, and Everybody Hates Chris. Felicia is an associate professor in Northwestern University’s Department of Radio/Television/Film, where she teaches screenwriting and production courses. She holds a PhD from UCLA’s Department of Film, Televisio …
Jeanne Thornton is the author of A/S/L, Summer Fun (winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction), and others, as well as the senior editor of Feminist Press, copublisher of Instar Books, and cohost of Brooklyn’s World Transsexual Forum open mic. Her writing has appeared in n+1, WIRED, Evergreen Review, and other places; she has taught for Tin House, One Story, Lambda Literary, Sackett Street Writers Workshop, and more. More information is available at jeannethornton.com.
