Gloria Steinem never stops moving. Over the course of her decades-long career, the mother of second-wave feminism and Ms. Magazine cofounder has advocated for women’s rights around the world, whether by posing as a Playboy bunny in Hugh Hefner’s New York club or protecting prostitutes in India. She also put in time on Adlai Stevenson’s presidential campaign, worked (unsuccessfully) to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, produced an HBO documentary on child abuse, traveled the world as a lecturer, and picked up a Presidential Medal of Freedom in the process.
Now Steinem has chronicled her nomadic life in a new collection of stories, My Life on the Road. She recounts conversations with taxi drivers and politicians, visits to Harvard and Indian brothels, and other life-changing encounters around the world. As she writes: “The road is messy in the way that real life is messy. It leads us . . . out of our heads and into our hearts.” Steinem talks with Roxane Gay, the Chicago-based author of An Untamed State and Bad Feminist.
Thu 10/29, 7 PM, the People’s Church, 941 W. Lawrence, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com, $28 (includes hardcover copy of Steinem’s book). Sold out.