Sahiyo Discusses: Cut Woman by Dena Igusti

Date: September 27, 2023

Tme: 7:00 PM EST

Registration Link: https://bit.ly/SahiyoDiscusses

On September 27, 2023 the group will meet virtually for Sahiyo Discusses: Cut Woman by Dena Igusti. Dena Igusti is an Indonesian Muslim writer born and raised in Queens, New York. They are the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books, 2020), which has been listed as a 2020 Harvard Bookstore Staff Pick and a Entropy Mag’s Best Of 2020-2021, and I NEED THIS TO NOT SWALLOW ME ALIVE (Gingerbug Press, 2021). They are the co-playwright of the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater, created with the support of New Georges and made possible by the Clubbed Thumb Constitution Commission, funded by Heidi Schreck and the producers of What The Constitution Means to Me, and winner of A is For. Their work has been produced and performed at LA Times, The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, Prelude Festival (Cut Woman, 2020), Center At West Park (CON DOUGH, 2021), The Tank (First Sight 2021 at LimeFest), and several other venues internationally. They have received commissions from The Miranda Family Fund (2023), Motor Theater Company (2023), New Ohio Theatre (Now In Process 2022), Center at West Park (2021), Converse, and more.

In a post-colonial world shaped by what is and what will be lost, what is there left to celebrate? In Dena Igusti's debut collection Cut Woman, Igusti is overwhelmed by the loss of their people. The loss includes but is not limited to: the deaths of Muslims around the world due to xenophobia and Islamophobia; the deaths of Indonesians as a result of post-colonialism, state violence, environmental racism, and overall media negligence and prioritization of white people over their own; the mortality of friends, lovers, and family facing economic disparity and gentrification in New York City; the loss of their body that could've been their body if they didn't undergo female genital mutilation. They know that one day, their time will be up too. Rather than stay in mourning, they try to turn these wakes, both current and future, into the biggest celebrations of their life. 

Sahiyo Discusses members will have the opportunity to discuss this book with Dena and ask pertinent questions.

Admission to Sahiyo Discusses is based on a suggested minimum donation of $25.00 USD per event.