#CynthiaKaufman

[citylightsbooks]

5 Questions with Cynthia Kaufman, Author of  The Sea Is Rising and So Are We

Cynthia Kaufman is the director of the Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action, where she also teaches community organizing and philosophy. The author of Getting Past Capitalism: History, Vision, Hope (Lexington Books, 2012), she is a lifelong social change activist, having worked on issues such as tenants' rights, police abuse, union organizing, international politics, and most recently climate change.

Cynthia Kaufman is in conversation with Francesca Caparas discussing her new book The Sea Is Rising and So Are We: A Climate Justice Handbook (PM Press) in our City Lights LIVE! discussion series on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.

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Where are you writing to us from?

I am writing from Pacifica, California; a 30-minute drive South of City Light Books.

What’s kept you sane during the pandemic?

I've been doing a lot of hiking and writing.

What are 3 books you always recommend to people?

Paolo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed; Tony Morrison's Beloved; James Baldwin's Collected Essays.

Which writers, artists, and others influence your work in general, and this book, specifically?

This book has been influenced by the climate justice movement, especially the youth wing of the movement. This book draws on Robert Bullard, J.K. Gibson-Graham, adrienne maree brown, Kate Raworth, and Bill McKibben. I have been very influenced in general by Freire, Baldwin, Gramsci, Marx, and Nietzsche.  

If you opened a bookstore, where would it be located, what would it be called, and what would your bestseller be?

All the places I love already have great bookstores!