A San Francisco Chronicle bestseller from the award-winning author and celebrated feminist, " Wounds of Passion is bell hooks''s brave memoir of struggling to find her own work, love, and independence."-Gloria Steinem "I love this book. Each offering from bell hooks is a major event, as she has so much to give us."-Maya Angelou With her customary boldness and insight, bell hooks critically reflects on the impact of birth control and the women''s movement on our lives. Resisting the notion that love and writing don''t mix, she begins a fifteen-year relationship with a gifted poet and scholar, who inspires and encourages her. Writing the acclaimed book Ain''t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism at the age of nineteen, she begins to emerge as a brilliant social critic and public intellectual. Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life describes a woman''s struggle to devote herself to writing, sharing the difficulties, the triumphs, the pleasures, and the dangers. Eloquent and powerful, this book lets us see the ways one woman writer works to find her own voice while creating a love relationship based on feminist thinking. With courage and wisdom she reveals intimate details and provocative ideas, offering an illuminating vision of a writer''s life.