Writer Feature: Emma Goldman-Sherman
The Writer's Notebook
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The Writer's Notebook *
Emma Goldman-Sherman is from the United States. Emma is one of IHRAM Press’s treasured writers. In this interview, they share their musings, inspiration, and honest thoughts on their experience with us as an author and activist.
Emma’s latest publication with IHRAM Press, Us Girls at the Edges of the Shores, is featured in IHRAM Quarter 2 Literary Magazine: Reflections of Feminine Empowerment.
Thank you for all you do, Emma.
Now, be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us, and why did you choose to publish with us?
I'm always trying to get my work into the world. I was impressed with what IHRAM does. I know Tom Block, IHRAM’s Executive Founder, from the world of theatre, and honestly, I was thrilled and honored to be included in the issue. I know it's hard to get into lit. mags., and my work is always focused on social justice, and I was really excited to have my work included. The issue is beautiful and filled with artwork and creators who are using language in brilliant ways to get the truth into the world and to empower us all. I am very appreciative of the work IHRAM does.
Would you recommend IHRAM Press to other writers/artists?
Yes, absolutely.
Share a quote from your poem published in IHRAM Literary Magazine 2024!
“We’re being vesseled, boarded and shipped.
We are vased and chipped yet flowering. . .”
Now for the fun questions! What compels you to pick up a pen or open your laptop to free-write? And what inspires/influences your writing, particularly when it comes to addressing human rights issues?
The fact that the Western World thinks that it's okay to deny so many people basic human rights, to commit genocide, and to commit ecocide, all without batting an eyelid, astonishes me every day. We must speak out. We must refuse to cooperate. We must resist. My desire to live a moral life and to repair the world insists I write.
The human rights concerns addressed in the IHRAM literary magazine are often complex and challenging to navigate. How do you navigate the balance between highlighting these challenges and maintaining a sense of hope or optimism in your writing?
Hope is a verb that must be strengthened daily like a muscle. Writing and taking action give me hope. I remember, I was on a call with over 10,000 participants to strategize actions to resist the U.S. government. Phone-banking and reading to research the truth of what is happening are actions I can take to refuse the helplessness the government wants us all to feel. Helplessness is a state of mind. Doing is power.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.
Literature is the powerful use of language to change how we think and feel. The Western canon has historically insisted that art/literature "stay pure," or "do nothing," or be without any agenda. This policing has had a terrible effect on society. Art and literature of any culture are political to either maintain the status quo or to create change. We aren't yet at a place where the status quo anywhere is preferable to change, so we must demand art and literature that helps us to see the issues and then helps us to imagine transformation.
The IHRAM magazine aims to celebrate authors contending with their identities within the context of their environments. How does your environment influence your view of the world (your home country, city, and surrounding culture)?
I live in NYC in the U.S., where I have the privilege to wear a keffiyah in the colors of the Palestinian flag wherever I go. While I have endured slurs and hateful comments, I have also been thanked. I want to bring consciousness of Palestine and the ongoing genocide to as many people as possible.
In comparison, how does your intersectionality influence your view of the world (your personal beliefs, gender expression, religious affiliations, etc.)?
The Trump administration denies the idea of genders. As a trans/agender person, I apparently don't exist. I'm an AntiZionist Jew, another impossibility descended from Russian Jews (again impossible), so I believe that anything and everything must be possible, since the impossible is often a lie.
Support Activist Writers
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Support Activist Writers *
Read and enjoy all of Emma’s work:
“I’ve Never Been a Country” (The Mersey Review: Issue 5 / Winter 2024),
“Barbie Reports from the DreamHouse” (Tinderbox Poetry Journal: Volume 9, Issue 4 / September 2024),
“Throat” & “My Pronouns” (Anti-Heroin Chic / July 22, 2024),
“Two Poems” (Third Estate Art / April 14, 2024),
“Remembering the Concubine” (Writers Resist —/ June 15, 2023),
“The Narrow Place” (Wild Greens: Volume 5, Issue i / November 2024).
You can find Emma on Instagram.
