Tender (ness): The Feminist Anthology as Carework

This article places Deesha Philyaw and vanessa german's tender: a literary anthology and book of spells: evidence (2019) within the tradition of feminist anthologies. It considers the labor that goes into constructing, editing, and advocating for queer and women of color feminist texts. Collecting poetry, prose, and art by nineteen Black women and femmes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tender counters the violent racism in the city and builds a collective definition of "tender(ness)." tender challenges us to rethink the role of tender(ness) as carework in our contemporary moment and historically reshapes how we may view the relationship of now canonical feminist anthologies like This Bridge Called My Back (1981) and Home Girls (1983) to their respective cities of origin.