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Flow

Flow

Women’s Counternarratives from Rivers, Rock, and Sky
ISBN: 9781771607063
$40.00
  • Paperback / softback With flaps
This book is currently available for pre-order; it will be shipped at the earliest possible date.
Explore diverse women’s narratives in adventure sports in this anthology that challenges stereotypes while promoting unity. It advocates for a transcultural feminism, one offering hope and empowerment to break barriers and live fully.

Flow takes readers on an inspiring journey through the world of women in adventure sports, challenging stereotypes and celebrating the strength, resilience, and unity of women across the globe. This unique collection highlights the powerful, diverse voices of women who are redefining what’s possible in outdoor sports like whitewater kayaking, climbing, mountaineering, and highlining.

With photography and stories from around the world, Flow captures the personal narratives of women from a wide range of countries, including Ecuador, India, México, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United States, and Canada. These women share their unique experiences, whether as newcomers or seasoned professionals, offering insights into their journeys and the challenges they face.

Edited by Denisa Krásná and Alena Rainsberry, Flow examines the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexual identity within the context of extreme sports, offering a fresh perspective on the barriers these women have overcome. More than just a collection of stories, this book is a celebration of the diverse paths these women have taken, and the common drive that unites them in their pursuit of adventure.

Flow is not just about extreme sports; it’s about the women who are shaping them. It’s about empowerment, breaking down barriers, and embracing a more inclusive vision of outdoor adventure.

Book Details

336

Width: 10.00 in
Height: 8.00 in

“While most adventure and outdoor sports narratives are hero stories featuring achievements, “conquests,” and world’s firsts, it is refreshing to flip the script and focus on the human stories. Flow’s writers share singular personal experiences that are not without vulnerability, doubt, and inner struggle. Hopefully, these stories are a small step toward more inclusivity in these sports.” —Nouria Newman, French whitewater kayaker

Flow proves women belong in high mountains and extreme landscapes. They bring resilience, sharp judgment, calmness, and an unstoppable spirit to every climb, river, and peak.” — Honza “Tráva” Trávníček, Czech alpinist

“These are stories of courage and self-awareness that shine in defiance of the patriarchal forces trying to hold adventurous women back. They give even greater depth and meaning to skillful movement through rivers, rock, and sky.” —Sonja Swift, author of Echo Loba, Loba Echo

Flow is a collage of the female spirit in high-risk sport that unites a universal sisterhood with the power of self in wondrous natural landscapes. It highlights global similarities of how women discover, explore, and expand their adventurous side to master their chosen pursuit. While each story is that of an individual author, the entire collection speaks a similar language of diversity and its related challenges. The introductions for each section – Rivers, Rock, and Sky – are excellent and provide thorough backgrounds to paddling, climbing, and highlining that invite the reader to understand the technical language and context of the personal accounts that follow.” —Helen Rolfe, co-author of Honouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei

“The storytellers in Flow are part of a larger movement sweeping the world, as women and nonbinary writers of all backgrounds create counternarratives of adventure, rendering more visible the varied landscapes of journeys undertaken beyond social barriers, and retracing the diverse and imaginative pathways drawn throughout wild places – while they navigate currents of swift rivers, climb walls of steep mountains, and traverse lines that stretch high and far across the wild air.” —Katie Ives, author of Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams