bell hooks’ words helped to make me the writer i am, taught me me that there is no shame in centering love and tenderness, in approaching and embracing it. Her loss is incalculable,” wrote Roxane Gay, author of “Bad Feminist.” I’ll always cherish the way her work bridged shores.” “As a first generation college student, bell hooks was the first writer I encountered via academia whose work I was able to enthusiastically discuss with friends and fam *outside* academia,” wrote Saeed Jones, author of the award-winning memoir “How We Fight for Our Lives.” “My mom and I read bell hooks together.
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Her work widely influenced contemporary writers, many of whom shared their grievances on social media following the announcement. “So if somebody comes up to me, and they have one of those bell hooks books that’s abused and battered, and every page is underlined, I know they’ve been working with the work. “I have this phrase that I use, ‘working with the work,'” hooks said. In a 2015 interview with the New York Times, hooks stated that her main intention was to “produce theory that people could use.”
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Throughout her life, hooks’ dedication to accessible feminist theory remained strong. Known for her writing on race, gender and sexuality, hooks published more than 30 books over the course of her lifetime, including 1981’s “Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism” and “All About Love” in 1999. Hooks passed away in her home after an “extended illness,” according to Berea College.