Dorothy Rice, the wry, relatable narrator of GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK: A Memoir of Self-Acceptance, came of age in the psychedelic sixties. Now in her sixties, it's time to take stock. After decades struggling to be thin enough, pretty, sexy and successful enough to deserve love and happiness, she devotes a year to cracking the code, a journey that forces her to confront the gnarled roots of female shame.
The first paperback edition (Otis Books, June 2019), a Small Press Distribution top-ten, non-fiction title, sold out in nine months; second printing June 2020. Also available as an e-book.
The first paperback edition (Otis Books, June 2019), a Small Press Distribution top-ten, non-fiction title, sold out in nine months; second printing June 2020. Also available as an e-book.
sample chapter
GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK, Part One, Chapter One
I hadn’t looked forward to dinner out with my two sisters and their boyfriends. Not that I don’t love my sisters. They’re my best friends. But sometimes I hate them for how they make me feel. Then I hate myself for being a peevish bitch. This was last summer. I was forty pounds overweight and not in the mood for self-reflection.
I don’t remember the occasion. Maybe just to meet my older sister’s latest boyfriend. She’d had a few since her last divorce. Toads for the most part. I didn’t, yet, know enough about this one to have passed final judgment.
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I hadn’t looked forward to dinner out with my two sisters and their boyfriends. Not that I don’t love my sisters. They’re my best friends. But sometimes I hate them for how they make me feel. Then I hate myself for being a peevish bitch. This was last summer. I was forty pounds overweight and not in the mood for self-reflection.
I don’t remember the occasion. Maybe just to meet my older sister’s latest boyfriend. She’d had a few since her last divorce. Toads for the most part. I didn’t, yet, know enough about this one to have passed final judgment.
read more
book giveaway
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The paperback edition of GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK was out-of-print for several months, but because of Covid-19 and the need to cancel all author events for Spring 2020, I have some copies I'd really love to give away. Prefer your books with paper pages? If you are one of the first 10 to click the button, I'll request a mailing address and GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK will be on its way to your door! |
praise for gray is the new black
"With incisive, lyrical prose, Dorothy Rice articulates something important about generations of women, especially those who find comfort in language, reading and writing and use these tools to discover why it was so important to them to fit in, to belong, to be wanted by a man, even a bad man, or the wrong man." LIT PUB
"Her scenes are so well written and poignant that this is the type of reading one cannot put down, because the narrative flows so smoothly." hippocampus magazine
"When I found Dorothy Rice’s memoir, GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK, the book felt like a cosmic gift. . . With incisive, lyrical prose, Dorothy Rice articulates a longing for a generation of women seeking an honest way to see themselves, a way to authentically exist in the world." Brevity's Nonfiction Blog
"A memoir written in a year—about a year—of self-discovery, this little black book takes readers along, sometimes hilariously, sometimes with heartbreak, on the writer’s oh-so-relatable quest to exorcise some past demons, accept herself at all ages (especially now, as she grows her hair out gray), forgive herself and look ahead with clear eyes." Sacramento Magazine
about the author
Dorothy Rice, photo by Anita Scharf
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new fun stuff, video (3 minutes)
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new 916 ink blog post 5/18/2020
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 support 916 ink!
Writing Their Truths
Dorothy Rice Writing with kids as a 916 Ink Wordslinger (writing workshop facilitator), and before that, as an Inspirator (workshop volunteer), I’ve found that each class, each group of students, has its eager, bright-eyed participants, itching to put pen or pencil to paper, those who are there to socialize, to whisper and pass notes to friends, and a few who hunker deep in their hoodies, avoid eye contact and profess to, “hate to write.” It’s the same with the incarcerated teenagers I’ve had the privilege to write with at the Sacramento Youth Detention Facility (YDF), and it isn’t the same. read more |
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