Author Michelle Bowdler recently was recognized by the Massachusetts Center for the Book as one of Massachusetts’s must-read authors of the year. We are pleased to partner with the Tewksbury (MA) Public Library to bring you a virtual program with Bowdler on Tuesday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m. for a presentation on her critically acclaimed book, Is Rape A Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto.
This program will take place via Zoom and registration is required; please click HERE to register.
Award-winning writer and public health executive Michelle Bowdler’s memoir indicts how sexual violence has been addressed for decades in our society, asking whether rape is a crime given that it is the least reported major felony, least successfully prosecuted, and fewer than 3% of rapists ever spend a day in jail. Cases are closed before they are investigated and DNA evidence sits for years untested and disregarded.
In 1984, the Boston Sexual Assault Unit was formed as a result of a series of break-ins and rapes that terrorized the city, of which Michelle’s own horrific rape was the last. Twenty years later, after a career of working with victims like herself, Michelle Bowdler decides to find out what happened to her case and why she never heard from the police again after one brief interview.
An expert blend of memoir and cultural investigation, Michelle’s story is a rallying cry to reclaim our power and right our world.
About the author: Michelle Bowdler is the Executive Director of Health & Wellness at Tufts University and, after graduating from the Harvard School of Public Health, has worked on social justice issues related to rape for over a decade. Is Rape a Crime? is her first book. She is a recipient of a 2017 Barbara Deming Memorial Award and has been a Fellow at Ragdale and the MacDowell Colony. Bowdler’s writing has been published in the New York Times and her essays “Eventually You Tell Your Kids” and “Babelogue” were nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Learn more about Bowdler HERE.