Listen to Your Grandmothers

Join the Wisconsin Book Festival at a gala for the book Listen to Your Grandmothers:  Madison Wisconsin's Raging Grannies Sing for Peace, Social Justice, Public Education, and Environmental Protection. The event will feature the Raging Grannies, directed by Deborah Lofgren, singing some of their original songs, a video of the Raging Grannies recording their CD, a presentation by Raging Granny, Bev Mazur, of Granny portraits and other group pictures. Friends, relatives, and aficionados of the Raging Grannies and political activism are invited to attend.  Refreshments will be served.

About Listen to Your Grandmothers:

Marie Martini began listening to the life stories of her fellow Raging Grannies in 2007 and was fascinated by both their diversity and commonalities.  In 2016 she decided to try to capture these stories, believing they would resonate with a modern audience and inspire people to find out, speak out, and act out.  The 22 autobiographies span almost nine decades and illustrate the changes in women’s lives, responsibilities, and rights over the years.  Although the stories are dramatically different, they are held together by the threads of belief in the importance of activism and dedication to the common good.  Like old, strong, wise women through time, the Raging Grannies nurture, discuss, sing, and fight for what is right for all living things.  Martini believes these stories matter, not just to the families and friends of the individual Grannies, but to other people who strive to make the world a better place.

The Grannies use song, humor, and outrageous costumes to get people’s attention in a nonconfrontational way.  The book includes many photos of the Grannies at various gigs and each woman’s page includes four photos:  one of her in street clothes, one in Granny Glamour, one of her as a younger woman, and one that serves as a metaphor for why she is an activist.  A CD of the Grannies singing their original lyrics set to familiar tunes is included with the book.