Media Kit
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Photo by Jesse Byerly
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Short Bio:
Freda Epum is a Nigerian-American writer, speaker, and cultural strategist whose work explores Black mental health, chronic illness, and the politics of identity, healing, and migration. Her debut memoir, The Gloomy Girl Variety Show, was published by Feminist Press and blends memoir, criticism, and autotheory. Freda has spoken at over 30 institutions, including AWP, Tin House, and Public Allies. She offers trauma-informed storytelling, creative and leadership coaching, and thought partnership grounded in disability justice and diasporic belonging.
Long Bio:
Freda Epum (FREE-DUH A-POOM) is a Nigerian-American writer, artist, and cultural strategist from Tucson, AZ. She is the author of THE GLOOMY GIRL VARIETY SHOW: A MEMOIR (Feminist Press at CUNY, 2025), a speculative memoir framed around the narrative of a house hunt, exploring diaspora, race, illness, and belonging, whilst on the search for home. Her work has been praised by Kirkus Review, Publishers' Weekly, Library Journal, Bending Genres, Paste Magazine, Ebony, The Chicago Review of Books, Foglifter, Write or Die Magazine, MemoirLand, The Stranger Seattle, Ms. Magazine, Brittle Paper, BET, Electric Literature, Debutiful, among others.
She has published in Shelterforce, Brittle Paper, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Vol 1. Brooklyn, Entropy, Bending Genres, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by ArtsWave, the Ohio Arts Council, Lambda Literary, the Tin House Writers Workshop, Voices of Our Nation/VONA, the Ragdale Foundation, the Anderson Center at Tower View residency, and the Jordan Goodman Prize.
She is the author of two chapbooks, Input/Output (Tanline Printing) with Amanda Beekhiuzen-Williams and Entryways into memories that might assemble me (selected for the Iron Horse Literary Review Chapbook Prize by Lacy M. Johnson).
As a cultural strategist, she was previously a Senior Consultant at ThirdSpace Action Lab, leading the program design for learning convenings online and in-person for national philanthropy foundations and grantees in the arts, community development, and health equity, and implementing racial equity, disability justice, and Black feminist frameworks. She is also the former Executive Director at Public Allies Cincinnati, a leadership development program with a social justice lens. Her past responsibilities include facilitating and developing curriculum, recruiting partners committed to equity and professional development, and mentoring the next generation of leaders. Before joining Public Allies, she worked with a diverse range of learners in museums, higher education, and vocational rehabilitation centers.
As a social practice artist, she co-created the Black American Tree Project, a participatory performative history lesson that has had over 500 participants for international and national conferences and nonprofits. This project has received support from the Ohio Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
She studied Art, Museum Studies, and American Studies at Smith College; received her MFA from Miami University in Oxford, OH; and has taught for Miami University, Art Academy of Cincinnati, and WordPlay Cincy.
She lives in Cincinnati, where she is a Presidential Fellow in the PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Cincinnati and is represented by Reiko Davis of DeFiore & Company.
Reiko Davis
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Jeffrey Yamaguchi
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Tyler Hubbert
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The Gloomy Girl Variety Show: A Memoir
Merging memoir, poetry, and criticism, this radical literary revue traces a first-generation Nigerian American’s search for home and belonging on her own terms. |
In three parts, The Gloomy Girl Variety Show traces the joys and despairs of an imaginary house hunt. Author Freda Epum takes the real-life housing inequity she encounters and spins it into a sprawling meditation on the larger cost of living and enduring as a Black disabled woman in America. Brick by brick, and despite the difficulties she faces, Epum creates space for women, people of color, people with disabilities, children of immigrants, and anyone else who has felt “in-between.”
In this formally inventive memoir woven with essays, poems, and images, Epum explores the opposing forces of her “no-place, no-where” identity. As a Nigerian American daughter who spent years in and out of institutions while she sought treatment for life-threatening mental illness, Epum examines her journey through healthcare and housing systems via a pop cultural lens: our collective obsession with HGTV’s home buying and makeover shows. With raw honesty and a wry sense of humor, The Gloomy Girl Variety Show explores the complexity of coming of age under intersecting forms of oppression, and reveals what it takes to come back from the brink of despair and arrive somewhere safe, beautiful, and empowering. |
Praise for THE GLOOMY GIRL VARIETY SHOW
Named a Best Book of 2025 by Chicago Review of Books
Named a Best Book of 2025 by Ebony
Named a Best Debut Book of 2025 by Debutiful
Named a Small Press Book You Should be Reading this Spring by Electric Literature
Named a Best Holiday Gift by an Arizona Author by The Phoenix New Times
Named a Most Anticipated Debut Book of 2025 by Debutiful
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Chicago Review of Books
Named a Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2025 by Ms. Magazine
Named a Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book and Memoir of 2025 by Paste Magazine
Named a Must-Read Book by a Black Author Dropping in 2025 by BET
Named a Best Book of 2025 by Ebony
Named a Best Debut Book of 2025 by Debutiful
Named a Small Press Book You Should be Reading this Spring by Electric Literature
Named a Best Holiday Gift by an Arizona Author by The Phoenix New Times
Named a Most Anticipated Debut Book of 2025 by Debutiful
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Chicago Review of Books
Named a Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2025 by Ms. Magazine
Named a Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book and Memoir of 2025 by Paste Magazine
Named a Must-Read Book by a Black Author Dropping in 2025 by BET
“A glimmering achievement in genre-defying memoir….Crisscrossing the genres of poetry, personal essay, theory, and visual art, The Gloomy Girl Variety Show is as raw and captivating as it gets.” – Stevie Billow, East City Bookshop (Washington DC)
”Touching and unconventional . . . Epum effectively transports readers inside her mind and offers bracing, funny testimony that will feel familiar to those who’ve struggled with their own anxiety and depression.” —Publishers Weekly
“Celebrates a resilient woman’s hard-won understanding of the meaning of home in a racist world determined to annihilate her spirit. A unique memoir about the struggle to find wholeness in a white supremacist society.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Each piece is short and easy to read but skillfully crafted as Epum successfully describes her pain with emotion and humor. This well-written and engaging memoir is recommended for readers wishing to better understand the experience of mental illness or anyone who can relate to Epum’s search for belonging.” —Kathaleen McCormick, Library Journal
“Freda Epum’s debut The Gloomy Girl Variety Show appears at a time it’s especially needed. (Is it too early to attest it will be one of the most important books published this year?)....The Gloomy Girl Variety Show is a hybrid work like no other….[Epum] makes so many smart craft choices, her sentences are razor sharp, and the accompanying images are in dialogue with the prose. It’s an inventive narrative dealing with mental illness, while also highlighting the urgent need for racial justice.” –Rachel León, Foglifter
“This debut memoir from Nigerian-American writer and multi-disciplinary artist Freda Epum is like a spark plug, electrifying the traditional memoir form with vibrancy and ingenuity. The Gloomy Girl Variety Show introduces a new dimension for the genre, one that reveals all that an author can accomplish through creativity, unabashed candor, and a striking sense of humor. Epum’s references to pop culture and the digital age make this an ideal choice for those looking for a substantive read that also tethers itself to the wildly imaginative.” –Felicia Reich, Paste Magazine, The Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books and Memoirs of 2025
“In her debut memoir, Freda Epum tackles identity, mental illness, self-acceptance and belonging with candor, curiosity and poetry.” –Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine, The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025
“As a self-described “gloomy girl,” Nigerian-American writer Freda Epum uses a pop culture lens to examine her issues with inadequate and unaffordable housing and healthcare. In the memoir, the Cincinnati-based author openly speaks to the complicated nature of surviving oppression.” –Jaelani Turner-Williams, BET
“Epum invites readers into a world filled with beautiful language and clever quips to explore identity in an approachable way. It is a mesmerizing debut that will open readers’ eyes to new worlds.” –Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
“I know it’s early to call it, but I’m certain Freda Epum’s debut The Gloomy Girl Variety Show will be one of the most important books published this year. Epum examines intersectional identities of being Black, disabled, female, and a first generation Nigerian American through an inventive and brilliant book structured as a search for the safety one can find in home.”--Rachel León, Chicago Review of Books
“[A]n impressive, and incisive exploration of connection, diaspora, mental health, and the search for home in a fractured world….Epum hooks the reader from the opening pages…Epum’s memoir brilliantly captures the nuances and emotional complexities of mental illness, while illuminating the unflinching realities and impact of othering….This memoir is a powerful call for acceptance, not only of the truths and traumas we carry but also of the judgments that cloud our vision of those who walk a different path.” —Britta Stromeyer, Bending Genres
”Touching and unconventional . . . Epum effectively transports readers inside her mind and offers bracing, funny testimony that will feel familiar to those who’ve struggled with their own anxiety and depression.” —Publishers Weekly
“Celebrates a resilient woman’s hard-won understanding of the meaning of home in a racist world determined to annihilate her spirit. A unique memoir about the struggle to find wholeness in a white supremacist society.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Each piece is short and easy to read but skillfully crafted as Epum successfully describes her pain with emotion and humor. This well-written and engaging memoir is recommended for readers wishing to better understand the experience of mental illness or anyone who can relate to Epum’s search for belonging.” —Kathaleen McCormick, Library Journal
“Freda Epum’s debut The Gloomy Girl Variety Show appears at a time it’s especially needed. (Is it too early to attest it will be one of the most important books published this year?)....The Gloomy Girl Variety Show is a hybrid work like no other….[Epum] makes so many smart craft choices, her sentences are razor sharp, and the accompanying images are in dialogue with the prose. It’s an inventive narrative dealing with mental illness, while also highlighting the urgent need for racial justice.” –Rachel León, Foglifter
“This debut memoir from Nigerian-American writer and multi-disciplinary artist Freda Epum is like a spark plug, electrifying the traditional memoir form with vibrancy and ingenuity. The Gloomy Girl Variety Show introduces a new dimension for the genre, one that reveals all that an author can accomplish through creativity, unabashed candor, and a striking sense of humor. Epum’s references to pop culture and the digital age make this an ideal choice for those looking for a substantive read that also tethers itself to the wildly imaginative.” –Felicia Reich, Paste Magazine, The Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books and Memoirs of 2025
“In her debut memoir, Freda Epum tackles identity, mental illness, self-acceptance and belonging with candor, curiosity and poetry.” –Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine, The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025
“As a self-described “gloomy girl,” Nigerian-American writer Freda Epum uses a pop culture lens to examine her issues with inadequate and unaffordable housing and healthcare. In the memoir, the Cincinnati-based author openly speaks to the complicated nature of surviving oppression.” –Jaelani Turner-Williams, BET
“Epum invites readers into a world filled with beautiful language and clever quips to explore identity in an approachable way. It is a mesmerizing debut that will open readers’ eyes to new worlds.” –Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
“I know it’s early to call it, but I’m certain Freda Epum’s debut The Gloomy Girl Variety Show will be one of the most important books published this year. Epum examines intersectional identities of being Black, disabled, female, and a first generation Nigerian American through an inventive and brilliant book structured as a search for the safety one can find in home.”--Rachel León, Chicago Review of Books
“[A]n impressive, and incisive exploration of connection, diaspora, mental health, and the search for home in a fractured world….Epum hooks the reader from the opening pages…Epum’s memoir brilliantly captures the nuances and emotional complexities of mental illness, while illuminating the unflinching realities and impact of othering….This memoir is a powerful call for acceptance, not only of the truths and traumas we carry but also of the judgments that cloud our vision of those who walk a different path.” —Britta Stromeyer, Bending Genres
Excerpts from THE GLOOMY GIRL VARIETY SHOW
The Rumpus, "The Aesthetics of Safety"
Electric Literature, "How to Be a Terrible No-good African Daughter"
Heavy Feather Review: #NO MORE PRESIDENTS, “Race Day”
Rogue Agent, “The African Dream”
Third Coast, “I am sorry to inform you about the banana peel thrown at the black girl: A One Woman Show”
Nat.Brut Beyond Resilience Folio: Edited by Kay Ulanday Barrett, “MARKED MANIFESTO,” “Segment on the inner workings of a first-generation girl"
Press
Features
Publishers Weekly - How ‘The Gloomy Girl Variety Show’ by Freda Epum Got Made
Brittle Paper - Freda Epum’s Forthcoming Memoir Explores Living with Disability in America
Shelf Awareness - Image of the Day: Freda Epum at Call & Response Books
Lists
Chicago Review of Books - The Best Books We Read in 2025
Ebony - The Best Black Celebrity Memoirs of 2025
Debutiful - The Best Debut Books of 2025
Debutiful - Best Debut Books of 2025 (So Far)
Electric Literature - 11 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Spring
Paste Magazine - Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books and Memoirs of 2025
Ms. Magazine - Reads for the Rest Of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025
BET – 8 Must-Read Books by Black Authors Dropping in 2025
Book Riot – New Releases and More for January 14, 2025
CLMP – Books Launching in January 2025
LitHub – 27 New Books Out Today
Women in Academic Report – “Recent Books of Interest”
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education - “Recent Books of Interest”
Debutiful - 10 noteworthy debut books you should read this January
Marin County Independent – 36 New Books Coming in early 2025
Orange County Register – 36 New Books Coming in early 2025
Press Telegram – 36 New Books Coming in early 2025
Write or Die – 20 Books We Can’t Wait to Read
Chicago Review of Books - Our Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Debutiful - Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2025 Part 1
Publisher's Weekly - Fall 2024 Adult Preview: Memoirs & Biographies
Movers & Makers - SW Ohio artists, organizations receive thousands in state funding
Heavy Feather Review - "The Best of the Best Of"
Interviews
Foglifter – Rachel León Interviews Freda Epum
Memoirland – Memoirland Author Questionnaire
The Stranger Seattle - Freda Epum Will Blow Your Mind
Write or Die Magazine - Freda Epum: On Intersectional Identities, Alienation, the Vicarious Pleasure of House Hunting Reality TV, and Her Memoir ‘The Gloomy Girl Variety Show’
WVXU - 'It's Visceral': Program Makes Diversity & Inclusion Training More Immersive
Miami University: Where are they now? Spotlight
Podcasts & Radio
AM 950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota - Freda Ndidi Epum's new memoir, plus French protestors banned Barbie
Listen & Be Heard - A Gloomy Girl Memoir, Freda Epum talks with Martha Cinader
Debutiful - First Taste: Freda Epum Reads from The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Black to Nature Podcast by Stefanie Dunning featuring the Black American Tree Project
Reviews
Bending Genres - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show by Britta Stromeyer
Library Journal - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Kirkus Reviews - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Publishers Weekly - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Coffee Over Apples - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Publishers Weekly - How ‘The Gloomy Girl Variety Show’ by Freda Epum Got Made
Brittle Paper - Freda Epum’s Forthcoming Memoir Explores Living with Disability in America
Shelf Awareness - Image of the Day: Freda Epum at Call & Response Books
Lists
Chicago Review of Books - The Best Books We Read in 2025
Ebony - The Best Black Celebrity Memoirs of 2025
Debutiful - The Best Debut Books of 2025
Debutiful - Best Debut Books of 2025 (So Far)
Electric Literature - 11 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Spring
Paste Magazine - Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books and Memoirs of 2025
Ms. Magazine - Reads for the Rest Of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025
BET – 8 Must-Read Books by Black Authors Dropping in 2025
Book Riot – New Releases and More for January 14, 2025
CLMP – Books Launching in January 2025
LitHub – 27 New Books Out Today
Women in Academic Report – “Recent Books of Interest”
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education - “Recent Books of Interest”
Debutiful - 10 noteworthy debut books you should read this January
Marin County Independent – 36 New Books Coming in early 2025
Orange County Register – 36 New Books Coming in early 2025
Press Telegram – 36 New Books Coming in early 2025
Write or Die – 20 Books We Can’t Wait to Read
Chicago Review of Books - Our Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Debutiful - Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2025 Part 1
Publisher's Weekly - Fall 2024 Adult Preview: Memoirs & Biographies
Movers & Makers - SW Ohio artists, organizations receive thousands in state funding
Heavy Feather Review - "The Best of the Best Of"
Interviews
Foglifter – Rachel León Interviews Freda Epum
Memoirland – Memoirland Author Questionnaire
The Stranger Seattle - Freda Epum Will Blow Your Mind
Write or Die Magazine - Freda Epum: On Intersectional Identities, Alienation, the Vicarious Pleasure of House Hunting Reality TV, and Her Memoir ‘The Gloomy Girl Variety Show’
WVXU - 'It's Visceral': Program Makes Diversity & Inclusion Training More Immersive
Miami University: Where are they now? Spotlight
Podcasts & Radio
AM 950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota - Freda Ndidi Epum's new memoir, plus French protestors banned Barbie
Listen & Be Heard - A Gloomy Girl Memoir, Freda Epum talks with Martha Cinader
Debutiful - First Taste: Freda Epum Reads from The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Black to Nature Podcast by Stefanie Dunning featuring the Black American Tree Project
Reviews
Bending Genres - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show by Britta Stromeyer
Library Journal - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Kirkus Reviews - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Publishers Weekly - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show
Coffee Over Apples - Review of The Gloomy Girl Variety Show