PSB: Women in Sports: A Panel ft. Letisha Brown, Maggie Mertens, Katie Steele, and Christine Yu

Event Description

Porter Square Books: Boston Edition is excited to welcome authors Letisha Brown, Maggie Mertens, Katie Steele, and Christine Yu for a panel discussion about women in sports. Frankie de la Cretaz will moderate the panel. Books by each of the authors will be available for purchase. This event will take place on Wednesday, June 4 at 7pm at PSB: Boston Edition (50 Liberty Dr. Boston, MA 02210) .

RSVP here to receive event updates!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor in the department of sociology at the University of Cincinnati where she is also an affiliate of the Africana Studies and Women’s, Gender, Sexualities, Studies programs. Dr. Brown is a Black feminist, interdisciplinary scholar who researches the lived realities of Blackgirlwomen in sport, media, education, and girlhood. Dr. Brown’s academic scholarship can be found in outlets including the Sociology of Sport Journal, Communication & Sport, Girlhood Studies, and Race & Social Problems. Her first book, Say Her Name; Centering Black Feminism and Black Women in Sport is the first Black feminist text in the Rutgers University Press series on Critical Issues in Sport. In addition to her academic scholarship, Dr. Brown also has an active public presence, including writing freelance articles for First & Pen, and engaging actively on social media platforms including BlueSky, Instagram, and Threads.

Frankie de la Cretaz is the co-author of Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League. Their writing sits at the intersection of sports and gender, and has been featured in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, and more. They also run a queer sports newsletter called Out of Your League.

Maggie Mertens is a writer, journalist, and editor. Her essays and reporting have appeared in The Atlantic, NPR, Sports Illustrated, ESPNw, The Wall Street Journal, Glamour, and Creative Nonfiction, among others. Her work has also appeared in The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2021 (Triumph Books), Women and Sports in the United States (The University of Chicago Press), and has been nominated for the 2021 Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. She earned a B.A. in English Literature and Italian Studies from Smith College, and an M.F.A. in Creative-Nonfiction Writing from The New School. She lives in Seattle with her partner and two children.

Katie Steele, LMFT is a former highly recruited D1 athlete who ran track and cross country for the famed University of Oregon team. After her running career intersected with the infamous coach Alberto Salazar, she was left with trauma for years to come. Deciding to dedicate her career to the integration of mental health care in athletics, she is now a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and co-founder of Thrive Mental Health, an outpatient mental health clinic in Bend, Oregon.

Christine Yu is an award-winning journalist who writes about sports, science, and health. Her interest in the intersection between sports science and women athletes led her to her first book Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, which disentangles myth and gender bias from real science in order to address the huge research gap in sports science. Ultimately this is a book that is not just a road map for women and girls but an examination of the systemic injustices in sports and science that affect all people in the hope of uncovering ways to make the system more equitable for everyone. She lives in New York City with her family.