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A Deaf Memoir of Voice
by Rachel Renee Kolb
A deaf writer's exploration of language, communication, and what it means to be articulate—and her journey to reclaim her voice.
Rachel Kolb was born profoundly deaf the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, and she grew up as part of the first generation of deaf people with legal rights to accessibility services. Still, from a young age, she contorted herself to expectations set by a world that prioritizes hearing people. So she learned to speak through speech therapy and to piece together missing sounds through lipreading and an eventual cochlear implant, all while finding clarity and meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) and written literature.
Now in Articulate, Kolb blends personal narrative with cultural commentary to explore the different layers of deafness, language, and voice. She deconstructs multisensory experiences of language, examining the cultural importance hearing people attach to sound, the inner labyrinths of speech therapy, the murkiness of lipreading, and her lifelong intimacy with written English. And she uses her own experiences to illuminate the complexities of disability access, partnerships with ASL interpreters, Deaf culture and d/Deaf identity, and the perception versus reality of deafness.
Part memoir, part cultural exploration, Kolb details a life lived among words in varied sensory forms and considers why and how those words matter. Told through rich storytelling, analysis, and humor, Articulate is a linguistic coming-of-age in both deaf and hearing worlds, challenging us to consider how language expresses our humanity—and offering more ways we might exist together.
"Impressive debut...Accessible, fascinating, and heartfelt, this thorough examination of contemporary Deafness moves and edifies in equal measure. It's required reading." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Kolb masterfully uses her life story as a springboard for reframing deafness and, more broadly, disability from an assets approach. Her lyrical prose and trenchant analysis upends non-deaf people's limited conceptions of language, exposing the limitations of a world defined by hearing. An exquisite memoir about deafness that brilliantly shatters our ideas about language." —Kirkus Reviews
"Kolb...writes with clarity and compassion...[Her] eloquent authorial voice invites readers to think about language and communication in new and expansive ways." —Booklist
"The deaf writer's deft debut memoir probes the many meanings of language, voice, and communication through the lens of her own attempts to harness speech and be perceived as "articulate." —The Millions
"This engaging, enlightening, and affecting book will make you rethink what it is to make yourself known to another. The result is a powerful contemplation of the human voice, and thus the human experience. Articulate is a true gift." —Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Orphan Master's Son
"An honest and immersive examination of language, voice, speech, and the murky lines that tether and separate them. Required reading for parents, educators, and anyone seeking a new perspective on human communication and connection." —Sara Nović, New York Times bestselling author of True Biz
This information about Articulate was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rachel Kolb is a writer whose work explores communication, language, and disability as central components of human experience. A graduate of Stanford University, she was the first signing deaf Rhodes Scholar at Oxford before receiving her PhD in English literature from Emory University and then completing a junior fellowship in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. She has been published in the New York Times and the Atlantic, among other venues.
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