new book: BUDGET JUSTICE

Dearest friends,

I am thrilled to announce that my book Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities is hot off the press from Princeton University Press, officially out on September 9. 

As some of you may know, I have been both researching and engaging in struggles for collective governance, participatory democracy, and social justice for over 20 years-- & I believe that this is a pivotal moment for us to work together for cities in which everyone can thrive. 

I poured my heart into this book about cities, collective care, & community control. It is, in many ways, my most personal book. Amid political repression and a deepening affordability crisis, I wrote it not for academics or policy nerds, but for friends, neighbors, and strangers I've never met-- for everyone feeling bewildered by what to do next. 

If it interests you, you can pre-order via Bookshop (where it's a few dollars cheaper), that rainforest-named site, or your favorite local indie bookseller. 

I'd be incredibly grateful for your support:

• If you might ever want to buy the book, please consider pre-ordering a copy. I am told that pre-orders are critical in building momentum for a book—making bookstores aware of its existence and spreading the word. 

• If you know anyone who works in media & who might have any interest in the book subject, or reviewing or covering Budget Justice in some way, please feel free to forward this to send them a head's up. Thank you!

• Share news of the book among your networks via email or post about it on social media (graphic below).

• I'm excited to meet with book clubs, organizing campaigns, classes, and groups of all sorts. It's been galvanizing to strategize together with folks from different cities, and to compare notes on our experiences. If you'd be interested in having me, do let me know.

• If you know of any social justice/ democracy activists, thinkers, or organizations that you can help to connect me to, please let me know! 

• Ask your favorite indie bookstore or local librarian whether they’ll be carrying the book. This book was inspired in part by campaigns against budget cuts to libraries (and all of our public goods)!

Also, speaking as a sucker for signed books... If you'd like a signed copy but won't see me anytime soon, just send me your address-- I'd be happy to mail you a signed bookplate sticker you can stick to the book.

I'll be doing an online event for the book on 9/22 and an in-person one in NYC on 11/12. More events & details to come at https://linktr.ee/celinasu. I’ll be updating there.

My apologies for this rare mass email... Thank you all so much in advance for your support!

With much gratitude & in solidarity,
Celina

Book Info

Essential reading to empower citizens, Budget Justice explains why public budgets reflect a crisis not so much in accounting as in democracy, and enables everyone, especially those from historically marginalized communities, to imagine and enact people’s budgets and policies—from universal preschool to affordable housing—that will enable their communities to thrive.

“Celina Su’s Budget Justice is a prophetic and powerful call to reimagine how our society allocates its resources—and to whom. It is a blueprint for a moral revival in public policy. Su reminds us that budgets are not neutral—they are moral documents that reveal our deepest priorities. In this age of poverty amidst plenty, Su challenges us to engage in participatory budgeting and demand that our institutions serve the people rather than militarize our communities. Read this book, study it together, and then take it to the streets.”

—Rev. Liz Theoharis, Poor People’s Campaign co-chair and co-author of You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take

“In an era of austerity and deepening inequality, Budget Justice is a powerful and urgent guide for communities fighting for equity in housing, education, city planning, and more—through direct engagement with city budgets. In this critical and galvanizing work, Celina Su reveals how the antidote to economic despair lies in collective power.”

—Darrick Hamilton, founding director, Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, The New School

“Under overwhelming conditions of state violence, Budget Justice is a useful tool for anyone trying to discern what possibilities for material relief—and transformative change—can be won by engaging city budgets.”

—Dean Spade, author of Mutual Aid

“Budget Justice is an elegant, erudite, and intimate book. In its pages, public budgets are moral and dramatic, cruel and community building: budgets are not just austerities that are thrust upon us. They are also futures we can dream up.”

—Alissa Quart, author of Bootstrapped