Books

10 Essential Books About Writing

An illustration shows a person with brown skin and brown hair with a pencil in their mouth, bookshelves with blue, purple, yellow, and pink book covers behind them, and a laptop in front of them.
by Nylah Burton
April 6, 2022 at 12:07pm
Must-read titles for writers include works by Elena Ferrante, Akwaeke Emezi, Meg Wolitzer, Yoko Ogawa, and more.
Author George M. Johnson wears a gray sweatshirt and offers a small smile to the camera.

“All Boys Aren’t Blue” Offers Hope and Trust to Young Queer Black Readers

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
April 28, 2020 at 11:19am
George M. Johnson has crafted an intimate community of Black queer readers. Read more »
mixed media painting featuring a black and white shirtless portrait of Danez Smith and black and white shirtless portrait of author George M Johnson surrounded by colorful patterns, strokes, and color blocks

Intimate Access: Danez Smith on Poetry as Purpose, Thriving with HIV, and Blackness as Home

by George M. Johnson
April 28, 2020 at 9:00am
Blackness is everything to me. Read more »
two books: Layoverland, a blue cover that features an illustration of a hotel in the sky, and How to Survive Death and Other inconveniences, a red book cover that features a Barbie buried in sand, are overlayed

(No) Escape Zone: Two Authors Bring Us to Terms with Our Mortality

by Evette Dionne
April 27, 2020 at 10:32am
The more we’re encouraged to talk to one another about death, the less scary and anxiety-inducing it is. Read more »
Sarah Kendzior, a white woman with shoulder-length blond hair, smiles at the camera

Power Lies: Sarah Kendzior on the America That Made Donald Trump Possible

by Andi Zeisler
April 22, 2020 at 11:00am
“Anyone could have found the things I found, and could have put them together.” Read more »
Robin Ha, a Korean author, smiles for the camera while posing in front of a wall of flowers

Immigration as Inspiration: Who Gets to Be an All-American Girl?

by Hannah Bae
April 21, 2020 at 10:00am
It’s very hard for people who are not immigrants to really understand what it’s like to move to a place where you don’t speak the language and how hard it is to find a home. Read more »
Samantha Irby, a Black woman with cropped hair, wears artful glasses with yellow detailing and a black t-shirt and looks away from the camera.

Samantha Irby on “Wow, No Thank You” and Desanitizing Women’s Lives and Bodies

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
April 17, 2020 at 11:07am
Samantha Irby will make you cringe as hard as you laugh. Read more »
illustration of a Black woman sitting next to a single marigold and staring at her reflection in the window

Love the Hard Way: Reflecting on the Magnificence of “The Bluest Eye”

by Vanessa Willoughby
April 13, 2020 at 10:07am
“Ugliness,” one of the novel’s running themes, is examined under an unforgiving spotlight because it’s such a familiar experience for young Black girls. Read more »
Leslie Gray Streeter, a Black woman with short, brown hair, smiles at the camera while posed against a green background

Laugh at My Pain: Finding the Humor in Being a “Black Widow”

by Evette Dionne
April 7, 2020 at 10:37am
Grief is a thing that will live, in some way, in our DNA and our body and be triggered by the wrong song or the wrong turn down the street where you see someone that looks like the person you lost. Read more »
An IV bag hangs on a metal pole. There is an eerie blue cast to the photo.

Staying Soft: Megan Giddings Explores the Hypervigilance of Black Women in “Lakewood”

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
April 3, 2020 at 10:26am
The participants—nearly all people of color—break bones and lose teeth to help advance the future of science and healthcare. Read more »
a white plus-size woman reading on couch with a dog

BitchReads: 13 Books Feminists Should Read in March

by Evette Dionne
March 24, 2020 at 10:25am
Reading can be such a relief in such strenuous times. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

Demanding the Impossible: Walidah Imarisha Talks About Science Fiction and Social Change

by Kristian Williams
April 13, 2015 at 2:23pm
Before she was a poet, journalist, documentary filmmaker, anti-prison activist, and college instructor, Walidah Imarisha was fascinated... Read more »

A Look at How Media Writes Women of Color

by Victoria Law
November 17, 2014 at 5:07pm
Nearly every Saturday morning, feminists of color hold Twitter discussions taking a deeper look at issues, such as gender violence. It’s the... Read more »

Eat, Pray, Spend: Priv-Lit and the New, Enlightened American Dream

Elizabeth Gilbert, a white woman wearing a navy blue jumpsuit, leans forward and holds hand with and Oprah Winfrey, a Black woman wearing a gray cardigan and jeans
by Joshunda Sanders
Summer 2010 • Action
Even as reports on joblessness, economic recovery, and home foreclosures suggest that no one is immune to risk during this recession, the popularity of women’s wellness media has persisted and, indeed, grown stronger.  Read more »

Mock & Awe: Janet Mock on Truth-Telling, Community Building, and Writing the Story She Had Been Waiting for Her Whole Life

Janet Mock, a transgender Hawaiian woman with curly, brown hair, smiles
by Tina Vasquez
Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends
“Redefining Realness” is written with astounding honesty and heart. Read more »