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.

Backtalk: So Burning Books is Back?

by Amy Lam
October 17, 2019 at 6:00pm
This week, Dahlia and Amy get into the recent campus conflict when white students with hurt feelings thought it’d be a good idea to burn books written by a visiting author. Read more »
Leah Vernon, a fat Muslim woman, wearing a navy blue hat, black head scarf, yellow mascara, blue lipstick, against a red wall

Leah Vernon Won’t Be Hemmed in by the Fashion Industry

by Evette Dionne
October 15, 2019 at 9:00am
The fat, Black, Muslim, blogger speaks truth to power on her Instagram account, in her new book, and in this raw, honest interview. Read more »
Chanel Miller, a mixed-race woman, stands in front of a black and white wall background

Victims Owe Us Nothing: Chanel Miller Reclaims Her Story and Identity in “Know My Name”

by Caroline Reilly
October 9, 2019 at 1:04pm
Chanel Miller’s weaving of her day-to-day life with the lingering trauma of her assault illustrates the singular way sexual-assault victims are asked to move through the world. Read more »
a photo of author Jeannie Vanasco, a white woman with brown hair smiling at the camera

Jeannie Vanasco on Processing Rape by Writing About It

by Melissa Faliveno
October 9, 2019 at 11:03am
“The thing I felt most afraid of was publishing this and having feminists read it and be disappointed in me.” Read more »
Unpregnant authors Ted Caplan, left, and Jenni Hendricks

“Unpregnant” Offers a Radical Normalization of Abortion and Reproductive Health

by Mary Retta
October 3, 2019 at 12:29pm
Even in a time where reproductive choice is in terrifying peril, it’s still possible to feel empowered in our choices­­—including the choice to laugh. Read more »
a collage of Asian women traveling throughout the world

New Canon: A Roundtable about Travel Writing without the Other

by Bani Amor
October 3, 2019 at 9:53am
Literature about traveling and adventure has a long history of evoking an Orientalist imaginary of Asia as perpetually exotic and dominable. Read more »
a Black woman with an afro reads a book while sitting on a window sill

BitchReads: 13 Nonfiction Books Feminists Should Read this September

by Evette Dionne
September 11, 2019 at 9:35am
There is so much to read in so little time, which is one of the myriad reasons I love curating the BitchReads list on a (semi)-regular basis. Read more »
"Girls and Their Cats" author BriAnne Wills, a white woman with dark hair, holds her cat, Tuck. There is a large plant in the background.

“Girls and Their Cats” and The Future of Cat Ladies

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
September 10, 2019 at 12:20pm
“I definitely think that the qualities people don’t like in cats are the same qualities that men especially don’t particularly like in women: that we’re independent, that we don’t need them.” Read more »
Donna Freitas, a white woman professor with long, black hair, smiles at the camera

Close to Home: Donna Freitas on the Stalking Professor Who Irrevocably Changed Her Life

by Evette Dionne
September 4, 2019 at 10:49am
“It’s just a relief not to be alone with it anymore.” Read more »
A selfie of author and illustrator Shelby Lorman, who is white with dark hair. She holds up her book, "Awards for Good Boys."

What Do We Do with “Good Boys?”

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 28, 2019 at 10:55am
“The internet really flattens a lot of conversations that require a lot of nuance.” 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 »

Hot Under the Bonnet: The Cooptation of Amish Culture in Mass-Market Fiction

a blue and white illustration of a woman in Amish attire standing next to a fan and a chicken
by Audrey deCoursey
Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends
Dubbed “Amish romance novels,” “Amish fiction,” or the more waggish “bonnet rippers,” these novels just one entry point into the varying images of Amish communities in U.S. popular culture. 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 »

Rewriting the Future: Using Science Fiction to Re-Envision Justice

by Walidah Imarisha
Spring 2015 • Law & Order
Our justice movements desperately need science fiction. Read more »