Books

10 Essential Books About Writing

Must-read titles for writers include works by Elena Ferrante, Akwaeke Emezi, Meg Wolitzer, Yoko Ogawa, and more.

Face the Strange: Dani Shapiro Maps Her Family Secrets in “Inheritance”

“All my life, I had known there was a secret,” Dani Shapiro writes. “What I hadn’t known: the secret was me.”  Read more »

Andrea Gibson’s “Lord of the Butterflies” Celebrates Constant Transformation

In their fifth collection of poetry, Lord of the Butterflies, Andrea Gibson resists tidy narratives in favor of dramatizing a life that’s vibrant with constant transformation. Read more »

2018’s Best Books About Bodies

Our relationships to our bodies are arguably the deepest and most stirring we have. Read more »

Not Another Teen Book: Contemporary YA Lit Acknowledges the Spectrum of Teenage Experiences

As a perennially popular and thriving genre, YA is an important place for teenagers to start difficult conversations, even if it’s just acknowledging the spectrum of their experiences. Read more »

Red Handed: Kristen R. Ghodsee on Sex and Socialism

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism highlights the stories of feminists and socialists who worked to make women’s lives better under socialism, while pointing to ways we can adapt their lessons for the future. Read more »

Dear Lane: “How To Be Alone” is Vulnerable, Funny, and Profoundly Healing

How To Be Alone gave me closure for trauma. Read more »

Lift Every Voice: “Shout Your Abortion” Is Changing the Conversation

In 2015, Amelia Bonow shared her abortion story on her Facebook page. Read more »

Join the Club: Gabrielle Moss on the Golden Age of YA Literature

Gabrielle Moss takes us on a nostalgic and hilarious tour through teen bookshelves and the Golden Age of YA literature. Read more »

Eloquent Rage: How Brittney Cooper Created a Black Feminist Manifesto

When Dr. Brittney Cooper speaks, the world stops to listen. Read more »

Pages

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

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 »

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

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

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

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 »