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.
Jamal Jordan, a brown-skinned Black man with short locs, leans back against the wall while wearing a magenta and purple-striped shirt

Romantic Resilience: Jamal Jordan Captures the Beauty of Queer Love in Color

by Josie Pickens
June 8, 2021 at 11:40am
This book is offering a unique gift to the world, one that presents a new story with new definitions and new possibilities. Read more »
Gabrielle Platt, a Black woman with a caesar cut, sits on a white and black comforter in a red dress and smiles

Afrominimalism Offers a New Vision for Black People

by Gabrielle Ione Hickmon
June 7, 2021 at 10:21am
Minimalism’s loudest voices have historically been white people who consistently overlook how people of color, especially Black people, have to approach minimalism differently. Read more »
Kristen Arnett, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, looks dead set at the camera

Kristen Arnett’s “With Teeth” Packs a Huge Bite

by Nylah Burton
June 3, 2021 at 2:14pm
As unreliable a character as Sammie is, the reader knows she’s not a liar. Read more »
Sloppy Firsts is a book cover that features an illustration of a white woman with short, brown hair sitting cross-legged on the floor

Jessica Darling Saved Teen Girls in the 2000s. Can She Do It Again?

by Emily Cataneo
June 2, 2021 at 11:48am
For a lonely teenage girl looking for a reflection of herself in a culture that disdains her, a brutally honest, interiority-heavy YA book can be a lifeline. Read more »
a white, plus-size woman with blond hair reads a book on an orange couch with a small white dog

BitchReads: 17 Books Feminists Should Read in June

by Evette Dionne
June 1, 2021 at 4:06pm
The books just keep on coming. Read more »
Ashley C. Ford is a brown-skinned Black woman with a short black afro and glasses

“Somebody’s Daughter” Redefines the Way We Think about Love

by Nylah Burton
June 1, 2021 at 1:38pm
We have to be open to the idea that love can look and be so many different ways. Read more »
Zakiya Dalila Harris, a dark-skinned Black woman with a black afro, crosses her arms that are covered in a pink and teal patterned blazer

Sunken Place: “The Other Black Girl” Magnifies the Everyday Horrors of Racism

by Vanessa Willoughby
June 1, 2021 at 11:17am
What’s scarier than a villain who pretends to think like you and looks like you? Read more »
Grace Perry, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, wears a navy blue shirt as she poses against a brick wall

Remembering “Glee,” a Show That Fervently Celebrated LGBTQ Teens

by Grace Perry
June 1, 2021 at 10:07am
Glee changed the representation game for queer kids on TV, which, in turn, changed the real-life game for queer kids off TV. Read more »
Zakiya Dalila Harris, a dark-skinned Black woman with a black afro, crosses her arms that are covered in a pink and teal patterned blazer

“The Other Black Girl” Verbalizes the Horror of Workplace Racism

by Evette Dionne
May 28, 2021 at 11:58am
Zakiya Dalila Harris puts a contemporary social lens on the horror her book details. Read more »
an illustration shows a woman climbing up a digital ladder with another woman looking up at her

No Way Up: Kathy Wang’s “Impostor Syndrome” Is a Tech World Satire

by Adwoa Afful
May 27, 2021 at 2:40pm
The book externalizes the ethical issues confronting tech. Read more »

Pages

Best of Bitch

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 »

Know & Tell: The Literary Renaissance of Trans Women Writers

by Katherine Cross
Winter 2015 • (Re)Vision
For so long, the people who wrote about us were not us. Finally, that is beginning to change. Read more »

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 »

Black Girls Hunger for Heroes, Too: A Black Feminist Conversation on Fantasy Fiction for Teens

by Zetta Elliott
December 17, 2013 at 3:19pm
What happens when two great black women fiction writers get together to talk about race in young adult literature? That's exactly what happens... Read more »