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.
Woman with red hair turns her green eyes toward the camera with a slight smile on her face.

Swiped Out: Nancy Jo Sales Wrote the Book on the Corporate Triumph of Big Dating

by Andi Zeisler
May 20, 2021 at 12:31pm
Misogyny wasn’t invented by dating apps. It was just weaponized by them. Read more »
Moya Bailey, a Black woman with short black hair and glasses, poses against a blue background

Do We Need a Black Feminist Bechdel Test? Moya Bailey Thinks So.

by Mary Retta
May 19, 2021 at 3:05pm
We need more Black feminists everywhere.  Read more »
Lee Lai, a young Asian person wears a backpack and polo shirt

Family Stones: Lee Lai’s “Stone Fruit” Draws the Growing Pains of Queer Kinship

by Jenna Mahale
May 14, 2021 at 10:50am
“Everyone’s pretty messy, while also being really well-intentioned.” Read more »
Gina Frangello, a white author with shoulder-length brown hair, sits in a leather-backed black chair and smiles at the camera

Gina Frangello Writes Complex Women. Is That Why She’s “Unlikeable?”

by Jennifer Berney
May 6, 2021 at 1:30pm
Gina Frangello is surprised to find herself suddenly being a poster girl for rage. Read more »
Larissa Pham, an Asian, pensive woman wears wire rim glasses in front of greenery

Beautiful Suffering: “Pop Song” Bears Witness to the Power of Different Loves

by Oliver Haug
May 4, 2021 at 11:25am
Maybe it’s human instinct to want to capture our emotions, to bottle and preserve them for others to see. Read more »
an Indian woman with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses sits outside and reads a book

BitchReads: 17 Books Feminists Should Read in May

by Evette Dionne
May 3, 2021 at 12:04pm
Did you miss us? Read more »
a brown woman sits in a chair, feet in sneakers propped up

Our Internet, Ourselves: 7 Extremely Online Books for the Twitter-Weary

by Jenna Mahale
April 28, 2021 at 10:32am
These seven books explain our dysfunctional relationship with the internet. Read more »
Love In Color, a book cover, features an illustration of a brown-skinned man and a brown-skinned woman appearing to kiss

“Love in Color” Modernizes the Myths We Love to Hate

by Gloria Oladipo
April 23, 2021 at 12:25pm
Rather than denote these tales as relics of the past, she communicates the value of these myths, stories retold for centuries that reveal all the things that love can be. Read more »
Emily Contois, a white woman with brown hair pulled back, smiles slyly outside

“Diners, Dudes, and Diets” Reveals the Absurdity of Gendered Food

by Andréa Becker
April 20, 2021 at 9:00am
By naming and examining dude food, Emily J.H. Contois gives us the language and historical context for an omnipresent phenomenon we’ve all surely noticed. Read more »
a blond-haired woman whose face is blurred out holds a black video-game controller in her hands

“We Are Watching Eliza Bright” Turns Gamergate into Experimental Fiction

by Samantha Riedel
April 13, 2021 at 6:02pm
There may be other Gamergate novels to come, but for now, A.E. Osworth has set the bar. 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »