'Required reading.' - Cosmopolitan
Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives - but not everyone regularly sees themselves reflected on the pages of a book.
In this timely anthology, Glory Edim, founder of the online community, Well-Read Black Girl, brings together original essays by some of America's best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all - regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability - have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature.
Whether it's learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or using mythology to craft an alternative black future, each essay reminds us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation. Here, Edim has created a space where black women's writing, knowledge and life experiences are lifted up, to be shared with all readers who value the power of a story to help us understand the world, and ourselves.
Rebecca Lucy Taylor
Deborah Frances-White
Harriet Hall
Susannah Gibson
Florence Given
Sharon Blackie
Tahmina Begum
Sarah Ditum
Sophie Harman
Susan Dalgety
Nicole Louie
June Thomas
Sophie Gallagher
Diane Danzebrink
Ruby Warrington
Jenni Nuttall
Dr Nitu Bajekal
Marieke Bigg
Leah Hazard
Victoria Smith
Jennifer Robinson
Joanna Wolfarth
Florence Given
Heather Marshall
Hazel Wallace
Meighan Stone
Julie Bindel
Various
Various
Kathleen Stock
Eve Squires
Ruby Hamad
Alice Tarbuck
Dr Alyson J. McGregor
Elizabeth Macleod
Jennife Rees
Deborah Frances-White
Gabrielle Jackson
Chelsea Fairless
Sarah E Hill
Claire Hall
June Eric-Udorie
Lucy Wolfe
Jo Brand
Annabel Midult
Anna Cabeca
Candi Williams
Ruth Davidson
Caitlin Davies
Lily Pebbles
Mary Beard
Friederike Schilbach
Jack Holland
Annabel Rivkin
Julia Pierpont
Lesley Regan
Lily Pebbles
Siri Hustvedt
Lindy West
Lynn Povich
Stacy McAnulty
Lisa Appignanesi
Jenny Harper
Andi Zeisler
Jerramy Fine
Emer O'Toole
Polly Vernon
Barbara Taylor
Courtney Jung
Kate Harding
Susan Swain
Melissa Benn
Nicholas D. Kristof
Jill Foulston
Henrietta Leyser
Anne Laurence
Francesca Beauman
Andrea Dworkin
Angela Carter
Johanna Skilling
Shirley Burggraf
Elaine Showalter
Kate Millett