In Afabwaje Kurian’s novel "Before the Mango Ripens", Nigerians fight against white American missionaries for control over their country’s future. “Transition [is] afoot in Nigeria” in 1971, just after the nation’s... Read More

A trans woman guards her secrets and fights dark powers in Margaret Killjoy’s novel "The Sapling Cage". Lorel wants to become a witch, learn to use magic, and travel the world. But she was assigned male at birth, and witches are always... Read More

Dianna E. Anderson’s "Body Phobia" is a convincing personal and philosophical exposé of how a culture that fears bodily differences harms vulnerable people. Anderson, who is nonbinary, trans, and queer, grew up in an evangelical... Read More

Tim Allis’s fascinating biography of American fashion and retail pioneer Henri Bendel, inventor of the clearance sale, asserts that much of what is taken for granted in modern retail can be attributed to Bendel, whose in-store fashion... Read More

Forbidden love tears apart an Egyptian Levantine family in Éric Chacour’s novel "What I Know About You". Tarek always followed the path laid out by his family: he became a doctor to please his strict father, and he married the woman... Read More

Emotive illustrations track the transformation of a girl as she moves through her fear and finds resolve. Tali longs to tumble and soar like the other children at gymnastics or the dojo, but fear always stops her from trying. Through a... Read More

About how learning new languages transformed her mindset and exposed her to new cultures, "Immersion" is Linda Murphy Marshall’s affecting memoir. Celebrating self-expression against a backdrop of increasing globalization, Linda Murphy... Read More