Poetry must come from somewhere that is more than the sum of family, race, education, history, culture, gender, pain, and passion. Every poet, of course, draws on as much, but why is it that so many Black women poets’ where-from place... Read More

Struggling with tragedy, fear, and uncertainty, the characters of Erin Cecilia Thomas’s entrancing, woman-centered short story collection "I Watched You from the Ocean Floor" find hope through human connection and resilience. Easing... Read More

The urgent, prescient essays in Rebecca Solnit’s "No Straight Road Takes You There" name social inequities and ecological pains while insisting upon hope. Writing after the 2020 election, at a time when many on the left implored... Read More

In Kady Ambrose’s fantasy novel All that Shimmers, an orphaned nursemaid yearns for love against the backdrop of World War I and the influenza epidemic. Vanessa knows she is fortunate to work as a nursemaid for vacationing families at... Read More

Neuroscientists speculate that humans might have thirty or more senses, and we speculate that Patrycja Humienik’s acute sense of longing for a place that no longer exists on a map affects the way she perceives all the others. She is an... Read More

Daniel Tammet’s "Nine Minds" is a biographical mosaic of neurodivergence built of stories of individuals whose struggles and achievements defy the clichés surrounding autism. The book presents autism not as a “disorder” but as a... Read More

The innocence of boyhood is eclipsed by a fraught world in Vijay Khurana’s coming-of-age novel "The Passenger Seat". From the first page, Teddy and Adam are described as “boys, or men,” as if even the narrator is uncertain about... Read More

Asa West’s meditative guidebook offers comfort, advice, and inspiration for seekers interested in harnessing their magic, connecting with the natural world, and finding beauty in the everyday. Part memoir, part instructional guide,... Read More