Alana sits down with Trae of @blkbookswap and Fayola of @readingforblacklives to discuss the origin and work of their Brooklyn/Bookstagram based orgs. This conversation breaks down the importance of community, representation, and what it’s like incorporating white people into communal spaces while holding space for poc. 

Bookstores Mentioned:  

CafeConLibros: Website // Instagram

Adanne: Website // Instagram

TheLuxeLibrary: Website // Instagram  

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Trae w/ BlkBookSwapInitiative: Instagram // Twitter // Venmo

Follow Fayola w/ TheReadingforBlackLivesProject: Instagram // Website // Venmo // Paypal

Follow Alana Amore: Instagram

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by Angel Akurienne and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

Do you ever find yourself daydreaming about working in the book industry world? Berkley Romance publicists, Kristin Cipolla, and host Jordy, discuss all things book publicity and the romance genre. If you are a book lover, this one’s for you. 

Book Mentioned:

First Book Recommendation: Do I Know You? by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka 24 January 2023

Second Book Recommendation: Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni comes out 31 January 2023 

Third Book Recommendation: The Nanny by Lana Ferguson comes out 11 April 11 

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Kristin Cipolla: Instagram

Follow Jordy: Instagram 

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by  Rah Hernandez and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

There’s a special magic in feeling seen in a book – feeling like it was written just for you, to help validate your identity and experience. Maybe you even hesitate to recommend it because you can’t imagine anyone else could love it as much as you. Sally shares a couple of recent reads that gave her that magical feeling.

Speaking of magic, in the second segment Mariquita talks with Barbara Bourland about her new novel, The Force of Such Beauty, which tells the true cost of the modern fairy tale: authoritarianism, subjugation, and erasure of self.

Book Mentioned by Sally:

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades

The Girls in Queens by Christine Kandic Torres

Books Mentioned by Mariquita and Barbara:

I’ll Eat When I’m Dead by Barbara Bourland

Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland

The Force of Such Beauty by Barbara Bourland

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Sally: Instagram // The StoryGraph

Barbara: Website

Follow Mariquita: Instagram 

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by Angel Akurienne and Rah Hernandez and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

Simha Haddad and Marsha Molinari discuss the power behind social media platforms and the serious repercussions that come with misusing that power. Citing a recent incident in which a prominent celebrity used her platform to propel a false narrative, they delve into both the harm and the good that can come from a simple social media post. (Editor’s note: the person at the center of this story uses multiple pronouns, so you will hear the hosts switch between them.)

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Marsha: Instagram

Follow Simha: Instagram

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

Niba chats with Kate Beaton about her life and new novel, Ducks. After university, Kate Beaton leaves family behind to join Alberta’s oil rush, but as one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. The harsh reality of life in the oil sands is that trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. 

Book-only TW: sexual content

Order your copy of Ducks by Kate Beaton

Support our guest and host:

Follow Kate Beaton: Twitter // Website

Follow Niba: Twitter // Instagram // TikTok // YouTube // Website 

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by Rah Hernandez and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

Natalia takes a quick break from maternity leave to talk to the inimitable and delightful Iuliia Mendel, former Ukraine Press Secretary and author of The Fight for Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World. They talk about Ukrainian identity, Russian accountability, and how (maybe?) millennials will save the world.

Mentioned in this episode: 

The Fight for Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World by Iuliia Mendel

How to Support Ukraine by Yasi Agah for Feminist Book Club

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Iuliia Mendel: Twitter

Follow Natalia: Instagram // Twitter 

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

The episodes begins with Mariquita reviewing one of her new favorite young adult books titled Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson. Piecing me together is a beautiful coming of age novel about a young Black girl in North Portland.

Then in the second segment, Ashley speaks with Iman Hariri-Kia about her debut novel, A Hundred Other Girls. The conversation includes writing about children of immigrants, the representation of non-binary characters, the pace of media in New York City, and the burnout and build of bloggers. Iman also speaks about about her work as a sex and relationship editor and her newsletter called Cherry Picked. 

Media & Books Mentioned:

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson

Oregon Was Founded As a Racist Utopia Article

A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia

National Network of Abortion Funds 

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Mariquita: Instagram 

Follow Iman Hariri-Kia: Instagram //  TikTok //  Linktree

Follow Ashley: Twitter // Website

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by Rah Hernandez and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

In this episode Niba interviews Mansi Choksi about her debut book, The Newlyweds: Rearranging Marriage in Modern India. The Newlyweds is a literary investigation into India as a society in transition through the lens of forbidden love, as three young couples reject arranged marriages and risk everything for love in the midst of social and political upheaval.

tw: sexual content, violence, mental illness, homophobia

The American flag holds a lot of history and different meanings depending on who you ask. In the second segment Jordy and Rah discuss what the American flag means to them. During the discussion Jordy, an ex-coast guardian, reflects on her time during her service.

Tw: sexual assualt 

Media Mentoned:

The Newlyweds: Rearranging Marriage in Modern India by Mansi Choksi 

Behind the Beautiful Forever by Katherine Boo

A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma

The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara

We Do This ‘Til We Free Us by Miriame Kaba

Support our guest and hosts:

Follow Mansi Choksi: Instagram // Twitter // Website

Follow Niba: Instagram // Twitter // TikTok // YouTube // Website 

Follow Rah: Instagram // Twitter // TikTok

Follow Jordy: Instagram 

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by Rah Hernandez and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

In the first half of this episode Annie and Ashley continue the conversation about women’s sports. This time, the conversation leads more into athletes admired for their activism, what speaking about mental health on a grand stage means, and double standards amidst sports. A quick apology about the barks of Annie’s dog, Tobin Keith! His appearance was unexpected, but couldn’t quite be edited out. 

In the second part, Alana speaks with screenwriter, director, and producer. Marin Lepore about representation in art and the narratives forced upon underrepresented communities. In this honest conversation about the industry, they discuss the balance between representation and activism and creative process behind the two. 

Media Mentoned: 

Megan Rapinoe’s memoir

Naomi Osaka Docuseries on Netflix

Women’s Soccer on Paramount TV Plus

 A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

 Adopteen - The Park Adoption Community

We are Women in Film and Media Colorado

Support our guests and hosts:

Follow Annie: Instagram // Twitter 

Follow Ashley: Twitter // Website

Follow Marin Lepore: Instagram // Sad Girl Prod. // Website

Follow Alana Amore: Instagram

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited by Rah Hernandez and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.

Do you ever get to the end of the year and wish you had read just a few more new releases? Sally’s here to help! She’s read over 50 releases from 2022 and has sifted through her reviews to pull out her top five new releases (so far).

Then, in honor of our Women in Music theme this month, Alana talks with Dr. Susan Rogers, cognitive neuroscientist, Berklee professor, and music producer responsible for engineering Prince’s Purple Rain album, about her new book This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music We Love Says About Us. Dr. Rogers shares a bit about her career, including the experiences of women in music production, teaching at Berklee, and working with Prince.

Books mentioned:

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music We Love Says About Us by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

Support our guests and hosts:

Follow Dr. Susan Rogers: Website

Follow Alana Amore: Instagram

Follow Sally: Instagram // The StoryGraph

Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday

Check out our online community here! 

This episode was edited and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Original music by @iam.onyxrose

Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.