Designed to mimic my Lorna Sage reading project of six women writers each year (here in 2024 and here in 2025), I chose Julia Alvarez, Alexis Wright, Annie Ernaux, Olga Tokarczuk, Gish Jen, and Leslie Marmon Silko for 2026. At first, I thought I would read a few books
As part of our collaboration, reading across borders, Rachel “discovered” Genevieve Graham’s Bluebird, set in Windsor Ontario, and I found a copy of Ibi Zoboi’s American Street, set in Detroit, at the local library. Neither of us chose for the other, but we shared our picks in advance
Rachel (Life of a Female Bibliophile) and I have been reading books set in our respective “hometowns” for a long time, but this project is about making time to read a book set directly on the other side of the border in the other person’s hometown, at a
In Boy George’s 2023 autobiography Karma, he says: “Having an opinion is always bad for business.” He’s got lots of them himself, but there’s he’s describing—and celebrating—how Taylor Swift took a political stance against homophobia when some warned her it was bad for business. Author Louise Penny has spoken
In recent Januaries, Bill @ The Australian Legend has been hosting weeks dedicated to Australian women writers for so long that he finally invited the fellas to have a week too. My own interest in Australia was initially sparked in the fourth grade when I was assigned the Platypus
