Healing Reads: A Reading List
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
Welcome to Liza's Healing Reads List; a reading list that goes beyond anti-racism books. This list is all about healing and uplifting within and across communities.
The books shared on this list have been sources of healing for us throughout this year. This is a rolling list so stay tuned for new healing reads being added! If you feel inclined, let us know which books have been a source of healing for you @wordisdiversity.
After reading, what else can we do? Learn to (1) name and (2) understand the contributions of BIPOC authors in the literary and publishing industry. Keep learning. Keep growing. Share what you've read and have learned. Support BIPOC owned bookstores. If you are able, buy your books from them, volunteer with them, ask them how you can help support their business.
Until next time, take care of yourself. Take care of your neighbor. Thank you for reading and building a storytelling sanctuary with us. We hope you enjoy these beautiful stories.
Our first two books are bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward and Nectar by Upile Chisala. Read with us!
Title: bone
Author: Yrsa Daley-Ward
A quote that healed us: "Smiling at devils is a useful, learned thing."
Title: Nectar
Author: Upile Chisala
A quote that healed us: "There is danger in letting people misname you."
Title: My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
Author: Ibi Zoboi
A quote that healed us: "We are stardust. Why can't we just fold time and space around us and become our very own wormholes?"
Title: Black Imagination
Curator: Natasha Marin
A quote that healed us: "I am healthy, whole, and black at the same time."
Title: Preparing My Daughter For Rain
Author: Key Ballah
A quote that healed us: "Land so beautiful they couldn't help but steal it."
Title: The Source of Self Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Author: Toni Morrison
A quote that healed us: "Don't let anybody, anybody convince you this is the way the world is and therefore must be. It must be the way it ought to be."
Title: Heavy: An American Memoir
Author: Kiese Laymon
A quote that healed us: “Mostly, I wondered what black writers weren't writing when we spent so much creative energy begging white folk to change.”
Title: The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey
Author: Toi Derricotte
A quote that healed us: “This is an act of destruction of the self, an undoing of the self's protection. Over and over I face the wall, the way in which I must confront my own complicity. Even the smallest fragment is a great victory.”
Title: When You Learn the Alphabet
Author: Kendra Allen
A quote that healed us: "What am I complaining for, is what she was saying to me, physical shackles are no longer around my ankles; they are just wrapped around my mind."