How Glory Edim and Well-Read Black Girl Are Creating and Transforming Communities of Readers

by YAHDON ISRAEL via https://www.vanityfair.com

With a new anthology now on shelves and a second literary festival this weekend, Edim continues to give black female readers and writers the space to ask more questions—and be O.K. with not having the answers.

Reading is, in some ways, a solitary enterprise—unlike movies, music, or sports, it’s something you generally do by yourself. But books have the capacity to make us feel less alone in the world, not only through their stories but through the community of readers that surround them. For Glory Edim, the founder of the multi-platform reading network Well-Read Black Girl, the community she created shows just how powerful books are when they’re shared.

Edim launched Well-Read Black Girl in 2015 as an Instagram account, aiming to, as she says, “showcase the universality of black women through literature,” by pairing archival photos of black women writers with their poignant and powerful quotes. The account served as a lighthouse for other black women readers who were able—some for the first time—to find each other en masse and talk about the books. As black women across the country started conversations in the comments section, Edim began …

Read More: How Glory Edim and Well-Read Black Girl Are Creating and Transforming Communities of Readers