Well Read Black Girl Is Putting The Lit Back in Literature

I have always liked to read, better yet I have always loved to read.

My earliest and most dear childhood memories, are of carefully combing through the crepe pages of the Scholastic Book Fair advertisements and circling the books I wanted. But holding on to that love, and finding the time to get lost in the prose of my favorite authors became increasingly more difficult with each passing year. Between work, social engagements, and #adulting curling up with a good book became more and more like a luxury. But over the last year Glory Edmin (who also goes by Glo), founder of the literary community Well Read Black Girl, completely changed that for me — and thousands of other Black women.

Like most of my great ideas, I stumbled across Well Read Black Girl on Instagram on where else but my explore page. Filled with posts of my favorite Black authors — Angelou, Walker and Adichie — along with books I had not yet heard of, @wellreadblackgirl stopped me dead in my scrolling tracks.

“WRGB’s mission is to celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood, and increase the visibility of Black women writers, as well as initiate meaningful conversation with readers,” says the Howard grad. Glory, and the very vocal #wrbg digital community, got me super excited to read again! And not just that, I began to actively seek out new up-and-coming Black women authors to devour.

When I finally had the chance to attend a book club meeting earlier this year — each month Glo handpicks a book and then plans a meetup in Brooklyn — I was blown away. Here was a thriving community of readers, and writers, who not only loved to read but also looked like me.

The literary excitement that so affectionately marked my childhood had been reinstated. Said another way, literature has become lit again!

Earlier this month WRBG had its first-ever festival and writers conference at BRIC …

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