Substacks recommended by Alicia Kenworthy

Recommended by Alicia Kenworthy

The Road We Trod

By Shayla Martin

A newsletter about all things Black travel, Black history and Black culture.

Once Upon a Hill

By Michael

An in-depth insider's chronicle of Congress through the lens of race, gender and class.

W. Kamau Bell asks, "Who's With Me?"

Come hang out with a pop-culture-obsessed, antiracist, lefty, OG Blerd who lives in Oakland, CA.

Shalom Auslander's Fetal Position

"Just to spite the world, don’t cry! Just to spite the world, only laugh, only laugh!" - Sholom Aleichem. Amen, Brother.

StoryWorlds with Junot Díaz

By Junot Díaz

“So howled out for the world to give him a name. The indark answered with wind.” ― Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren :: Reflections on fiction and worldbuilding, on diasporas and elsewheres.

A Sassy Little Substack

By Sandra

A sassy little 'stack about being authentically happy, right now, as is (no toxic positivity allowed), living big in a small space, and figuring it all out, one misstep at a time. New posts each Wednesday. xo

Incandescent Palace

By Juliette Cove

Storylines and variety interludes sprinkled in comedy bring reality into the grand ballroom of fiction, and fiction into the courtyard of reality. ⭐️ Intro (video or read) ⭐️ Script ⭐️Featured Song ⭐️ Writer’s Notes ⭐️

Singular, lively, vivid. Juliette has VOICE. I'm not sure I've ever read prose so brimming with metaphor and surprise at every corner.

- Alicia Kenworthy

SubMakk

By Rebecca Makkai

Rebecca Makkai's Substack: mostly writing and books! but also Zillow, true crime, etymology, food, general inanity

Michael Mohr's Sincere American Writing

Buy my YA literary punk novel, THE CREW. Find me on Facebook. Author. Book editor. Thinker. Contrarian. Essays. Politics. Memoir. Book reviews. Fiction. No teams. No loyalties. Straight bourbon honesty.

Inner Workings

By Rachel Katz

“Consistently sharp and interesting” weekly dispatches on mysterious women’s diseases, work culture, mothering, and the struggle to stop yearning for wealth and power. From a chronically ill, ex-startup CEO searching for redemption.

Incisive, incredibly relatable essays on what it means to be a woman and a mother in a world run by Silicon Valley.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Amran Gowani's Field Research

Author Amran Gowani's personal publication, featuring humor essays, cultural and political satire, flash fiction, parenting riffs, gonzo journalism, and other delights from life's rich pageant.

olurinatti

By Olayemi Olurin

Olayemi Olurin's essays exploring the issues facing us today

Expertly crafted essays from a singular movement lawyer and thought leader on abolition. I learn from Olayemi every day.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Sparks from Culture by David Roberts

By david roberts

A rare opportunity to learn about wealth, class, and capitalism from someone with generational wealth writing with transparency

Nicci’s Notes

By Nicci Kadilak

A weekly mashup of reflections on writing, motherhood, and what it means to be a human in this messy world. Equal parts empathy, deep breaths, and levity.

Nicci writes beautifully from the frontlines of motherhood. Equal doses empathy, relatability and humor.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Eclecticism: Reflections on literature, writing and life

By Terry Freedman

Reflections on literature * Musings on everyday life * Book reviews * Experiments in creative nonfiction writing * Humour

Witticisms and eclectic musings from across the pond. Seeing Terry's name in my inbox always makes me smile!

- Alicia Kenworthy

Badreads

By Lauren Hough

Essays, bad jokes, rants, and unsolicited advice from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Hough, and a dog named Woody Guthrie.

There's an immediacy to Lauren's prose that is unparalleled. I don't think I ever tire of her voice in my inbox.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Boude._.moi

By Josiane Stratis de Boude-moi

Boude._.moi est une infolettre de type carnets d'autoréparation sous plusieurs formes. Entre le journal, la réflexion sociale et psychologique, les textes sont longs mais sont bons!

By far my favorite French-language discovery on Substack. Josiane is a superbly talented writer who tackles cancel culture, trauma and its after-effects with nuance and vulnerability.

- Alicia Kenworthy

The Intentional Hulk

By Amy Yuki Vickers

I'm an autistic writer. I'm sincere and earnest and I work really hard on every post.

Vivid imagery and strikingly elegant prose. I love the way Amy looks at the world.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Story Club with George Saunders

A place to explore the way the short story works.

Mary Karr calls George Saunders the "best short story writer in English." If you're not reading him already, you're in for a treat.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Write What

By Stephanie Danler

A newsletter about reading & writing & the never-ending conversation.

Beautiful essays, incisive literary criticism and an invaluable resource on craft. There are few writers whose work I admire or learn more from than Danler's.

- Alicia Kenworthy

Freddie deBoer

cool but rude

A Writer's Notebook

By Summer Brennan

essays, art, and inspiration from an American writer in Paris

Supercreator

By Michael Jones

The premier politics newsletter for the creative class

The best newsletter about politics for creatives

- Alicia Kenworthy

Just Enough to Get Me in Trouble

By Lyle McKeany

Personal, vulnerable, and sometimes funny essays from a husband, father, and disability advocate, delivered whatever days he wants at exactly 8:08 am PT.

Weekly dispatches of vulnerability and top-notch prose. I look forward to Lyle's singular essays about fatherhood, writing and this thing called life every Saturday. (He's quite the talented fiction writer, too!)

- Alicia Kenworthy

Mind Meld

By Kushaan Shah

New musings at the corner of marketing, technology and culture

Marketing, tech and culture insights from one of my favorite humans

- Alicia Kenworthy

Great Books + Great Minds

By Diamond-Michael Scott

Great Books, Great Minds is a member-supported digital community with a mission of “Igniting a New World of Community, Connection, and Conversation, One Book at a Time

Both Are True

By Alex Dobrenko

Absurd, honest comedy delivered twice a weekish through the vulnerable personal essays of Alex Dobrenko: tv actor+writer to some, father to o̶n̶e̶ two, and friend to all.

a newsletter

By Alison Roman

recipes, stories and unsolicited advice from alison roman

For when you need both a recipe for caramelized shallot pasta and a good laugh. Were it not for Alison Roman, I'm not sure I'd have ever learned to cook.

- Alicia Kenworthy