Author: Kendra Winchester

Similar to the U.S. and Canada, Australia has a violent history of colonization and destruction of Indigenous communities. Dr. Anita Heiss has done a masterful job of editing this collection of writing by Indigenous peoples. There are pieces by people who lived through the separation of their families by the Australian government. There are pieces by people who didn’t realize that they were Indigenous until later in life and are on the journey of reconnecting with their Native Nation. Together, the essays tell the story of the unique histories and present day lived experiences of Indigenous peoples across the continent.

Every country has a different healthcare system, which means that disabled people’s experiences vary widely. Disability rights advocate Carly Findlay has brought together disabled, chronically ill, Deaf and neurodivergent authors from diverse backgrounds and experiences. There are athletes, authors, and actors. Some of the contributors have been disabled from birth while others became disabled later in life. Growing Up in Australia is one of the best disability anthologies that I’ve ever read, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Save Me the Plums was my first book by former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl. She’s so well known for her food-related memoirs; I’m kind of shocked that I had never read her work before, but I think Save Me the Plums was a great place to start. In this memoir, Reichl writes about her experience becoming the last editor-in-chief of one of America’s oldest food magazines. I love getting a behind-the-scenes look into how magazines are made. It’s a fascinating world of taste-making, photo shoots, and epic magazine covers. I flew through this book in one day. It’s just that fun to read.

In Twitty’s first book, he takes a few different DNA tests and takes us around the world as he researches the different countries and cultures — and their food — that make up his heritage. I loved learning about Twitty’s process, his love for learning, and his passion for all things cuisine. He shares his experiences traveling, tasting new food, and all the cooking he does in the process. This is every food nerd’s dream book as Twitty connects how food directly connects us to our cultures.

When someone asks me, “Disability Pride? What’s that?” I always recommend this book. Emily Ladau provides a wonderful introduction to disability terms, history, and the current disability justice movement. There are lovely illustrations and lists of other books for further reading. Ladau strikes a beautiful balance with her tone. She lays out the facts, but also understands that the people coming to this book genuinely want to learn. She takes such a kind way of introducing nondisabled people to disability studies without shying away from the difficult reality of living in an ableist society.

Piepzna-Samarasinha delves into ideas about Disability Justice, an idea founded on mutual aid and looking at disability from an intersectional perspective. Each essay looks at a different topic presented in a way that highlights Piepzna-Samarasinha’s personal experiences. We see them working in San Francisco as a member of different disability collectives. They describe going on tour with another disability justice activist. We also get an intimate look into Piepzna-Samarasinha’s daily struggles as a disabled person. It’s such a beautiful book. I highlighted SO much of the book that my copy looks like a rainbow exploded across its pages. There are so many lines that I’ve returned to for reassurance, reminding myself that even though I may be physically isolated, I’m not alone.

When Eddie Ndopu learns that he’s just received a full ride to Oxford, he feels elated. Finally, all of his work advocating for disabled people around the world has paid off. But when he contacts the university about covering his accommodations for his disability, they refuse to cover the cost of his caregiver. Ndopu describes the never-ending logistics and financial emergencies he experiences attending Oxford as someone with spinal muscular atrophy. Despite Oxford being one of the richest and oldest universities in the world, they still claimed, over and over again, not to be able to afford his care. Ndopu nevertheless pushes through, fighting not just for himself but for all disabled people who asked for equitable accommodations.

Australian author Cory Taylor is told that there is nothing the doctors can do. She is going to die. After two years of battling cancer, she expected this, but she still finds herself emotionally reeling from the news. Dying is her last testament, her thoughts, feelings, and experiences of going about the business of dying. Taylor finds herself often wandering through her memories of her childhood, thinking of all of the decisions that led to her current life. What would have happened if she made a different decision? Would she still be dying from a fatal illness? A beautiful ode to life and living, Dying is a memoir readers won’t soon forget.

Several years ago, I read Jenny Lawson’s first book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. It’s a hilarious book about Lawson’s life in Texas. She describes her father’s love of taxidermy and the first — quite eventful — time that her husband met her parents. Her stories are full of the fun and weird things that can happen to us all. Lawson experiences both mental and physical chronic illness. Her work highlights how one can impact the other. And if you are an audiobook fan, she reads her memoir. With her excellent comedic timing, the audiobook of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is perfection.

Born long before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, Alice Wong has watched the world change before her eyes. Now in her memoir, she describes trying to find her own accommodations throughout her life, especially at college, which wasn’t prepared for a student like her who needed a number of different kinds of accommodations. Wong includes photos, transcripts, and articles from throughout her life, giving readers a multimedia sort of memoir. Wong’s stories have been so impactful for so many of us, and it was an honor to read her memoir (or listen to it, in my case).

Cece Bell writes her memoir in the form of a graphic novel for kids. In it, she illustrates herself and the people around her as bunnies — so cute! Bell tells the story of her younger self, and we see Cece contract an illness in childhood, which causes her to lose most of her hearing. The story follows Cece through elementary and middle school as she makes friends and adapts to the various new technologies that help her hear teachers and the other people around her. I’m always looking for more books about disability for kids, so I adored this book. It’s such a great way to introduce children to what it’s like to grow up Deaf. The ensemble provides a chorus of voices for Cece and the other people in her life. And creative editing helps listeners follow along with the story.

There’s a certain magic that happens when you listen to a poet perform their own work. Deaf British Jamaican poet Raymond Antrobus narrates his poetry collection, adding brief introductions to some of the poems that describe his use of illustrations of British Sign Language (BSL) in his poetry. Much of Antrobus’ poetry centers around his Deaf and biracial identity, and listeners can hear the emotion hanging on every word. With Antrobus’ attention to detail and moving performance, The Perseverance is a powerful Deaf poetry collection that is equally as impactful on audio.

When a new friend insisted that I needed to read Annie Dillard, I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t quite have his literary taste down yet. But when I read The Writing Life, I got the hype. And just last month, I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a gorgeous book of essays that pulls from nature writing traditions. Dillard gives you a multi-seasonal portrait of the world around Tinker Creek, the many creatures that live there, and their life cycles. She writes about the complexity of plants, fish, birds, and bugs — like, A LOT of bugs. I must admit, I was a bit overwhelmed by her fascination with common parasites. But she kind of has a point. The living beings all around us have multifaceted, mesmerizing lives. If only we take the time to look.

Shortly after finishing A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I picked up How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. Chee has an essay about studying with Annie Dillard and details much of her writing advice. His picture of her often feels like one of Dillard’s portraits of some animal or plant she describes in her writing. But this time, Dillard is the one being studied. Chee also writes about his time as a gay rights activist while living in San Francisco in the early 1990s. He has a way of writing about people that capture all those tiny details that make their characterizations seem so true to life.