The founder of Well-Read Black Girl discusses her memoir in praise of the books that saved her.

In 2015, Glory Edim founded Well-Read Black Girl, a literary community dedicated to Black women. Over the past decade she’s reached half a million readers, and promoted diverse voices in literature and inspired conversations around societal issues, from banned books to gender equality to reproductive rights. But Glory’s own love of books stretches far back. Books were her outlet to navigate traumatic changes and losses, to escape into safe spaces, and to find community. As she grew older she discovered authors from Toni Morrison to Nikki Giovanni to Audre Lorde, whose works and ideas weren’t being taught in her classes. Her new memoir, Gather Me, is an ode to the power reading has had on her life and to books’ ability to help us understand ourselves.

Glory Edim speaks with Aminatou Sow about her memoir of family, community, and resilience and how representation in literature can gather the disparate parts that make us who we are and assemble them into a portrait of discovery.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Glory Edim is a literary tastemaker, entrepreneur, and advocate for diverse voices in literature. In 2015, she founded Well-Read Black Girl (WRBG), an online platform and book club dedicated to celebrating the works of Black women authors and creating a supportive online community for readers. Under Glory's leadership, WRBG has grown into a non-profit organization, hosting events, book festivals, and author conversations that highlight the richness and diversity of Black literature. Her efforts have earned her accolades such as the 2017 Innovator’s Award from the Los Angeles Times and the Madam C.J. Walker Award from the Hurston/Wright Foundation. As an author herself, Glory has contributed to the literary landscape with her best-selling anthologies Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, and On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library.

Aminatou Sow is a New York Times best-selling writer and interviewer with a background in policy, tech and brand marketing. For over a decade, she hosted and produced the acclaimed podcast, Call Your Girlfriend, with her friend Ann Friedman. She has interviewed notable figures like Hillary Clinton, AOC, and Roxane Gay. Together, Aminatou and Ann wrote the NYT best-selling book, Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close.

On screen, Aminatou has appeared in CNN’s original series RBG, and Diana. She also hosted the companion podcast When Diana Met...

For television, Aminatou wrote for Freeform’s hit show, Single Drunk Female. Aminatou is also a former member of the Sundance Institute Director’s Advisory Group and previous head of Social Impact Marketing at Google. She was named one of Forbes “30 Under 30 in Tech.” She is as comfortable talking about politics or AI & Machine Learning as she is talking about pop culture and memes.

Aminatou is proudly West African and a native French speaker who grew up between Africa and Europe, offering her a unique worldview. She currently lives in Brooklyn, and she loves it.

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. 

Livestream | Captions and a transcript will be provided. Media used over the course of the conversation will be accompanied by alt text and/or audio description. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

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Glory Edim © Tamera Darden
Aminatou Sow © Liza Voloshin