Discover Your Next Diverse Read

Diverse Spines® is a book community dedicated to expanding awareness through diverse literature.

 

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ABOUT US

Expanding awareness through diverse literature

Our mission is to help you Discover Your Next Diverse Read! Diverse Spines® highlights books by Black Women and Women of Color. We are dedicated to amplifying marginalized stories that will help readers diversify their reading lists and discover new voices. We are a champion for expanding awareness and uplifting human experiences that are often underrepresented in the literary world!

 
 

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Spine of the Month

NOVEMBER 2024 - Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine by Uché Blackstock, MD

The rousing, captivating story of a Black physician, her career in medicine, and the deep inequities that still exist in the U.S. healthcare system.

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians. In the 1980s, their mother headed an organization of Black women physicians, and for years the girls watched these fiercely intelligent women in white coats tend to their patients and neighbors, host community health fairs, cure ills, and save lives.

What Dr. Uché Blackstock did not understand as a child--or learn about at Harvard Medical School, where she and her sister had followed in their mother's footsteps, making them the first Black mother-daughter legacies from the school--were the profound and long-standing systemic inequities that mean just 2 percent of all U.S. physicians today are Black women; the racist practices and policies that ensure Black Americans have far worse health outcomes than any other group in the country; and the flawed system that endangers the well-being of communities like theirs. As an ER physician, and later as a professor in academic medicine, Dr. Blackstock became profoundly aware of the systemic barriers that Black patients and physicians continue to face.

Legacy is a journey through the critical intersection of racism and healthcare. At once a searing indictment of our healthcare system, a generational family memoir, and a call to action, Legacy is Dr. Blackstock's odyssey from child to medical student to practicing physician--to finally seizing her own power as a health equity advocate against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

INSTAGRAM LIVE BOOK CHAT with the author on Monday 12/9 at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT

 
 

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You'll receive information on our current and upcoming Spine of the Month selections, diverse book recommendations, reading tips, exclusive author features, and things we think you'll enjoy!

 
 
 

It’s time to diversify your reading list

Bibliophile: Diverse Spines

by Jamise Harper & Jane Mount

This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collection uplifts the works of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world. Using their keen knowledge and deep love for all things literary, coauthors Jamise Harper (founder of the Diverse Spines book community) and Jane Mount (author of Bibliophile) collaborated to create an essential volume filled with treasures for every reader:

  • Dozens of themed illustrated book stacks—like Classics, Contemporary Fiction, Mysteries, Cookbooks, and more—all with an emphasis on authors from diverse cultural backgrounds.

  • A look inside beloved bookstores owned by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color

  • Reading recommendations from leading BIPOC literary influencers

 
 
 

1.

EASY TO GIFT

This portable guide is packed with more than 150 colorful illustrations and is a perfect gift for any booklover. The textured paper cover, gold foil, and ribbon marker make this book a special gift or self-purchase.

 

2.

DISCOVER UNSUNG LITERARY HEROES

The authors dive deep into a wide variety of genres, such as Contemporary Fiction, Classics, Young Adult, Sci-Fi, and more to bring the works of authors of color to the fore.

 

3.

ENDLESS READING INSPIRATION

Themed book stacks and reading suggestions from luminaries of the literary world provide curated book recommendations. Your to-read list will thank you.

 
 
 

What to read 

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Books to add you your reading list

The year ahead is filled with exciting releases.

 Diverse spines® presents

the chat

Author Workshops

Diverse Spines® presents author workshops hosted by Jamise Harper. The workshops feature a robust book discussion, information on the authors’ writing process, publishing journey and advice to aspiring writers.

 

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