1. Fieldwork in Stilettos I’ve been reading Kat Richter for years. She’s a Philadelphia-based writer and dance teacher who blogs about dating, writing and lately, home improvement. Her prose is extremely fun to read. I’ve followed her through a questionable “manthropological” dating experiment, a couple of meaningful relationships and roughly the same number of heartbreaks. If you think her posts sound throwaway, check out the couple of times she’s diverged from her usual subjects – to talk about the experience of encountering anti-abortion campaigners outside a women’s clinic and, drawing from her background in anthropology, to explain why there’s no such thing as race. Whatever she writes is lively, sharp and worth following.
2. Captain Awkward When I discovered this blog, I devoured the archive in hours. Captain Awkward dispenses insightful, practical and thorough advice on subjects ranging from a woman whose otherwise wonderful partner will not accept her feminist views to anxiety about interacting with former co-workers. Written by a movie writer and director, Captain Awkward promotes mental health, we well as sexual and gender equality. The blog is also mega-successful, with each post attracting hundreds of comments.
3. Brain Pickings This blog makes me gush. Maria Popova’s writing is exquisite, her take on philosophy, creativity and critical thinking always thought-provoking and beautifully expressed. Her essays draw on the wisdom garnered from some of the world’s greatest thinkers and how their insights might apply to our everyday lives. Her selection of quotations and suggested further reading always make me think. Read her on the boundary between hope and cynicsm and diversity and difference in children’s literature. In fact, just read everything she writes. Her site remains ad-free and funded (though I’m not sure how substantially) by readers. For me, Brain Pickings represents the very best of what the internet can do to promote independent, creative thinking.
4. Broadside Blog Caitlin Kelly is a veteran New York journalist who turned freelance a few years ago after losing her job at a major daily paper. She posts about work, travel, the media industry, as well as friendship and family relationships. I’m attracted to her crisp, uncompromising and confident tone, as well as the many insights she has about journalism. I don’t agree with everything she says, but the way she says it is reason enough to read her work. Her writing strikes that delicate balance between personal and professional- I feel like I know her but there’s nothing I wish I didn’t know.
5. Aileen Donegan We’ve never met but know each other from our blogs and Twitter. Aileen’s a 26 year-old journalist from Ireland with an interesting background in online activism and experience living in Strasbourg. In the wake of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, she wrote a compelling piece about attending a small solidarity march in Dublin and about how that event, unlike demonstrations she’d been to in the past, sat right. I loved her recent post about the summer she spent as a teenager reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar.
I’m always on the lookout for new blogs to follow, so let me know if you have any favourites I should be adding to my list!
I’m flattered, thank you for the lovely shout out 🙂
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It’s a pleasure! Have been enjoying your writing for a long time 🙂
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Thanks so much for including me! I’m honored.
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Likewise thank you, Caitlin for your many wonderful and insightful posts! 🙂
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I had no idea you liked Captain Awkward! I’ve been reading her for years and think her advice has seriously improved by ability to cope with most life situations. She is the best! I will also definitely be checking out your other recommendations!
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She’s wonderful, isn’t she? 🙂 I wish I could speak in fluent scripts! Would love some more recommendations, if you have any?
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Kate! This has made my day! I love when you write blogs like this… I’ve become a habitual reader of Kat Richter since I found her site on one of your similar posts like this! I’ll have to up my game and write more, and I plan to! Moved to Brussels this week. Hectic, stressful, sad and upbeat is how I’ve been feeling. Missing home terribly, but loving my work! Might pop over to Berlin for tea now that we’re neighbours, if you’re up for it, I’ll let you know!
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Aw, congrats on the move! Have been thinking of you actually as I figured you’d be on your way soon. Glad work is great – definitely let me know if you’re in Berlin! That would be amazing 🙂
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I write a blog about being female, middle aged, and travelling. At the moment I’m in Ireland, and loving it. http://www.jenniereid.com.au I’ll have a look at the blogs you mention above – they sound great!
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