It‘s being driven home to me lately, both how completely interdependent we are around the world, and also how insular we are in our ideas and our awareness. Books can be a window to that wider world, even when they’re fiction, even when they’re romance.

So I encourage you all to take a read outside your own experience. For those of us who speak English, in particular, we should try reading books set outside the English-speaking world. Check out authors like Roe Horvat (I particularly recommend A Love Song for the Sad Man in the White Coat) or Sofia Soames (try Little Harbour) or consider Bealevon Nolan’s A Night Full of Stars.

Although ideally we’re looking for local authors to the nations we experience, Adriana Herrera has Finding Joy set in Ethiopia, Z. Allora has The Great Wall set in China, and NR Walker has Blood & Milk set in Tanzania.

Fiction is not fact. But good fiction can give us flavor and context, and make us aware of our own preconceptions. In this world where no nation can healthily live behind a wall and be an island, that’s worth making time for.

If you have favorites, set outside the English-speaking world, especially with local protagonists (not just visitors) or by local authors, I’d love to have you tell me about them.

And as the world slips toward less freedom and more oppression in recent years, particularly for LGBTQ folk, let’s do our best to share the message that we are all one people. Lives depend on it.

– Kaje Harper

March 2022