No Way! Okay, Fine by Brodie Lancaster

No Way! Okay, Fine, by young Melbourne writer Brodie Lancaster, was shortlisted for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. This witty and whip-smart memoir blends pop culture and feminism in the style of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist or Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl. Our reviewer says that Lancaster speaks honestly to the experience of being a young, millennial woman. Read the full review here.

How To Be A Bawse by Lilly Singh

From actress, comedian, and YouTube star Lilly Singh, How To Be A Bawse offers advice for young women on how to succeed in life. With over 12 million followers on YouTube, Singh is a hugely popular figure with teens and young people, and she uses her platform to promote gender equality, feminism and the empowerment of women.

Muslim Girl by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh

We were excited to hear that Amani Al-Khatahtbeh would be a guest at this year’s Melbourne Writer’s Festival. A writer, as well as founder and editor-in-chief of the website Muslim Girl, Al-Khatahtbeh is considered one of the most influential new feminist voices to appear in recent years. In her debut book, she shares her experience of being a young Muslim woman growing up in post 9-11 America, and covers a diverse range of topics including politics, religion, racism and womanhood.

Here We are edited by Kelly Jensen

With contributors including Mindy Kaling, Roxane Gay and Nova Ren Suma, Here We are is a collection of essays, poems, interviews, art and comics about everything from body positivity and female friendship, to gender identity and intersectionality. The collection is edited by reader, writer and former librarian, Kelly Jensen

You Don’t Have To Like Me by Alida Nugent

In this hilarious collection essays, Alida Nugent shares her journey from being one of those ‘I don’t need feminism because…’ girls, to recognising and understanding how feminism empowers women in professional and personal spaces. Using her own experiences, Nugent addresses issues including slut-shaming, eating disorders and the importance of women supporting women.

Too Much and Not the Mood by Durga Chew-Bose

Durga Chew-Bose is a young Brooklyn-based writer. Her book, Too Much and Not the Mood, is a collection of essays, letters, prose and poetry that examines what it means to be a woman in contemporary society, and the New Yorker describes the result as a ‘lyrical and piercingly insightful debut about identity and culture’.

The H Spot by Jill Filipovic

Jill Filipovic claims that women today live in a world of unfinished feminism – one ‘where we’re told we’re equal but see our basic rights up for grabs, where we’re told to just push harder at work, or recognize we can’t have it all’. In The H Spot, she argues that the main obstacle standing in-between women and happiness is a rigged system that benefits men at the expense of women, and argues for a movement that – interestingly – de-emphasises women’s equality in favour of focussing on their fulfillment.

Lian Hingee