Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Maaza Mengiste is a novelist and essayist. She is the author of the Booker shortlisted-novel, The Shadow King, set during Italys' invasion of Ethiopia. Her debut novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, was selected by The Guardian as one of the ten best contemporary African books, and her work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and Granta, among other journals. She is also the editor of Addis Ababa Noir (Akashic Books), which features short stories from Ethiopian writers around the world. "When I was young, all of Ethiopian history came to me through oral storytelling," she told Washington Square Review. "I understood the country through the voices of people that I knew." Thanks to Mengiste's work, that history might now find the wider audience it deserves. Below are Maaza Mengiste's favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.

Maaza Mengiste'S FAVORITE BOOKS

Fashion designer-turned-novelist, Douglas Stuart used long-haul flights to Asia as ersatz writing retreats while working on his debut, Shuggie Bain, which tells the story of a young boy and his alcoholic mother (but also so much more than such compression conveys). The novel was rejected 32 times before finding a publisher, which makes its success - it just won the Booker Prize - all the more extraordinary. Like its author, the novel’s protagonist is gay, his childhood limned by the depredations of a tough housing scheme and an alcoholic, though beloved, mother.  “Not a word of it is true, it is all written in truth,” is how Stuart likes to describe his bittersweet love song to his Glasgow youth. As for his desert island book list, he writes, "As a Scotsman, if I were stranded on a desert island I would probably die of sunstroke before I had the opportunity to sit down to read a book. But if I did survive long enough, then I think what I would miss most would be love. I would want to re-read all the queer love stories that have shaped me over the years, all the tales that broke my big gay heart. It might even prove useful; I’ve cried at all of these books. The rescue party could follow the sound of my sobbing." Below are Douglas Stuart's favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.

Douglas Stuart'S FAVORITE BOOKS

Lily Cole, a bona fide supermodel by the age of 16, has navigated her career with an acute appreciation for fashion’s moral compromises. From early on, she was anti-fur and anti-nudity. When she found out that De Beers, the jewelry company, was implicated in evicting the San people in Botswana in order to mine diamonds, she stopped modeling for the brand, working instead with the San to help them sell their fair trade jewelry. At 18 she found herself studying social and political sciences at Cambridge University, and has since parlayed her success into film and TV including The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and There Be Dragons. She  was appointed creative partner of the Bronte Society in 2018 - the 200th anniversary of Emily Bronte - and made the well-received short movie, Balls, inspired by the figure of Heathcliff, for the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Yorkshire. But it is in social activism that her focus lies - her organization, Impossible.com, is an “altruism app” predicated on encouraging people to offer their services and skills to help others. This year she published Who Cares Wins (Rizzoli), a book that draws together interviews with major figures in industry as well as activism (think Extinction Rebellion) to interrogate how we might move towards a more sustainable future.  Below are Lily Cole's favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.

Lily Cole'S FAVORITE BOOKS

If ever there was a champion of books, Damian Barr is it. The Scottish writer came to prominence with his scabrously funny (and deeply poignant) memoir, Maggie & Me, about growing up gay in working class Glasgow during Margaret Thatcher’s polarizing premiership, but it’s the way he’s used his platform to promote contemporary writing that is truly inspiring. In 2008 he launched Damian Barr’s Literary Salon, an informal gathering of like minded friends that has since grown into a wildly popular series at London’s famed Savoy Hotel. Since then Barr has published the critically-acclaimed novel, You Will Be Safe Here, composed of twin narratives, one set during the Boer War, the other in the present, inspired by a brutal murder at a South Africa camp for adolescent boys, and cemented his tastemaker credentials with a UK TV show, The Big Scottish Book Club, now in its second season. Below are Damian Barr's favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.

Damian Barr'S FAVORITE BOOKS

It’s an odd thing to have your career go into overdrive during a global pandemic, but that’s exactly what happened to the L.A.-based singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. After releasing her sophomore album, Punisher, in June, Bridgers watched from lockdown as it rose to pole position on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. Instead of touring, she was at home like everyone else, cooking and tweeting and practicing her yoga postures. Bridgers started playing guitar at the age of 13, and found her way into a punk band, Sloppy Jane, at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts that led to a series of spots in Apple ads (“minorly soul-sucking” she told The New Yorker) that featured in an Apple iPhone ad. Her debut album, “Stranger in the Alps,” was released in 2017 to widespread acclaim (“This is the arrival of a giant,” tweeted John Mayer) and was followed with a collaboration with Bright Eyes founder Conor Oberst recording under the name Better Oblivion Community Center. Like Elliott Smith, one of her musical heroes, Bridgers songs are intricate stories of heartache and loss, but spiked with humor and wry observations. They can be melancholy and brightly impish at the same time. Little surprise that equally impish writers like David Sedaris, Elif Batuman, and Maurice Sendak make her desert island reading list. (Photo: Frank Ockenfels) Below are Phoebe Bridgers' favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.

Phoebe Bridgers'S FAVORITE BOOKS