Essential Books and Podcasts: Discover My Personal Favorites

October 29, 2024 | 2 minute read

Written by Arti Jalan

A compelling collection of stories, essays, tools, conversations, thought-pieces, and fresh perspectives to guide your journey into collective and planetary healing. This is a list of my personal favourites when it comes to books, newsletters, and podcasts, written, hosted, and designed by dynamic women who are at the forefront of creating cultural change.

Podcasts:

Medicine Stories – Hosted by Amber Magnolia Hill, this gorgeous podcast delves into everything ancestral and mythical, exploring grounded conversations on herbalism, womanhood, and Earth wisdom. It's the modern-day storytelling we all need, and has soothed my soul many times. Listen here.

For the Wild – Hosted by Ayana Young, For the Wild is a deeply informative, wise, intelligent, and expansive anthology of the Anthropocene, focusing on land-based protection, intersectional storytelling, and co-liberation. It features a wide range of guests, all who are living embodiments of what real advocacy and sustainability look like. Listen here.

Books:

Belonging – Written by Toko-pa Turner, this book explores the loneliness we all seem to currently be feeling, and how through Earth and ancestral practices, we can return to a space of true belonging. Her poetic words have guided many aspects of my work, and you will walk away feeling soul-nourished and inspired to connect. Read it here.

Braiding Sweetgrass – Written by Robin Wall Kimmerer, this book is a love letter to the natural world, where she guides us on a journey that is mythical, scientific, and rooted in the Indigenous practice of reciprocity. A must-read for all, and one that you will return to many times over. Read it here.

The Book of Longings – For those who learn best by impactful storytelling, Sue Monk Kidd’s lyrical rendering of Ana - Jesus’s wife - is an extraordinary tale of womanhood, strength, passion, and purpose. I think it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Read it here.

The Enchanted Life – Sharon Blackie dives into ancestral stories, cultural wisdom, and ecological practices to guide us away from the emptiness of modern life, towards authenticity, connection, and enchantment. We learn how slow living, plant medicine, and folklore are fundamental practices for us to embody our truest selves, and how through mythic understanding, we can get back to our wildness. Read it here.

Pleasure Activism – adrienne maree brown is one of the most prominent critical thinkers of this era, and her radical approach to activism is so in alignment with my own values, and how Forage aims to lead. Her belief is that healing, pleasure, and happiness are essential ingredients to how we change the world, divesting away from the identity of suffering that is common in spaces of advocacy. Drawing on the black feminist tradition, this book explores how we can make social justice one of the most pleasurable human experiences. Read it here.

Newsletters/Substacks:

The Review of Beauty – Bold, informative and fresh, Jessica Defino's Substack is the advice the beauty industry doesn't want you to know. Her real approach is satisfyingly disruptive - your relationship to beauty culture will forever be changed, as each newsletter challenges our conditioned and borrowed beliefs on ageing, skincare, products, and what makes us actually beautiful. Read it here.

Tools:

Human Design – The incredibly intelligent design system that blends science and spirituality. Jenna Zoe helps us dig deeper into who we are through our own unique blueprints, guiding us towards living our most authentic lives. HD has transformed me in so many ways. Learn more here.