Flourishing in the Margins: Resources, Readings, and Reflections 

This page contains resources on Flourishing in the Margins, as well as our posts on the topic and suggested reading from us. What does that mean exactly? It means flourishing and living your best life even when the forces around you try to hold you back. Here we’ll talk about (dis)ability, race, sexuality, gender, class, and more. You’ll find tips and tools to create a vibrant life for yourself—and to help others do the same. 

Table of Contents

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    If you’d like to read more of our thoughts, here is a carousel of some of our most recent posts on flourishing in the margins. Below that are further resources and suggestions. You can also see all of our posts on this topic at its category page. 

    Resources on Flourishing in the Margins 

    Want to learn more about this topic? These are educational resources that we have personally vetted—no spam to be found here. If you’re still new to this topic, start with the resources on the first list. For those more familiar, the second list has more in-depth resources.

    Covering the basics: 

    A deeper dive: 

    Do you know of other resources that would be a good fit for this list? Reach out to ash@ashtonrosewrites.com, and we’ll take a look and let you know if we want to add it!

    Recommended reading: 

    (and viewing, listening, etc.) 

    The cover of Black Love Letters

    Black Love Letters edited by Cole Brown and Natalie Johnson 

    “‘There’s something particularly special about Black Love. When you consider the history of our people, the strife and adversity we’ve overcome, love seems an almost illogically ambitious act of resistance.’ ―from the foreword by John Legend

    From celebrated Black writers, creators, and thinkers―and with a foreword by John Legend―comes a collection of letters and original illustrations on the subject of Black love, a powerful and heartfelt celebration of Blackness in all its many forms.”

    The cover of Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice

    Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 

    “Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of colour are doing to find each other and to build power and community, and a toolkit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.”

    Books on Deconstructing Oppressive Systems and Cultures of Domination by Julián Esteban Torres López 

    “Advocacy and activism are practices that require us to consistently better ourselves and demand from us to actively design our behaviors and curiosities. We must listen, learn, act from such newly acquired knowledge, and commit to daily rituals to ensure we are not intentionally or unintentionally being the direct or indirect cause or reason for the harm of others. Part of my practice is reading.

    Below I share my 2021 list of 44 books (in no particular order), most of which are nonfiction. I did, however, add some fiction to the list because sometimes it is through such a form of storytelling where we can more effectively learn about our relationships with ourselves, others, and our environments.”

    Black Lives Matter: 25 Books for Teens from the Saint Paul Public Library 

    “This selection of fiction and nonfiction explores topics of race, racism, inequity, and injustice in response to the growing Black Lives Matter movement.” 

    Including my own books: 

    Each of these topics is important to me, which also means they show up in my own novels. For suggestions on which book is best for you, see my guide on where to start with my novels. 

    Other topics to learn about: