Little Delights
Little things I’ve been loving, thinking about, and wanting to share.
Most Popular
Reading Life · What I’m Reading
Her books have a reputation for being “hard,” but that’s part of the magic. As a writer who adores Morrison’s work, here’s which of her novels to read first (not Beloved) + practical reading tips!
The Creative Life · Short Stories
A short story about love, loss, and the things we leave unsaid.
The Creative Life · Writing Life
After years of growing an Instagram audience to 100k, I felt increasingly disconnected from why I was online in the first place. So, I traded the pressure to create content for something quieter.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Candles that smell like a library, a neck light for reading in bed, the prettiest bookmarks and more: cozy gifts for the reader in your life.
Gift Guides
A bold lip from The Lip Bar, Fenty Gloss Bomb, Black Girl Sunscreen, a confetti claw clip and more: elegant little delights under $25.
Gift Guides
A Barefoot Dreams robe, a Diptyque candle, a digital photo frame and a Le Creuset Dutch oven: soft, beautiful gifts for Mom.
Gift Guides
Gold hoops, a monogram mug, a Polaroid camera, a vanilla candle and more: pretty, personal gifts for the friend who knows everything about you.
Gift Guides
A Yeti mug, a smart meat thermometer, UGG slippers, a whiskey smoker and more: useful, good-looking gifts for the dad who says he doesn't need anything.
The Creative Life · The Desk
A distraction-free typewriter, a beautiful notebook, a wax seal kit and The Artist's Way: thoughtful gifts for the writer in your life.
The Creative Life · Short Stories
One Shreveport summer, a noose on an oak tree and the honeysuckle growing nearby. Flash fiction. Content warning: racial violence.
The Creative Life · The Desk
A sculptural spiral notepad, a pottery kit, a half-frame film camera, Hirameki, gouache and the Mail Club: beautiful gifts for the friend who is always making something.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Yes, they're corny, and yes, you should do it anyway. Here's how to pick a set the whole family will wear (husband and dog included).
On Screen · Watchlists
From This Christmas to The Preacher's Wife and Jingle Jangle, here are the Christmas movies with Black leads I'm queuing up this season.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
Twelve grapes in Spain, soup joumou in Haiti, black-eyed peas in the South and more. Here are the New Year's traditions around the world I love most.
Gift Guides
A cashmere sweater, a Theragun, a weekender bag for your next trip together and more: thoughtful, grown-up gifts for the man you married.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Iceland's Christmas Eve book flood is my favorite holiday tradition. Here's how it works, how to host your own, and the books by Black women I'd gift.
The Creative Life · Writing Life
How I stopped comparing my writing days to people who can create every day, and started planning my creative work around my cycle and endometriosis.
Reading Life · What I’m Reading
One story a day from The Best American Short Stories: what the series is, where I started, and what twenty stories a year teach me about writing.
Reading Life · Bookshops & Libraries
My first day in Bath was a cruise stop with one goal: every bookshop in the city. Here's how to do bookish Bath in a day, plus the Jane Austen Centre.
On Screen · Rewatch Diaries
I rewatched Living Single for comfort and found a business plan: what Khadijah James and Flavor magazine taught me about running an indie magazine.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
The best bookshops in Edinburgh, a free poetry library and one big hill: how to spend 48 literary hours in the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Why reading a print newspaper on Sunday morning still beats scrolling, plus my ritual (coffee, crossword, scissors) and how to start your own.
The Creative Life · Making
Embroidery for beginners, the messy way: I skipped the tutorials and started stitching. What went wrong, what went right, and how to start yourself.
Literary Travel · Trains & Slow Travel
Fast books for fast trains and slow books for slow ones: what to read on a train, from twisty mysteries to Toni Morrison and Anne Tyler.
Reading Life · Bookshops & Libraries
The hidden joy of buying used books: margin notes, forgotten receipts and pressed flowers, plus where to find secondhand books worth keeping.
The Creative Life · Making
Why making things by hand is good for you, even when they come out crooked, plus easy handmade projects for beginners and how to make time for them.
The Creative Life · Writing Life
How I found pen pals in Colombia to practice Spanish through handwritten letters, and how you can find a language pen pal of your own.
Literary Travel · What I’d Pack
My minimalist two-week packing list: three dresses, one cardigan, seven books. Why I pack light on clothes and heavy on reading.
Reading Life · What I’m Reading
Sula Peace, Clare Kendry, Shug Avery, Bernadine Harris and Queenie Jenkins: seven Black literary heroines I adore and would never, ever take advice from.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
A coin-flip day in Rome: heads left, tails right, no famous sights. Where the coin took me and how to try a spontaneous travel day in any city.
The Creative Life · Making
How to mix a watercolor palette from memory: the glacier blue, beech green and dusk gold I remember from Patagonia, with color recipes you can try.
Reading Life · What I’m Reading
Why rereading books is good for you, the five books I keep coming back to, from Sula to Kindred, and how to make an old favorite feel new again.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
A slow Saturday with a record, a pot of stew, a puzzle and a book, then church and Sunday dinner: an itinerary for the coziest winter weekend at home.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
A cozy Christmas day in London for about $100: the British Museum, Chinatown street food, the Leicester Square Christmas market and the free Christmas lights.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
Christmas lights at Bellingrath, a MoonPie drop on New Year's Eve and the start of Carnival: how to spend December and January in Mobile, Alabama.
The Literary Circle · Bookish Love & Friendship
Invites, rules for a "blind date with a book" swap, easy snacks and a little playlist, for a December night in with your girls and a pile of wrapped books.
Literary Travel · What I’d Pack
A carry-on suitcase, packing cubes, a cashmere travel wrap, a jewelry case and more: pretty, practical gifts for the friend who always has a trip coming up.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Candlelight, linens, mismatched vintage china, place cards with a line of poetry and a menu card, for a Christmas table that feels like chapter one.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
An advent calendar of small, cozy and mostly free December joys, one for every day from the first of the month to Christmas morning.
Reading Life · What I’m Reading
Big, absorbing winter books by Black women and women of color, from The Vanishing Half to Black Cake and Homegoing, perfect for reading by the fire.
Literary Travel · What I’d Pack
Booking smart, flying on Christmas Day, packing gifts, carry-on tricks and a lot of grace for delays. Here's how to travel during the holidays calmly.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
My dream list of European Christmas markets, from Vienna and Strasbourg to Edinburgh and Bath, plus practical tips for visiting without the stress.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
From Jamaica's Grand Market to Ethiopia's Genna and Iceland's book flood, here are the Christmas traditions around the world I'd love to borrow this year.
Literary Travel · Bookish Stays
The best Edinburgh neighborhood for a longer stay: why I’d choose Stockbridge, with its Sunday market, Water of Leith walks and village feel.
On Screen · Rewatch Diaries
Rewatching Girlfriends taught me five lessons about adult friendship, from loving flawed friends to grieving the ones who drift away.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Why small lamps are the cheapest way to make your home feel cozy: how to light a room, which bulbs to buy, where to find lamps and my evening lamp ritual.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
A literary walk through Lisbon with Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet, Saramago’s rainy 1936 Lisbon and Night Train to Lisbon, and what I found on the page.
The Creative Life · Writing Life
Why a 20-minute evening walk is the best way to end a long day of writing at home: what I notice, my loose rules and how to start the habit yourself.
On Screen · Style & Spaces on Screen
Last Holiday’s Grandhotel Pupp, Stella’s Jamaica resort, the Girls Trip hotels in New Orleans and Coming to America’s Waldorf, ranked by whether I’d book.
The Creative Life · Writing Life
Why I write better in a coffee shop than at home, my café writing routine, and how to use a café as your office without becoming that person.
Literary Travel · Trains & Slow Travel
Why I choose trains over planes whenever I can: the window seat, the slow scenery, the train picnic, plus my train travel packing list.
Reading Life · Bookshops & Libraries
Why little independent bookshops are worth the detour at home and abroad, plus my bookshop etiquette and easy ways to support your local bookstore.
On Screen · Watchlists
Why a weekday matinee alone is the best treat in town: the empty theater, the solo movie date, my little rituals and a few matinee manners.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
Why reading outside makes every book better, the best places to read outdoors, what to pack and which books work best in the sunshine.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
Where to write alone in Paris: the Luxembourg Garden chairs, cafés at the off hours, the Musée de la Vie Romantique garden and the quays of the Seine.
Literary Travel · Literary City Guides
How to see Rome without the crowds: coffee at the counter, empty piazzas, Campo de’ Fiori opening up and Trastevere at sunrise. An early riser’s guide.
On Screen · Style & Spaces on Screen
Soul Food, Waiting to Exhale, The Photograph, Love & Basketball and more: the kitchens in Black movies on my mood board, and what I’m stealing from each.
The Creative Life · Making
A pocket travel journal you’ll actually use: the four-item kit that fits in your coat, what to glue in, and why the best journal is the one that comes along.
Literary Travel · Trains & Slow Travel
The Edinburgh to London train is one of Britain’s most scenic rail journeys. Which side to sit on, what you’ll see, and why I never opened my laptop.
On Screen · Style & Spaces on Screen
Fred’s armchair on Sanford and Son, the Jeffersons’ sofa, Moesha’s diary-writing bed and a table in the Pit at Hillman: the best reading chairs on TV, ranked very scientifically.
Reading Life · What I’m Reading
Some readers see a family tree at the front of a novel and sigh. I go get a blanket. A love letter to family saga novels, from Homegoing to Pachinko.
On Screen · Watchlists
Paris Blues, Last Holiday, Belle, Rye Lane and more: six Black movies set in Europe for when you want to move abroad but have emails to answer.
The Creative Life · Making
How to make a travel photo book from imperfect vacation photos: choose for feeling, write short captions, print small. My blurry trip became my favorite book.
On Screen · Rewatch Diaries
My prescription for an embarrassingly bad day: five comfort TV episodes, a few honorable mentions and the bad-day TV rules I actually follow.
Reading Life · Bookshops & Libraries
A bookish Lisbon guide: Livraria Bertrand (the world’s oldest bookshop), Ler Devagar at LX Factory, Alfama’s little shops and the best views to read by.
Literary Travel · Trains & Slow Travel
How I had a European summer at home in Dallas: long lunches, evening walks, linen, the farmers market and a slower pace you can borrow anywhere.
Literary Travel · Bookish Stays
Where book lovers should stay in Paris: the Left Bank, with Shakespeare and Company, The Abbey Bookshop, the bouquinistes and literary cafés nearby.
On Screen · Style & Spaces on Screen
Something New, The Photograph, Brown Sugar, The Perfect Find and Waiting to Exhale: the pure joy of watching Black women on screen simply have nice things.
On Screen · Rewatch Diaries
Living Single, Girlfriends, A Different World, Martin, Half & Half, Insecure and Harlem: the Black sitcoms that made adult friendship look so good.
The Creative Life · Making
What happened when I spent a Saturday making something I would never sell: my four rules, the collage I made and why hobbies don’t need to earn their keep.
Reading Life · Reading Rituals
What a commonplace book is, how to start one, what to put inside, and why copying out quotes by hand is the best way to remember what you love.
The Creative Life · Opportunities
Writing residencies for Black women and writers of color, led by Trillium Arts' free Miss Sarah Fellowship, which closes November 19, 2026.
The Creative Life · Opportunities
Writing residencies with summer and fall 2027 deadlines, from Storyknife and Switzerland’s cabins to Provence, plus one for Black women closing Nov 19, 2026.
The Creative Life · Opportunities
Thirteen writing residencies with deadlines from December 2026 to February 2027, with fees, stipends and who each one is really for.
The Creative Life · Opportunities
Twelve writing residencies that cost nothing to apply to or attend, from Lake Como to Switzerland and a Black women writers' fellowship.
The Creative Life · Opportunities
Fourteen writing residencies and fellowships that pay a stipend, cover travel or both, from $175 a week to $1,250 a month.
The Creative Life · Opportunities
Eighteen book festivals worth a trip in 2027, with dates, cities and costs, plus which ones are especially wonderful for Black women readers.
Gift Guides
A karaoke mic with a disco light, an instant camera, a cocktail kit, a sunset lamp and a gorgeous puzzle: playful gifts for the friend who makes every room more fun.
Little Letters
A little something, now and then.
Little Letters are where I share the things that don’t make it into a post: little finds, half-finished thoughts, things I’m loving, and anything else I can’t wait to tell you. They arrive whenever I have something worth sharing.