Leah Rachel von Essen

2 weeks ago | audible.com | Leah Rachel von Essen

This year, Pride Month feels more important than ever. In difficult times, many of us turn to storytelling, looking for well-written stories that recognize and call to who we are as people. These stories can help draw us out of ourselves and into the life and times of other people—some fictional and some very real—helping us to both escape and engage with the world we live in.

1 month ago | audible.com | Leah Rachel von Essen

Mark Twain's wit is scattered throughout our public consciousness.

Mar 11, 2025 | audible.com | Leah Rachel von Essen |Heather Corinna |Naomi Watts |Tamsen Fadal

Women's health issues are under-researched, underfunded, and underdiagnosed across the board, plagued by inaccessibility, discrimination, and silence. It's hardly surprising, then, that menopause is a subject that remains taboo socially and in health care settings alike.

Jan 7, 2025 | observer.com | Leah Rachel von Essen

The preteen years are fraught with emotion and change, and a lot of us forget just how much we learn, encounter and confront between the ages of eight and twelve. Middle-grade authors have the task of writing books that are compelling to young—but maturing—readers while also taking those readers, and their lives and emotions, seriously.

Dec 27, 2024 | observer.com | Leah Rachel von Essen

These books will make it easy to meet your Goodreads goals. Courtesy the publishersEvery January 1st, we sit down and make resolutions about our goals for the upcoming year. One of the most common is to read more. But it’s always easier to buy books than to actually read them—our Goodreads reading challenges make fools of us all. Life catches up to us, and before we know it, autumn is nipping at our heels and the year is once again almost over.