Alaina Johns and Kyle V. Hiller curate a variety of books from a variety of writers living with disabilities for this year’s BSR book week.

An Nichols previews the 2023 East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention and how it works towards cultural awareness, youth literacy, and building safe spaces for geekdom.

For the first time since BSR’s founding 18 years ago (wow, we know), we’re spotlighting books written by our contributors, who are some of the region’s top critics, essayists, and arts journalists. Dive in!

Philadelphia-based author James Whipple Miller offers a valuable portrait of the legendary composer and pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, told largely through letters to her longtime friend Ruth Robbins. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Composer Tina Davidson, who lived in Philadelphia for about 25 years, offers a memoir that isn’t the story of a solitary artist obsessed with a craft, but rather the worldly, spirited life that informs the art. Peter Burwasser reviews.

In her second book, Philadelphia photographer Hinda Schuman’s sensitive and unflinching lens documents the lives of two women struggling to rebuild their lives after incarceration. Anndee Hochman reviews.

This book by longtime Daily News columnist Ellen Cassedy explores the roots of a modern movement for women workers’ rights—a fight that continues today. Anndee Hochman reviews.

In a new book that promises to infuriate and illuminate in equal measure, Brett H. Mandel traces the roots of Philly’s notorious corruption, from the days of William Penn to Bobby Henon’s 2023 sentencing. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

South Philly author Alicia DeFonzo explores gripping parallel histories in her first book: her grandfather’s WWII service and the unexpected legacies pulling on her own life. Harrison Tsui reviews.

The real-life diary of a stroke survivor and Philly sports lover who entered an assisted-living facility in Delaware County in the 1990s inspires debut novelist Chris Eagle’s Dwell Here and Prosper. Stephen Silver reviews.