Madison Tufte’s debut novel The Anchor House lets women grow on their own terms

October 6, 2020January 16, 2023Leave a comment

By Kelcie McKenney

Madison Tufte was looking to read new books that made her feel inspired, empowered, and vulnerable, with leading female characters who experienced growth—outside of relationships. But she couldn’t find them. So she decided to write her own.

Tufts’s debut novel, The Anchor House, under the pen name Margaret Spencer was born of that quest, and is the product of over two years of secret writing before Tufte self published earlier this year. It’s a tale about three women, Winnie, Fern, and Eleanor, each struggling to grow in their own way—each both strong and vulnerable. A remote island in Minnesota sets the stage for these women’s stories, inspired by the lakes from Tufte’s home town. It’s a heartwarming look at life’s difficulties, filled with inspirational women who live life on their own terms.

In June, The Anchor House won Next Generation Indie Book Awards’ for Inspirational Fiction. We spoke with Tufte about writing strong women, and being one, as she walks us through the journey to her first novel.

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‘A Feminist’s Guide to: Unlearning White Feminism’ is Babe Collective’s way of telling white feminists it’s time to unlearn that racist bullshit

June 3, 2020January 16, 2023Leave a comment

By Kelcie McKenney

When you opened social media this week chances are you were flooded with black squares. All of your friends came together and supported Black people by sharing a single post on their Instagram! We collectively ended police brutality and racism with a single post! Peak activism!

Wrong.

Being an ally doesn’t work like that. And there are a lot of Black, female voices (like these you should follow to start!) telling us—and by us I mean white women—that we’re SO in the wrong. It’s about damn time we listen.

The feminist movement is historically pretty fucking racist, and we’ve got a lot of unlearning to do. A lot, a lot, a lot of unlearning to do. So Aubrey Young and Jihan Bazile of Babe Collective created a zine for white women to use as a jumping off point to “understand our role in White Feminism and to challenge our behaviors and step out of our comfort zone.”

We spoke with Young, founder of Babe Collective, about the new zine and the launch party and intersectional-focused conversation happening on Friday—which we will be at! (Catcall founder, Kelcie, me!, is on that panel.) It’s a free, virtual workshop, which you can register for here.

There are a lot of resources created by Black women to use after this conversation—which Babe Collective shares in their zine and on social media—so think of this conversation as step one in a lifetime of reeducation, work, and support for the Black community. But we all have to start somewhere.

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Lizzie Bennet: A Badass Throughout Time

March 2, 2016January 16, 2023Leave a comment

By Cera Sylar

Since its first publication in 1813, Pride & Prejudice has remained a timeless love story. The characters we first fell in love with, Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, have lived on in our continual respect for Jane Austen’s early nineteenth-century romance novel. Centered around family, upbringing, society, love, pride, and prejudice: Austen took her readers into a world where female characters dominated.

The P&P fan base has only grow over the years, as mothers passed on the book to their daughters and friends shared with friends. After several TV and film renditions throughout the years, it was no surprise when the 2005 movie, starring Kiera Knightly, became an instant success in the UK and then after in the US.