Substacks recommended by Eleanor Anstruther

Recommended by Eleanor Anstruther

A place for ambient music & compositions for film/audio.

Fiction with bits of non-fiction sprinkled in. Or is it non-fiction with bits of fiction sprinkled in? TOAP is short for The Tears of a Painter, the name of the coming-of-age story you’ll find scattered here on Substack.

My personal Substack

Unique perspectives on life and literature through thought-provoking essays, captivating interviews, and influential books as we explore the challenges of life's transformative journey.

Cambridge Ladies' Dining Society

By Ann Kennedy Smith

Exploring books, literary lives and Cambridge women’s history

She's Gone Chilaquiles

By Anna Schott

Chips and salsa, essays, memoir, food analogies

I love everything about Anna's writing, and wait till you hear her play the violin.

- Eleanor Anstruther

A Fan's Notes, by Nick Hornby

Music, books, movies, work, football, TV and so on.

English Republic of Letters

By Jeffrey Streeter

A glimpse of distant horizons via "beautifully crafted essays and observations" covering literature, memoir, and faraway cities from a recovering cultural bureaucrat joining up the dots of an international life.

From The Yellow House

By Kaama Joy

How to reinvent at any age or stage. A map for those who are breaking up with their world and need to redesign their lives. A regular series of essays and thoughts to deal with upheaval and finding joy in spite of current circumstances.

Raising Myles

By Marc Typo

A first-time dad writes letters to his newborn son, Myles, every Monday, sharing the joy he didn't experience himself with the world. Inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me."

Ferns of Columbo

By Jon T

short fiction and things

The Books That Made Us

By M. E. Rothwell

Discover the books that shaped your favourite writers.

Personal Canon Formation

By John Halbrooks

A newsletter about how we read and listen to enrich our lives

A must read.

- Eleanor Anstruther

Shalom Auslander's Fetal Position

"Just to spite the world, don’t cry! Just to spite the world, only laugh, only laugh!" - Sholom Aleichem. Amen, Brother.

Death & Birds

By Chloe Hope

They're both coming for you! (Just kidding, birds aren't coming for you)

Every cell in my body wakes up when Chloe Hope is in the room.

- Eleanor Anstruther

Talebones 🔭

By S.E. Reid

Home of the Ferris Island Tales! Short and serialized fiction from S.E. Reid: speculative stories with a spiritual, supernatural, or uncanny twist.

Unfixed

By Kimberly Warner

When broken is the fix.

Homo Vitruvius by A. Jay Adler

Essays on literature, culture, society, and all things human. Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir. A writer's renascent light against the darkness. "Sing of human unsuccess / In a rapture of distress."

I never tire of his essays, his thought process, and being on the page. A joy and a learning all in one.

- Eleanor Anstruther

NeuroDivergent Rebel’s Substack

Stories, ramblings, and musings of Lyric Rivera: Trans Autistic/ADHD, educator, consultant, artist, & best selling author of the business ethics book Workplace NeuroDiversity Rising.

Confessions & Coffee

By Alice Kuipers

Death and your wild wonderful life. From a memoir and murder writer.

Holly Starley's Rolling Desk

For people who like writing from the wild or talking about the joy of bringing your vision to the page with an editor/writer who roams

The joy of Holly Starley's Rolling Desk. I roll along with her.

- Eleanor Anstruther

The Mindful Writer

By Amanda Saint

Join me to make a difference with your writing. Ideas for mindful living and writing; wonderings about the nature of reality, life, love and the experience of being a human; and how you can write meaningfully about it.

Normal Island News

By Laura

The UK's second most reliable news source after Gbeebies. Parody/satire x

Substack Writers at Work

By Sarah Fay

✦ The only expert guide to Substack ✦ Where you learn how to use Substack to achieve the financial and creative freedom you deserve

The Uses of Art

By Sal Randolph

New ways of seeing from artist and poet Sal Randolph

Inner Life

By Joshua Doležal

An open conversation about the life of the mind.

FORD KNOWS

By Mr. Troy Ford

From Award-disdaining LGBTQ+ Author, Mystic & Kook, Mr. Troy Ford | Essays, stories & peculiar tidbits for lovers of reading, writing, & sundry curiosities - basically, a fruit basket with fur, every Friday

SLAKE

By Nathan Slake

Slaking your fictional thirst, weekly.

Letters from a Muslim Woman

By Noha Beshir

I share the joys and challenges of being a Muslim Woman in a sometimes unfriendly world. Exploring the multi-generational immigrant experience at the intersection of mental health, motherhood, and faith.

Homecoming

By Julie Gabrielli

NatureStack journal, Building Hope essays, climate fiction, and my singing dog.

Branches

By Willow Stonebeck

a bit of reflective nonfiction, reviews of things(books, comics, TTRPGs, etc), occasional poetry.

Thought Jam

By By Nat @ Thoughtjam

Words and photo essays

The Villager

By Tom Cox

New writing on landscape, music, books, folklore, psychedelia, the natural world and other misty magical things outside the mainstream.

Catch & Release

By Ben Wakeman

A free-ranging collection of creative work in the form of speculative short fiction and novels, songs, essays, and multimedia made with the intention of connecting and inspiring.

Ben has a truth to him which shines from every line he writes, a goodness and a rawness only the very brave can share, and he shares, he leads the way, he is a light.

- Eleanor Anstruther

Dwell by Andrew Boryga

Reflections on writing, creativity, and the insights I’m learning on my journey toward the publication of my debut novel in March of 2024 and beyond.

Receipt from the Bookshop

By Katie Clapham is Terrible

My weekly post - Receipt from the Bookshop - is written in real time from my award-winning independent bookshop in St. Annes-on-Sea, UK. Paid subscribers also get an additional weekly essay/book review and access to my book club.

Porn Name Pseudonym

By Clancy Steadwell

Modern literary fiction. Bildungsromans, generational conflict, dark humor and local color. Occasional essays on culture.

100 Stories

By Adam Nathan

Feel something.

He’s a master, genius, gifted, funny; all of this is true yet none of it gets to the heart of the matter: his zip-wire gift for getting to the soul of it. Go fly with him, let him take you.

- Eleanor Anstruther

Feel The Rhythm

By Tommy Swerdlow

"The Rhythm" is a piggy bank to hold my pennies. The phrase comes from Cool Runnings a movie I wrote thirty years ago.

5AM StoryTalk

By Cole Haddon

A place to talk about stories in all their forms, the craft that goes into them, and the role art plays in our lives.

Stock Fiction

By Meg Oolders

A dynamic anthology of experimental short fiction, poetry, essays, humor, and multimedia projects from the fiery heart/busy mind of novelist, Meg Oolders.

Everything is Personal

By Laurie Stone

The story is not about what happened, it's about what the narrator makes of what happened.

Mary Tabor "Only connect ..."

By <Mary L. Tabor>

The arts, books, movies, all things literary, a course: Write it! How to get started, The Writing Life, Write it! course, (Re)Making Love: a memoir in serial chapters, Who by Fire: a novel in serial chapters

Watch how her brain works....

- Eleanor Anstruther

Say What

By Jo Vraca

Sicilian-Australian author, journalist & mysanthrope exploring my Sicilian traditions, music, mythology & family dramas. Join me on this mad trip where storytelling, culture, myths and food melt together like a cheese and anchovy toastie.

The Matterhorn: truth in fiction

By Dr. Kathleen Waller

how to layer stories with ideas, culture, places, and texts ⬩podcast and original fiction from author and academic Dr. Kathleen Waller

Sparks from Culture by David Roberts

By david roberts

An authentic look at the many dimensions of wealth—including class, capitalism, and generational privilege

Footnotes and Tangents

By Simon Haisell

Slow reads of great books. A book group for curious and creative readers exploring the very best historical fiction.

The Wandering Writer

By Michelle Richmond

Essays on writing at home and abroad (and Paris!) from New York Times bestselling author Michelle Richmond

Badreads

By Lauren Hough

Essays, bad jokes, rants, and unsolicited advice from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Hough, and a dog named Woody Guthrie.

if not, Paris

By Samuél Lopez-Barrantes

a novelist writing tall-tales, essays & music from Paris

Out of It

By Mary Gaitskill

Notes from outside the consternation machine

Seeing Things

By Liza Donnelly

New and unpublished drawings and thoughts for people who want to see more of life, from a New Yorker cartoonist. Drawings, cartoons, words, live drawing, process, more...

gotham girl

By Alisa Kennedy Jones

gotham girl is a reader-supported newsletter for inquisitive readers from bestselling author Alisa Kennedy Jones. "One of America’s funniest, most singular voices on Substack" — The New York Times

Sophia

Head of Writer Relations @Substack

Coffee Times

Coffee Times is about writing, self-development and self-discovery. Start investing in yourself and associate with the right vibes to make the most out of your everyday life.

In Search of Supreme Beings

By Troy Putney

Photos, Poetry & Prose inspired by the multitudes of sentient life our singular planet sustains.

Snaps

By Deirdre Lewis

sketches, flash fiction, musings and observations

Write More with Simon K Jones

How to write serial fiction and be more consistently productive.

The truth about everything*

By The Guyliner

Essays on TV, pop, the media, celebrities, and the crushing reality of twenty-first century existence. I slide into your inbox with the grace of a cow rollerblading down the steps of Leicester Square Tube station.

Sherman Alexie

poems, short fiction, essays, opinion, audio, video

Shriek of the Week

By Charlie

A bird sound in your inbox every weekend

S J Watson's Compendia

A weekly glimpse into the life and work of a bestselling author, plus curated finds and occasional sneak peeks into upcoming projects and works-in-progress. Go behind the scenes and get all the juicy details you won’t find elsewhere!

The Lunar Dispatch

By Will Dowd

Arriving on the night of the full moon, this monthly newsletter brings you the latest news and musings on our nearest celestial neighbor.

Black Book Stacks

By Joshunda Sanders

Books by, for & about Black Folks

Notes from a Small Press

By Anne Trubek

Think of these as signatures, unbound. Thoughts, explanations, and screeds about the publishing industry by Anne Trubek, founder of Belt Publishing. For the bound version, pick up "So You Want To Publish A Book?" Belt Publishing, July 2020.

Eleanor’s Substack

Recommended by Eleanor Anstruther