The Best BookTok, Bookstagram, and Bookish Newsletter Creators Across the Globe

The book world is currently undergoing a major shift. In February of this year, the Washington Post shuttered its books section, known as Book World, among many other editorial operations, leaving a massive void in the book coverage that readers need in the age of AI recommendations and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). WaPo appears to have folded Book World due to financial constraints, and this closure prompted many legacy media outlets to mourn its untimely demise. Publications from The New Yorker to The Atlantic lamented the changing landscape of the literary world.

Last year, the Associated Press stopped publishing weekly book reviews, citing a lack of reader interest. This is yet another setback to an industry that demands coverage and audit in the era of automation.

This ultimately raises a high-stakes question: what’s been happening in the book world?

These significant blows to the literary media landscape force us to examine our attitude toward traditional book reviews and coverage. Are we still reading them? Or are we getting our news in another form? BookTok, and by extension, BookTube, changed the game during the pandemic. BookTok, in particular, did wonders in the bookish world, and it has become a staple in any PR and marketing campaign for new releases. Every day, many readers rely on BookTok for book reviews and recommendations from their fellow readers. Though many are increasingly turning to audiovisual formats rather than traditional media, they are also getting their content from newsletters and other digital sources.

The bookish ecosystem may not be dying, as some lament, but rather its components are evolving: primarily into video, audio, and digital spaces.

The list below features notable BookTokers, Bookstragrammers, newsletter publishers, and other digital publications from all over the world, each with their own set of insights and perspectives that offer us a fresh way to see the literary world. Though they aren’t considered traditional media, they provide news and updates for their respective communities. The curation they feature is extremely niche and is seldom read in the U.S. publishing bubble.

If you’re looking for more ways to discover books outside of your communities and broaden your perspectives beyond the hegemonic U.S. publishing industry, consider the following notable creators and publishers.

The Best Bookish Content Around the World

Koji Arsua | @koji.reads (The Philippines)

Koji consistently recommends books in Philippine literature across genres.

Most of the books he recommends are fantasy, horror, science fiction, comics, graphic novels, classics, LGBTQ, true crime, nonfiction, and romance. His content also includes local bookish events he frequently attends, book launches, book-to-screen premiere events, and local literary fairs such as the Manila International Book Fair, Philippine Book Festival, and Philippine International Comics Festival. If you want to get a feel of the local bookish scene or discover the latest local releases, he probably knows about them. If you’re on TikTok, you should definitely check him out.

Koji and other BookTokers mostly discuss books from a consumer’s perspective: quick reviews, rants, book hauls, and currently reading lists. So later this year, I will launch The Manila Books Reporter, a B2B publication that will focus on the business of books and publishing in the Philippines. And, yes, it will include weekly, monthly, and quarterly newsletters.

Charmaine | @charmaine.reads (Asia)

Charmaine primarily focuses on Asian books of various genres, including fantasy, young adult, and adult fiction.

She’s not afraid to criticize “problematic” YA authors in the fantasy genre. She has strong sentiments about defending authors of color in the community, fiercely calling out Sarah J Maas and even Rebecca Yarros several times in her TikTok videos.

In a series of viral TikToks, she promotes books from women and authors of color in the fantasy space, emphasizing the importance of reading beyond one’s own perspective.

Andrea Catalina Jaramillo | @andreajaramillo6 (Colombia)

Andrea, a Colombian Bookstagrammer and the founder of the Bogotá-based independent bookstore La Verbena, posts about books by Latine authors.

All of the books she features on her account are in Spanish. In fact, she has a lengthy series of posts highlighting 30 books from various Latin American countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Uruguay, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Honduras, and Brazil, among others. One book tells the stories of trans people who disappeared during the dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime in Chile, a book from Ecuador that recounts domestic abuses, and a rare account from a Paraguayan dictator.

The goal of this series is to gain insight about Latin America from authors whose works have had a significant impact. Not only does she have an online presence, but she also hosts literary events at her own bookstore.

Feminist Fiction Berlin | @feminist.fiction.berlin (Germany)

This is a feminist book club based in Berlin. They organize monthly events such as creative writing classes, panels, discussions, and open readings.

They frequently feature feminist literature in English, primarily by European authors. In their posts, they explore subjects such as sex work, systematic oppression, rage and resistance, and even include books to read if you want to “actively understand and unlearn whiteness.”

Aside from that, they highlight books on witchcraft and witches, feminist classics, and newly translated fiction and nonfiction.

Brittle Paper (Africa)

This is one of the two best literary websites for African literature, along with WritingAfrica.com.

Consider it Africa’s version of Publishers Weekly. They don’t have a dedicated newsletter, but they do publish literary news, cover reveals, author profiles, poems, short stories, and other long-form literary features.

It’s an excellent destination for those interested in current and best-selling African literature as it provides a view into their publishing landscape.

The Spinoff: Books section (New Zealand)

This New Zealand-based website covers a wide range of subjects, including politics, culture, criticism, and more. They also have a books section that includes a newsletter called the Rec Room.

Their coverage is very localized, mostly focusing on reviews of books published in New Zealand, alongside bestseller charts, profiles, awards, and recommendations. Examples of recent coverage include a story about the National Library of New Zealand not paying hundreds of authors on time; an exposé about a vanity publisher operating in their country that may have offshore operations in the U.K. and Pakistan; a creative writing program that allows female incarcerated persons to write poems; and a local bookstore’s dilemma of moving 250,000 books to a new location.

If you want a peek at New Zealand’s publishing landscape, this is an excellent resource to check out.

National Indigenous Times: Books section (Australia)

NIT is an Australian online outlet that covers Indigenous issues, and it also has a section dedicated to books.

Their book coverage focuses primarily on news, awards, and new releases related to Indigenous publishing in Australia. There are features of Tiwi, Kooma, First Nations, Pasifika, Yamatji, and many other unrepresented authors in literary space. They also seem to cover some of Papua New Guinea’s Indigenous publishing space.

Their niche is very specific, and it’s rare to find a resource on Indigenous publishing in Oceania.

The Black Archives (The Netherlands)

While not strictly a newsletter, they are a nonprofit space/historical archive for Black literature “from Black and other perspectives that are often overlooked elsewhere.” Their website says that they document the history of Black emancipation movements and individuals in the Netherlands.

In fact, they have book collections, archives, and artifacts that are the legacy of Black Dutch writers, including around 20,000 books on racism and race issues, slavery and colonization, gender and feminism, and a wide range of other subjects that are not covered in mainstream media.

They also hold exhibitions, writing workshops, and literary discussions in Amsterdam.

Though the bookish world may be slowly losing access to traditional media such as newspapers and print magazines, conversations continue to take place elsewhere. Goodreads, the undisputed home of reader reviews, remains relevant, and there are plenty of other platforms like The StoryGraph and Fable. Conversations are simply taking on a different form, as we observed with the literary salons of yesteryears.

Make sure to check out Book Riot’s own extensive newsletter offerings, including The Book Riot Newsletter, our newest newsletter for keeping up to date with all things bookish.