Meet Prolific Poet and Cystic Fibrosis Warrior Lauren Molasky Fierst

Great Women Artists

Discover artists you may have missed in your male-centric art history classes in this robust survey of over 400 leading female creatives spanning the last 500 years.

Directions: Really Good Advice For Getting From Here To There

Directions features hand-lettered affirmations and observations from artist Hallie Bateman that are equal parts uplifting, relatable, and humorous. Flipping through the collections feels like you're stumbling across a fortune cookie truth written just for you.

Ibiza Bohemia (Classics)

Ignite your wanderlust with this breathtaking photo series that captures why this Mediterranean locale has been such a hotspot for escapism.

Wild Interiors: Beautiful Plants In Beautiful Spaces

Calling all plant people! Hilton Carter brings his trademark green thumb to a beautiful new coffee table read brimming with plant care tips and at-home styling advice for all your greenery.

Design The Home You Love: Practical Styling Advice To Make The Most Of Your Space

The co-founders behind the interior design service Havenly are publishing their first book this spring that aims to be a budget-friendly guide to identifying your unique style and designing your space accordingly.

Atlas Of Mid-Century Modern Houses

Nostalgia seekers will love scanning the pages of this visual stunner, which showcases the works of famed architects like Richard Neutra, Marcel Breuer, and hundreds of other design icons.

Radiant Human: Discovering The Connection Between Color, Identity, and Energy

If you're not already familiar with the rainbow portraiture style that is aura photography, let Lonsdale's new book teach you everything you need to know about this creative practice that captures your energy and disposition through a color-coded index.

The Apricot Memoirs

Guinery's book of poetic musings (printed across apricot-hued pages, of course) serves as an exploration of love, growth, motherhood, and vulnerability that invites the reader to unlock their own creativity.

Escape

This quintessential art book goes beyond Malin's iconic overhead beach shots and captures unbelievable vacation locales like Aspen, Namibia, Bora Bora, and more to fuel your ideal getaway.

Jungalow: Decorate Wild The Style Guide

Teach Me Something New guest Justina Blakeney's new book is an interior lovers dream. If you need a push to break free from your minimalist instincts and dive into the world of big, bold pattern, let this book serve as your guide to do it.

Film For Her

This visual diary features prose, poetry, short stories and photography from the well-known YouTube poet and achieves the feeling that you're sifting through someone's intimate DIY scrapbook. Forewarning, it may just inspire you to be in your feels.

Poolside with Slim Aarons

Featuring Slim Aarons' signature peek into the lives of wealthy jet-setters, this collection of photographs will be the star of your art book rotation.

Cherry Bombe: The Cookbook

This essential foodie read captures recipes from some of the most interesting and famous female chefs, bakers, and food stylists of our time.

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power

Further your art education by discovering previously neglected histories of 20th-century Black artists during one of the most revolutionary eras in American history.

Humans

Humans of New York pioneer Brandon Stanton traveled to more than 40 countries to tell the resonate stories of what it means to be human.

Flower: Exploring The World In Bloom

Florals for spring? How groundbreaking. But in this new collection, see how floral motifs have been depicted throughout history across art, film, textiles, and more.

Virgil Abloh. Nike. ICONS.

Bring some color to your bookshelf in a major way with this innovative dive into Virgil Abloh's creative process during his collaboration with Nike. The end result is an ode to design true sneakerheads can't miss.

The Bright Book: A Creativity Workbook Designed to Help You Shine

Also known as EttaVee, Jessi Raulet brings her signature bold pattern play to life in this creative workbook. Once you're feeling sufficiently inspired by all of the amazing reads above, tap into your own creativity by following the prompts for collaging, journaling, painting, and more.

Architectural Digest at 100: A Century Of Style

This stunning and informative read is full of glorious designs from past and present. Featuring the homes of top celebrities and architects, it's an inspirational nod to the ever changing landscape of home decor.

The New York Dog

Rachael Hale has managed to use her powerful photography skills to capture the quintessential nature of dogs in The New York Dog.

The Colors of Sies Marjan

The Colors of Sies Marjan is a beautiful recollection of the celestial brand of the same name. With memorable collections that wowed crowds during past NYFW seasons, Sander Lak's beautiful explosion of texture and color remain immortalized in this gorgeous coffee table book.

The New Black Vanguard

Get lost in the pages of The New Black Vanguard. Curated by Cultural Critic Antwaun Sargent, this coffee table is great for the fashion enthusiast who's interested in seeing the world of fashion, beauty and art through a more inclusive lens.

Latin American Artists: From 1785 To Now

Allow yourself to be transported in time as you view the artwork of more than 300 Latin American artists.

Glass Houses

Foray into the wondrous build of glass houses. You'll find yourself admiring designs that date back to the 1930s and will love learning how architects create stunning homes with sturdy foundations.

Everything You Need To Know About NaNoWriMo

What Is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo began as a month-long writing experience through November where you take part with other writers to write 50,000 words of a novel. Now, you can both take part during November and participate in their programs year-round.

Who Has Taken Part In The Program?

Over 400,000 writers participated in the programs in 2021, but there have been a ton of other writers throughout the years as well. Some of the books that started as NaNoWriMo projects include Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Yours could be the next bestseller!

How Do I Participate In NaNoWriMo?

The first step is to sign up (which you can do here) and then you can decide if you want to write at your own independent pace or set a deadline for the end of November. There are prizes and special messages, and when you reach your word-count goal, you're able to access a winner's page full of fun gifts.

When you're writing, it can be tempting to go back and edit, but you don't want to mess with your creative process — wait until you're done before editing! One thing you can do when you're writing and there's a detail you can't think of off the top of your head is add brackets instead. Then when you're done, you can go back and replace the brackets with what should be there.

You can check out our journal prompts for growth and creativity or try some our 30 creative writing prompts, but here are a few that are specifically for fiction. They might only turn into one scene, but they might also inspire a whole other body of work.

NaNoWriMo Creative Writing Prompts:

1. Write an entire story that takes place within a small amount of time. It's harder than it sounds! Focus on details, inner thoughts, and what your characters are feeling.
2. Turn your favorite quote or lyric into a story. What makes it your favorite? Is it the words themselves, or how they make you feel?
3. If you love houseplants, spend a few minutes every day writing about your plant. Is it growing? Is it losing leaves? What does the soil feel like?
4. Write down everything around you. Focus on all of your senses: what you see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. Go into as much detail as you can to make the reader experience everything that you're experiencing.
5. Take your favorite iconic story and completely rewrite it by switching every trope. Damsel in distress? Make her a skilled assassin who leaves everyone in the dust. Enemies to lovers? Turn it into a lovers-to-enemies arc. Is the main cast a bunch of kids growing up? Add a bunch of superpowers that will make puberty way more complicated.
6. Turn your favorite season, element, flower, or animal into a human. What would their personality be like? What would their favorite food be? How would they spend their time?
7. Write a story that takes place in a completely different world. This is a fun way to come up with different economies, cultures, and languages.
8. Fill a few bowls with paper that says different words (places, foods, names), and draw one from each bowl at random. Write a story with what you pick.
9. Go on Pinterest or Instagram and save a bunch of images that inspire you. After you have a collection, view them all at once to get a feel for their aesthetic and then write a story based on how it makes you feel.
10. Turn your latest dream into a story. Whether it was a happy dream or a nightmare, you have the power to adjust what happens!

Ideas To Help You Stay In The Zone While You Write

Slippers

It's important to feel comfortable and cozy while writing when it's cold outside. So grab yourself a pair of slippers or fuzzy socks to keep your toes warm.

A Good Playlist

Music can help you get in the zone or feel a particular emotion that will help you focus in on an aspect of the story that you're creating. Here's our assistant editor Chloe's creative writing playlist, but you can also check out our Spotify for a few different vibes!

Notebooks + Pens

Whether you're jotting down ideas during your writing process or you write down inspiration when you're out and about, every writer needs some good pens and a notebook. You can also grab a planner to have a place to track your plans + progress.

Long Walks

Walks will get your blood pumping, and the change of scenery can help inspire you. It's also helpful to be away from your computer (especially if you work from home), but feel free to bring some music with you. One of our favorite things to do is to go on a solo weekend writing retreat to visit a town we've never been to before and still get some work done.

Snacks

We're talking potato chips, dark chocolate, or a variety of healthy snacks. We'll take it all, especially when you coordinate your snacks with the time of day.

1. How I Met Your Mother

It's natural to have flawed characters in TV series, but one How I Met Your Mother character in particular, Barney Stinson, is especially problematic. Portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris, Barney is known for being manipulative and casually misogynistic.

For instance, he has a "playbook" of pick-up lines, regularly lies to women just to sleep with them, and perpetuates toxic masculinity. Barney's behavior might've been able to snag some laughs back in the day, but his disrespectful actions wouldn't be so well-received by audiences in 2025.

2. Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men continues to air on TV and stream across platforms, but that doesn't mean its premise isn't controversial.

Charlie Sheen plays Charlie Harper, a man who routinely treats women as objects for his own pleasure and perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes. Not to mention, Charlie's behavior is showcased in front of his young nephew, Jake, who becomes privy to situations that are way too mature for a kid.

Sure, there is humor in the tension between Charlie and his brother, Alan. Nonetheless, the line between comedy and inappropriate content is definitely blurred.

3. Ugly Betty

Both the title and plot of Ugly Betty probably wouldn't hold up if it were released today. The show revolves around Betty Suarez, played by America Ferrera, who is a smart, ambitious, and kind-hearted young woman. However, since she wears glasses, has braces, and doesn't follow fashion trends, she's deemed "ugly" and deals with constant ridicule after landing a job at a fashion magazine.

It's undeniable that Ugly Betty is packed with both funny and heartfelt moments. Nonetheless, the way the show treats Betty's looks and reinforces harmful beauty standards feels super outdated in our more body-positive and inclusive era.

4. That 70's Show

When you think of That 70's Show, you might picture the classic bell-bottom-wearing friend group sitting around, surrounded by clouds of smoke. Compared to how the character Fes, played by Wilmer Valderrama, was treated, the underage drug use seems relatively tame.

As the "foreign exchange student," Fes is not only given a name that reduces him to being an outsider, but a lot of the humor surrounding his character also just relies on racist stereotypes. That 70's Show might've intended to be lighthearted, but it's tough to imagine a modern sitcom leaning on so many old tropes.

5. Everybody Loves Raymond

Despite being a funny character, Ray Barone, played by Ray Romano, reinforces problematic gender roles in Everybody Loves Raymond.

He comes off as a passive husband who typically sides with his mother over his wife, leaving his wife to shoulder much of the emotional labor and household chores. This old-fashioned family dynamic feels especially inappropriate today when modern sitcoms are trying to challenge these old stereotypes.

6. The Big Bang Theory

The initial appeal of The Big Bang Theory centered around nerd culture being quirky and odd, but today, this kind of "otherness" just isn't considered funny anymore.

Each character also has their own specific issues, with Raj's selective mutism being played for laughs, Penny embodying the "dumb blonde" stereotype, and Sheldon's behavior that's exaggerated for comedic effect. In 2025, this sitcom seems repetitive and shallow since it leans too heavily on stereotypes.

7. Home Improvement

When it comes to Home Improvement, this show pushed a traditional narrative where men are defined by their roles as the breadwinners and having handyman skills; meanwhile, a woman's value is tied to her appearance and household duties.

Tim Taylor, played by Tim Allen, is a one-dimensional character whose storyline almost totally revolves around his role as the host of "Tool Time," a fictional TV show. Not to mention, there's the "Tool Time girl," a woman whose sole purpose is to stand and look attractive while introducing Tim and his co-host. The lack of depth and outdated gender tropes make Home Improvement a tough watch today.

8. According to Jim

On a similar note, the show According to Jim features a father, played by Jim Belushi, who embodies traditional gender roles. His behavior doesn't fit the mold of the typical sitcom dad, though, since Jim is always lying to his wife and sister, interrupting others, and acting just plain rude.

In hindsight, Jim's character perpetuates misogyny and being overly macho, something that probably wouldn't fly if made today.