Adults, I highly recommend, A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader no matter your age. Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick have collected wonderful letters written by people from Yo-Yo Ma to Jane Goodall about what reading means to them, composed to a young reader but also speaking to the heart of all of us. Each letter is paired with a glorious illustration.
If you don’t yet know of Brain Pickings, Maria Popova’s online collection of writing about philosophers, writers, poets, scientists, and artists, I also highly recommend checking it out.
The purpose of this post is to record the names of the people involved with the project, so that when I give away my copy of the book, I can still return to the people and learn about their lives and contributions. I want to learn about all these other people who appear alongside Yo Yo Ma, Neil Gaiman, Jane Goodall, Jad Abumrad, Alan Lightman, Roz Chast, Seth Godin, Mary Oliver, Tim Ferriss, Sylvia Earle, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Regina Spektor. Perhaps there is wonderful music and writing that I’ve never encountered before, waiting to be discovered. And perhaps for you, too.
Maria Popova is staunchly against the listicle, so I hope she’ll forgive this list, which really is more of a hyperlinked index to the contributors she and Claudia Bedrick have assembled in A Velocity of Being. It’s going to take me some time to add links for all of these amazing people (if I ever do), so you may need to Google them for yourself! For some, I could not find an official website, so I’ve linked to some of their work online.
Oh, also, did I forget to mention that all the proceeds from the sale of A Velocity of Being go to the New York public library system? Knowing that the money goes to the NY public library helped me shell out the $35, and I don’t regret it in the slightest.
Jacqueline Woodson and Laura Hawthorne
Laura Brown-Lavoie and Ping Zhu
Alexandra Horowitz and Frank Viva
Neil Gaiman and Sophie Blackall
Alain de Botton and Mouni Feddag
Diane Ackerman and Olivier Tallec
Jane Goodall and Christian Robinson
David Byrne and Daniel Salmieri
Jad Abumrad and JooHee Yoon
Martha Nussbaum and Michela Buttignol
Rebecca Solnit and Liniers
Elizabeth Gilbert and Marianne Dubuc
David Whyte and Felicita Sala
Claudia Guadalupe Martinez and Ashleigh Corrin
Alexander Chee and Taeeun Yoo
Amanda Palmer and Øyvind Torseter
Rose Styron and Cindy Derby
Dani Shapiro and Yara Kono
Emily Levine and Kristin Roskifte
Lucianne Walkowicz and Violeta Lópiz
Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie and Esme Shapiro
Helen Fagin and Ingrid Godon
Debbie Millman and Dasha Tolstikova
Shonda Rhimes and Matthew Forsythe
Thomas Page McBee and Mandana Sadat
Alan Lightman and Josh Cochran
Amanda Stern and Carson Ellis
Roz Chast
Ruth Ann Harnisch and Maisie Paradise Shearring
Annalee Newitz and Chloe Bonfield
Judy Blume and Decur
Robin Wall Kimmerer and Valerio Vidali
Cory Doctorow and You Jung Byun
Aracelis Girmay and Ariana Fields
Isabel Minhós Martins and Christopher Silas Neal
Sarah Kay and Lisa D’Andrea
Seth Godin and Katrin Stangl
Ariel Schrag
Mary Oliver and Marc Johns
Naomi Wolf and Hyewon Yum
Susan Orlean and Wendy MacNaughton
Bruce Handy and Albertine
Andrew Solomon and Catarina Sobral
Richard Branson and William Grill
Anne-Marie Slaughter and Anne Slaughter
Laurel Braitman and Cecilia Ruiz
Mohammed Fairouz and Nahid Kazemi
Matthew Burgess and Jenni Desmond
Aaron Koblin and Tallulah Fontaine
Sylvia Earle and Sophie Gilmore
Felicia Day and Emily Hughes
Jerome Bruner and Mo Willems
Lena Dunham and Tim Miller
Terry Teachout and Kenard Pak
Mara Faye Lethem and Ofra Amit
Parker Palmer and Hadley Hooper
Eve Ensler and Zoey Abbott
Tim Ferriss and Benjamin Chaud
Ev Williams and Brian Floca
Maud Newton and Peter Brown
Steven Pinker and Marine Rivoal
David L. Ulin and Gemma Correll
Natascha McElhone and Bernardo P. Carvalho
Lise Solomon and Zachariah OHora
Deane Wareham and Benôit Delhomme
Mariska Hargitay and Samantha Cotterill
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Serge Bloch
Kevin Kelly and Andrea Tsurumi
Courtney E. Martin and Isol
David Delgado and The Brothers Hilts
Chris Anderson and Brian Rea
Leonard S. Marcus and Julia Rothman
Thao Ngyuen and Sean G. Qalls
Tavi Gevinson and Vittoria Facchini
William Powers and Christoph Niemann
Chris Ware
Paul Holdengräber and Maira Kalman
Liz Danzico and Ohara Hale
Samantha Cristoforetti and John Parra
Holland Taylor and Oliver Jeffers
Brandon Stanton and Sara Varon
Maria Bustillos and Sergio Ruzzier
Rebecca Mead and Sonia Sánchez
Krista Tippett and Judith Clay
Emily Spivack and Liz Starin
Regina Spektor and Benji Davies
Marina Abramović and Lia Halloran
Ellen Handler Spitz and Sandra Jávera
Sarah Lewis and Julie Paschkis
Dona Ann McAdams and Marc Drumwright
Baba Brinkman and Lizi Boyd
Paola Antonelli and Kris Di Giacomo
Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown
Shirley Manson and RUMISU
J. D. McClatchy and Chip Kidd
Steven Heller and Pascal Blanchet
Morley Kamen and Miguel Pang Ly
Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman
Jon Scieszka and Henrik Drescher
Isabel Quintero and Sabina Hahn
Tomi Ungerer
Pamela Paul and Alessandro Sanna
Meehan Crist and Jon Klassen
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein and Giselle Potter
Dawn Landes and Elise Hurst
Caroline Paul and Grant Snider
Lisa Randall and Luke Ramsey
John Maeda and Katie Harnett
Jacqueline Novogratz and Isabelle Arsenault
Chris Sacca and Carla Torres
Tom De Blasis and Shaun Tan
Ursula K. Le Guin and Charles Vess
Yo-Yo Ma and Narges Mohammadi
Ann Patchett and Vladimir Radunsky
Ann Martin and Robin Rosenthal
Kaisa Leka and Christoffer Leka
James Gleick and Benoit Tardif
Adam Gopnik and Beatrice Alemagna
Janna Levin and The Fan Brothers
Anne Lamott and Andrea Dezsö
Elizabeth Alexander and R. Gregory Christie