Our 2025 bookmark features mural by Mary’s Pence grantee’ Sacramento Poderosas Muralists: Ruby Chacón and Isabel Martínez.*
From Our Shelves to Yours
This summer, we’re opening up our bookshelves. The Mary’s Pence reading list is a heartfelt collection of titles recommended and written by past staff and board members — people who’ve helped shape who we are. These books have sparked conversations, shifted perspectives, and brought comfort. We hope they do the same for you.
Crossing Borders Through Immigration and Interfaith Encounters
Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life
Kao Kalia Yang / 2025 / Biography
A moving story of a Lao family’s escape from violence, through refugee camps and hunger, ultimately leading them to establish a new life in the United States. You can feel the love and loss in Yang’s amazing retelling of her mother’s and her family’s story. This is an important part of our history, as a nation of immigrants.
My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation
Jennifer Howe Peace, Or N Rose, and Gregory Moley, forward by Joan Chittister / 2012 / Essays
Over 50 stories of encounters across faiths, including stories from Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Native American, Protestant, and Sikh traditions. Explore the richness and beauty of interfaith connection through these accounts.
Friendship and Faith: The Wisdom of Women Creating Alliances for Peace
The Women of Wisdom (Author) / 2017 / Essays
Born out of connections that began at an interfaith event, friendships formed, and the Women’s Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in MetroDetroit was established. This book is a collection of stories about women crossing the boundaries of faith in their communities.
Note – Mary’s Pence supporter, Patricia Harris, was one of the founders of the organization and an editor of this book.
Trans Lives and Social Change
In this political environment, LGBTQ+ people, particularly Trans people, are at risk. This is a topic that is felt closely by several of our current grantees and staff.
I Hope We Choose Love, A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World
Kai Cheng Thom / 2018 / Essays and Prose Poems
Winner, American Library Association Stonewall Book Awards Honor Book 2020
Winner, Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature 2020
A collection of essays and prose poems, described by Arsenal Pulp Press as ‘a call for nuance in a time of political polarization, for healing in a time of justice, and for love in an apocalypse.’ This is an insightful commentary on social movements and what is needed in the world today, as well as a vulnerable and open sharing about the trans experience in this country.
Woodworking: A Novel
Emily St. James / 2025 / Fiction and LGBTQ+ Trans
Woodworking is a character-driven story about two trans women, Erika and Abigail, who support each other through difficult times in a small town in South Dakota. Erika is Abigail’s teacher, presenting an interesting dynamic to their friendship, which evolves under the increasing scrutiny of their community as others notice their connection. This story reminds us of the transformational impact of connection, courage, and community in the face of systemic and social exclusion.
Women Writing about War
Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary
Victoria Amalina / 2025 / Bio and Memoirs
Winner, The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Amalina became a war crimes researcher after Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. She shares stories of women who are documenting the war’s terrible toll and are helping preserve Ukrainian culture and literature. Amalina was killed by ongoing Russian aggression. Poignant.
Note – Svitlana Iukhymovych worked at Mary’s Pence as a St. Joseph Worker volunteer in 2016. You can read Svitlana’s unfiltered views as a citizen in Ukraine at Svitlana’s Wartime Scribbles on Substack.
What You Have Heard is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
Carolyn Forché / 2020 / Memoir
Forché, a poet, is drawn to El Salvador during the rumblings of the war in the early 90s by a friend’s relative. Through this relationship, she meets high-level politicians, military leaders, campesinos, and activists. Her experience gives her a varied and intimate view of the roots of the long civil war.
Note – Many of the ESPERA women were impacted by this war, some participating as guerrilla fighters.
Changing The World Through Activism, Healing and Faith
The New Science of Social Change: A Modern Handbook for Activists
Lisa Mueller / 2024 / Nonfiction
This book explores empirical evidence on the effectiveness of activists’ strategies and actions. If you wonder if your political actions make a difference, this book offers insight. It is an easy, enjoyable, and a bit wonky book.
Note – We believe we shouldn’t just trust our instincts, but that science can help us be more effective.
What it Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World
Prentis Helphill / 2024 / Nonfiction
Helphill is an embodiment facilitator, political organizer, and therapist who believes there’s potential for a better world if we heal individual and collective traumas. Change begins with imagining what’s possible, holding love at the center. The book recognizes that we need to rethink our relationships, engage with the world, work at both the systems level and the individual level, and expand our sense of ‘we.’ This book brings hope.
Journey-Faith in an Entangled World
Nancy Sylvester, IHM / 2024 / Nonfiction
This book is for those who wish to explore their experience of God in ways that reflect their evolving understanding of self, others, and the world. Critical to this synthesis is contemplation and its capacity for transforming both the self and one’s engagement with the world.
Note – Nancy Sylvester is a past board member of Mary’s Pence, and founder and director of the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue.
Stirring Waters: Feminist Liturgies for Justice
Diann L. Neu / 2020 / Nonfiction
Rituals for the months of the year in themes of Drink from the Well, Step into the Pool, Let Justice Flow like Water, Be Well!, and Everlasting Streams. Beautifully written, it includes preparation notes, readings, songs (with links), reflections, and actions.
Note – From former Mary’s Pence Board Member and favorite ritual leader.
If you’re interested in any of these books, consider checking out your public library or one of these 18 women-owned bookstores. There are options nationwide.
*The Xicana/Latina Poderosas Mural, featured on the front of this bookmark, was created by Mary’s Pence grantee Sacramento Poderosas. It honors nine women who are leading social justice efforts in the Sacramento Valley of California. Their stories inspire the next generation to believe, “Yes, I am enough—and I can do this.”