Glory Edim

Glory Okon Edim is a Nigerian-American writer and entrepreneur. She is best known as the founder of the reading network Well-Read Black Girl. Edim received the 2017 Innovator's Award at the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for her work.

Early life and education Edim was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia, to Nigerian immigrant parents who had survived the Biafra war. Edim's father moved back to Nigeria in the early 90s; when she was in kindergarten, she and her mother joined him.

Career Edim launched Well-Read Black Girl (WRBG) on Instagram after moving to New York City in 2015. An avid reader, the Well-Read Black Girl moniker came from a nickname that her boyfriend gave her and printed on a t-shirt for her as a gift. Edim was frequently asked about the shirt by strangers on the subway, which often turned into conversations about what she was reading at the time. Eden stated that her goal for WRBG was to develop a community for Black women to discuss their interest in literature by Black women writers. The inaugural festival took place in September 2017 in Brooklyn and sold out. Publishers Weekly stated, "Speaking directly to black women readers, this book contains a journey from which anyone can derive enjoyment and benefit."

Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves (Ballantine Books, 2018) ISBN 978-0525619772 On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library (Liveright, 2021) ISBN 978-1631497698 Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me (Ballantine Books, 2024) ISBN 978-0525619796

Accolades

Innovator's Award, Los Angeles Times (2017) Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional (Nominee), NAACP Image Awards (2019)