A book club launched in 2025...

With all the recent changes and uncertainty in the world, I wanted to get together and chat about memoir and true stories by women who made bold choices and defied societal expectations. Books that incite us to think about what makes an empowered woman. What choices do they make or fail to make? How do they recover and become who they want to be? The Empowered Women Book Club was born.

I co-host the book club with my mother and fellow memoirist, Dr Djenane Nakhle, who published her memoir, Finding Home: From Cairo to New York in December 2024. You can view our interview here.

Contact me at joelle@joelletamraz.com to be added to our private Facebook group (or look for our group on Facebook) to be notified of meetings and access the online joining details.

About the Book Club

Meetings take place every other month. We read from a variety of memoirs written by women from different cultures, upbringings, ethnicities, identities and points of view. The common thread is making bold choices, defying patriarchal expectations, finding one's voice, and pursuing freedom.

Upcoming Meetings – 1PM EST / 6PM UK time

August 27 (Wednesday) - The Secret Practice: Eighteen Years on the Dark Side of Yoga by Joelle Tamraz

Previous Meetings

February 27 - Finding Home: From Cairo to New York by Djenane Nakhle

April 30 - Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived by Karen DeBonis

June 25 - A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings

July 22 (Tuesday) - Henry's Classroom: A Special Education in American Motherhood by Amy Mackim

Book Suggestions:

Manifesto on Never Giving Up by Bernadine Evaristo

The Only Way Through Is Out by Suzette Mullen

The Race to Be Myself by Caster Semenya

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman

I Am a Girl from Africa by Elizabeth Nyamayaro
Worthy: From Cornfields to Corner Office of Microsoft by Jane Boulware