Sapphic September Readathon & Photo Challenge

Introducing #SapphicSeptember, a month long readathon & photo challenge celebrating sapphic representation in books! 

The Sapphic September bingo card includes 16 reading prompts, but to keep things as fun and stress free as possible, I’m adding a bit of a twist – in addition to reading, you can also fulfill a bingo prompt by posting a photo of a sapphic book that fits it! Obviously, the aim of any readathon is to encourage participants to read more books, but 2020 has been an incredibly hectic and stressful year for many people. I’ve included this additional option in hopes it will allow more people to participate however much they want or are able to.

Additionally, I know ten days (can you believe August is almost over already?! I can’t) isn’t much notice to plan for a month-long readathon. With that in mind, I tried to keep the prompts broad and open ended, so that (hopefully) everyone will be able to fulfill at least some of the prompts with books they already have on hand!

Without further ado, the prompts: 

To help those using screen reader technology: The bingo card is 4 x 4. I’ve listed the prompts below by row, from left to right.

Row 1:
✨ Myth or Fairytale Retelling
✨ Indie or Small Press Author
✨ Adult Book if you usually Read YA, and vice versa (YA if you usually read Adult)
✨ Backlist Title (Published in 2018 or earlier)

Row 2:
✨ Enemies or Rivals to Lovers 
✨ Group Read: Iron Heart by Nina Varela (Out September 8th)
✨ Let a friend choose your read (or post a poll and let your followers choose!)
✨ Contemporary Romance

Row 3:
✨ Format you read the least (ie. audiobooks, ebooks, physical books, etc)
✨ New or New to You Author
✨ Has Been on Your TBR Too Long
✨ By a Sapphic Literary Icon (This is open to interpretation, and I would absolutely accept queer coded classics like Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for this prompt!)

Row 4: 
✨ Quick Reads: Novella or Graphic Novel
✨ Historical Fiction/Romance
✨ Opposites Attract
✨ Sci-fi/Fantasy (or other Speculative Fiction) with an F/F Romantic Subplot

A Note on Inclusivity:
For the purposes of this readathon, sapphic is defined as:
“An adjective for a female-aligned person who feels romantic or sexual attraction to female-aligned people. This applies to female-aligned people who are not only lesbians, but also bisexual, pansexual, etc.”

I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that I do: Do not use this readathon as a vehicle to be a bigot or intolerant asshole. No TERFs allowed. Also, non-binary people and characters can be sapphic if they say they are and I will not tolerate any nonsense claiming otherwise.

Anyway, I might be forgetting some things, so don’t hesitate to contact me via Instagram or Twitter if you have any questions or need recommendations on sapphic books to fit the prompts! I’m super excited to be hosting this readathon, and I’d love it if you’d join us!