Restoring dignity through the power of shared stories.

Our Story

The healing power of books.

Rosebuds Reading Collective is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit bringing book clubs and creative writing workshops to women incarcerated at Rikers Island.

Nora Fried started Rosebuds during a difficult period in her own life. She had turned to reading, working through memoirs and civil rights narratives, and found that books could pull her out of a dark place in a way little else could. That realization led to a question she couldn't shake: what might that kind of access mean for women who had no choice but to sit with themselves? She found her answer at the Rose M. Singer Center, where she showed up with a few books and an idea. Six women came to that first session.

Julia Fox and Afrika Owes joined as founding partners not long after. Julia, an actress and New York Times bestselling author of Down the Drain, became Creative Director. Afrika, a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk, had been incarcerated at the Rose M. Singer Center herself. She knew exactly what it meant to be one of those women in the room.

The three of them kept showing up. Word spread inside the facility. Women started bringing other women. What had been a small circle grew into a collective of dozens across multiple units, with consistent sessions, author visits, and writing workshops built around the voices and lived experiences of the women themselves.