New Books Network Emely Rumble, "Bibliotherapy in The Bronx" (Row House, 2025)
Apr 18, 2026
Emely Rumble, a licensed clinical social worker and bibliopsychotherapist, shares how literature helps healing in marginalized communities. She discusses the book’s structure, case selections, and rituals like commonplace books. Conversations cover bibliotherapy’s roots, poetry practice, fiction’s therapeutic power, and how book bans harm community mental health.
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Book Born From Therapy Journals
- Emily Rumble developed much of Bibliotherapy in the Bronx from years of journaling after therapy sessions and annotating books used with clients.
- Her indie publisher Rebecca Baruki recognized these fragments as a full book and encouraged her to compile them into a manuscript.
Three-Part Argument For Bibliotherapy
- Rumble structures the book into three arguments: bibliotherapy's history, individual healing through reading, and collective healing via libraries and communities.
- She intentionally balanced memoir, clinical context, and reader-facing examples to make the theory emotionally resonant and practical.
Standing On The Shoulders Of Bibliotherapy Giants
- Rumble credits Rudine Sims Bishop's 'books as windows and mirrors' epigraph and Sadie P. Delaney as predecessors in bibliotherapy.
- She intentionally repeats the mirror idea to highlight recognition beyond mere representation in readers' inner emotional lives.
