Leah Rachel von Essen is an editor, writer, and book reviewer. She is a copyeditor and fact-checker at Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as a contributing editor, Adult Books, for American Library Association’s magazine Booklist. She writes regularly for Chicago Review of Books and is a senior contributor at Book Riot.
Her blog, While Reading and Walking, features book reviews; meditations on chronic illness, fatphobia, and mental health; and coverage of local bookstores and bookish spots around the world. Founded in 2015, While Reading and Walking has over 10,000 dedicated followers over several social media outlets.
Leah is also a board member and secretary of Chicago Books to Women in Prison, an all-volunteer-run organization that delivers books to women and trans people incarcerated across the United States.
Leah received a Bachelor’s with honors in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago. She also achieved a minor in Religious Studies. For seven years, she was the editor-in-chief of the alumni magazine of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
She lives on the South Side of Chicago with cat Ms Nellie Bly.
Get to Know Me
I have been passionate about writing for most of my life, whether it be journaling, crafting interviews, writing poems, or crafting novels. My friends know me as a determined, caring individual and a skilled multitasker who always has a book in her bag and a pen in her pocket.
I grew up in a small town in New Jersey with a sprawl of gorgeous forest. I rowed and coxswained for the varsity crew team in college, and grew closer than I’d like to the Chicago River in the process. I am a passionate women’s sports fan and root hard for Chicago soccer and basketball.
I have traveled solo to Spain, Argentina, Scotland, and Mexico. I also studied for three months in India, spending time in Amritsar, Mysore, and Pune. I love the adventure and the discovery of travel—so I often come back from vacation more tired than when I left.
I love the smell of books and leather, of eucalyptus and mint. My favorite season is spring, but my favorite aesthetic is autumn. I feel most at peace beside the lake or the ocean, in any weather.
Some of my all-time favorite books, out of the thousands I’ve read, include The Waves by Virginia Woolf, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer.
