A book club inside a jail may sound small. At Rikers Island, it can offer something harder to find: a regular place to speak honestly, listen without judgment, and imagine life beyond the walls. That is the purpose behind the Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club, a reading and writing program run by the Rosebuds Reading Collective.
Founded by comedian Nora Fried in 2025, the nonprofit brings book discussions, creative writing workshops, and author visits to women held at Rikers. Actress and author Julia Fox serves as its creative director. The program is not simply about finishing books. It is about making room for participants’ own perspectives, at a time when their choices and privacy are sharply limited.
A reading circle built on trust
The Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club grew from Fried’s belief that books could help people connect during difficult periods. She began by bringing reading sessions to women at Rikers; Fox joined after participants chose her memoir, Down the Drain, as a book-club selection. Fox’s involvement deepened in a personal moment: her brother was incarcerated in the men’s section of the jail at the time.
Trust is not automatic in a correctional setting. Fried has spoken about approaching the group transparently, making clear she was not there to lecture or control the conversation. Her willingness to share her own struggles helped participants feel that they could decide for themselves whether to join in. In the Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club, participation can begin with listening; no one needs to tell a personal story before she is ready.
Angela Winston, who spent 11 months at Rikers, described the sessions as a rare place where she could lower her guard. In the article, she recalled feeling safer in the book-club space than in her housing area. Her account gives the Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club its clearest measure of value: not only what participants read, but how the room feels to the people in it.
Books can open difficult conversations.
The discussions are not restricted to literary analysis. Participants talk about love, sexuality, queerness, grief, and the experiences that shape their lives. Winston, for example, shared writing about a first love she had as a teenager and the loss that followed. Her story shows how a writing prompt can create a route into subjects that might otherwise remain unspoken.
That does not mean every meeting is solemn. The Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club makes space for laughter and ordinary conversation alongside more painful reflections. This mix matters: a supportive group should not reduce participants to their trauma or expect them to disclose more than they choose. Books provide a shared starting point, while the participants themselves shape where the conversation goes.
Fox has described seeing some women move from quiet skepticism to active participation over a series of meetings. That change is not a transformation anyone can promise or measure from the outside. It is a reminder, though, that consistency and respect can help people feel more comfortable speaking in a group.
Reading beyond the meeting
The practical barriers are real. Rikers is a jail where many people are held while awaiting trial, serving shorter sentences, or waiting for transfer. That movement can make continuity difficult: someone who attends one session may not be there for the next. The Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club must therefore work with the uncertainty of participants’ circumstances, rather than assuming everyone can follow a conventional course from beginning to end.
Access to books and programs can also be limited. Winston told Insider that the jail library was closed to women for much of her time there, while other classes she tried were cut because of funding. Against that backdrop, the Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club offers more than a scheduled activity. It brings books and guided discussion directly to people who may otherwise have few opportunities to read and write together.
The New York City Department of Correction’s 2025 annual programs report describes Rosebuds as a structured book club that uses monthly selections, group discussion, and reflective prompts to encourage self-awareness and connection. That institutional description supports an important distinction: this is an organized program, not just an occasional celebrity visit.
From Rikers to what comes next
The Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club is also part of a broader ambition. Rosebuds has discussed expanding its work to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and developing opportunities for people to remain connected to reading and writing after release. The nonprofit’s own materials describe a mission centered on books, creative writing and community for people in custody.
Winston’s experience points to what that continuity might make possible. She said the group encouraged her to read more and think differently, and spoke of wanting to start a book club at her treatment facility. She also shared a dream of writing a children’s book with her daughter. Those plans are hers; the program’s role was to give her a place to explore them.
That is why the Julia Fox and Nora Fried book club deserves attention beyond the names attached to it. Its most meaningful work happens when the spotlight moves away from its celebrity supporters and toward the women reading, writing, and deciding what they want to share. In a jail, a book club cannot solve the conditions of incarceration. It can, however, make space for people to be heard as more than their case or their circumstances.
