Tessa Altman

Last year, I wrote a post on my need for a fictional vegan heroine that I can relate to in the novels I read. Yes, I’m still looking for her, but I’m confident that one day, I’ll find her (or who knows, maybe write her?).

Since then, I’ve been reading a lot, with special thanks to audiobooks, and I noticed something: a lot of the books I’ve been reading lately include a character that is either vegan or vegetarian (or at least plant-based). They weren’t necessarily major characters, but at their mention, I was over the moon! Finally some veg representation!

…and then those characters open their mouths.

They’re about what you expect, perfectly embodying the horrid stereotypes. Preachy, obnoxious, and sometimes just down right rude. If I was reading these books before becoming vegan, I’d find these characterizations funny.

Oh, those pesky vegans!

I would agree with the narrators who immediately dismiss veganism, even without the big, bad vegan trying to take their meat away. They call it a phase or harp on how they could never live without hamburgers, cheese, omelets, whatever.

I want to read more books with vegan/vegetarian characters, major or minor, good or bad. The English major in me wants to analyze them, their actions, the novel’s setting, etc. to see why they act how they do, speak how they do, are reacted to the way the are. I want to know why they’re vegan – for the animals, their health, the environment, something else – and how that impacts how others view them.

But I don’t really want to do it alone.

I don’t personally know a lot of vegan or vegetarian people, and I noticed a lot of already existing vegan book clubs tend to focus on non-fiction works trying to convince others to go veg, which isn’t really what I wanted.

So I figured…why not start my own online vegan book club? So that’s exactly what I’m doing!

If you’re interested in discussing veg characters, authors, books, and ideology with other like-minded people, feel free to join my Vegan Book Club on Goodreads! Introduce yourself, suggest some books, and let me know what else you’d like to do as a group!

While I’d like to focus on novels, the group is open to non-fiction works as well! Or just works by veg writers (Percy Bysshe Shelley, for example).

Let me know what you think! I’d love to have you join!

Hi guys!

I’m currently accepting freelance work, so if you need a writer or editor, feel free to contact me here!

If you’d like to support the work I do here, as well as the projects I currently have in the works, you can do so here!

Thank you!
Tessa