About Lisanne.

I’m a reader who writes. I speak 3 languages and I’m the publisher of the Tiny Bits Newsletter. Each month, I handpick 10 meaningful things worth sharing, whether it is a thought-provoking quote, an answer to a reader’s question, a handwritten book review, a project I’m working on, and more. The purpose is to offer wisdom that can be absorbed in just 3 minutes, providing you a tiny moment of calm reflection into your day.

But this platform offers more than a newsletter. I’ve been writing at Lisanneswart.com since the winter of 2020, as a destination to share my favorite books with more people than only my loved ones. Since then, the bookshelf has grown to include more than 25 thought-provoking book recommendations, reaching more than 120.000 people every year. This list of handpicked books is here for you to explore, enjoy, and to spark a meaningful conversation.

Along the way, this blog has become my diary. My personal journey into what matters in the world and why. On this platform, you’ll find me writing and speaking about the people I meet, the books I’m reading, and what I’m learning. This platform aims to bring people together, showcase my work, and keep you tuned. I hope you join the conversation.

I grew up watching women from all across the country sharing their personal stories at The Oprah Winfrey Show. I also spent a good amount of time watching CNN with Christiana Amanpour asking direct questions to controversial world leaders. I loved author James Baldwin always speaking truth to power, and Louis Theroux from the BBC during Weird Weekends. I’ve been greatly inspired by them and many others, but especially by the way television can be used as a medium to transform lives.

It’s very refreshing and inspiring that an extremely powerful medium like that can be used in such a way that it can touch lives, inform us about something we didn’t know yet, or remind us that we might be more connected to one another than we might think sometimes. I believe great stories are powerful, and can inspire people to think and act differently.

Since the beginning of this online publication, I’ve been dedicated to maintain this place advertisement-free – making it a platform solely focused on quality stories and readers’ support. The relationship between a writer and reader should, in my opinion, be personal and real. Ads intervene in that dialogue and disturb – as you will, the authenticity it needs and deserves. 

Therefore, I like this platform to be a destination for people to share stories and ideas that matter. As the world keeps getting faster, there’s actually a shortage of thoughtful, timeless stories and ideas that are worth sharing an hour or even a week later. While the web can be a crowded place of anonymity, clicks, self-exposure and sometimes bullying, it can also be a destination of unity, real conversations and bringing people together.