Black & Published

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Reginald Dwayne Betts , author of the poetry collection, Doggerel , which he says is his most joyous to date. In our conversation, Dwayne explains how he became intentional about singing a different song after realizing he’d become a long suffering Black man. Plus, why he believes identity is...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lizzie Damilola Blackburn about her second novel, The Re-Write . A second chance romance between a full-figured woman and a reality TV star who’s struggling to decide exactly what kind of man he wants to be. In our conversation, Lizzie explains why she wanted to tackle toxic masculinity and f...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Ashley M. Jones , author of the poetry collection, Lullaby for the Grieving . A deeply personal look at what it means to find and lose love at the same time of unprecedented political turmoil. At 31-years-old, Ashley became the poet Laureate of Alabama, becoming both the youngest and the firs...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lauren Morrow . Author of the novel, Little Movements . A book that explores what it means to leave behind the life you know and take a risk on what you love without the guarantee of reward. In our conversation, Lauren explains why she's not turned off by her book being characterized as auto-...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Camonghne Felix, author of Let The Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom . It’s a treatise on the inherent harm of political power and an entreaty for people to seek collective and communal good from a praxis of poetics. In our conversation, Camonghne explains why the erasure poems she incl...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Jodi-Ann Burey , author of the book Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work . Part memoir, part sociological study of how women, queer, disabled, and minoritized people are discriminated against in the workplace, the book is an outgrowth of Jodi-Ann’s 2020 Ted Talk on the same...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Tayari Jones , author of the novel Kin . Kin, is Tayari’s fifth novel and her second Oprah’s book club pick after 2018’s An American marriage. In our conversation, she explains why she’s grateful for her “slow burn career" and how she surrendered to the story that wanted to be written … even...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Donika Kelly , author of the poetry collection, The Natural Order of Things . It’s a collection of poems paying homage to Donika’s wife, her friends, and especially her family. In our conversation, we discuss how she uses poetry to imagine a future that doesn’t feel possible, the comfort she...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Damon Young , author and editor of That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor . The anthology features essays and stories from 24 acclaimed Black writers whose words do work on the page but are also funny AF. In our conversation, we discuss how humor is a vehicle to...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Ebony LaDelle , editor of the YA Romance Collection: You’ve Got a Place Here too: An Anthology of Black Love Storie set at HBCUs . The collection provides a gathering place for 11 authors to share stories of all representations of love within the HBCU ecosystem. In our conversation, we discus...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This season on Black & Published, guests help answer the question: What does it mean to be a Black writer? Mahogany Books Mentioned in this episode: Rate & Review Thanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Dorsía Smith Silva , author of the poetry collection, In Inheritance of Drowning . The collection was born out of Dorsía’s experience of living through Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017, becoming a mother, and witnessing the racial reckoning of 2020. In our conversation, we discuss the rea...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha celebrates the publication of her latest novel, The Seven Daughters of Dupree , with Bookstagram and Book Tok favorites, Jamise Harper ( @diversespines , @spinesvines ) and Edrick Scarver ( @edrickreadit ). They discuss the original title of the novel that informed the whole story line, the greatest takeaway Nikesha wants readers to have when they finish...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with her editor, Alison Callahan who has been working as an editor for 20+ years. They discuss why their editor-author relationship was always destined to be. Plus, the deep dive Alison and her team did into Nikesha's background before making the deal. And why she feels intimidated every time she takes off her editorial hat and tries to approach t...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with her literary agent, Peter Steinberg. An agent since 1996, Peter explains the one thing that remains true in publishing even after all these years. Plus, the importance of rejection to an author's career, and what he thinks is the death of good fiction. Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! See Nikesha on Tour Mahogany Books Menti...

Black & Published is back for season 6, but before we dive into our regularly scheduled episodes, we're having a mini series all about Nikesha's forthcoming novel The Seven Daughters of Dupree . Over these next four weeks she'll discuss: the writing process how she got her agent how the novel sold in a week the themes already resonating with early readers. Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughter...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha dives into how she wrote her forthcoming novel The Seven Daughters of Dupree . From starting the book for a publishing contest just days before she gave birth, to writing and revising as her life fell apart Nikesha breaks down how her novel kept her from a break down, and the kismetic happenstance that occurred between she, her agent, and editor. Order Y...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with author Deesha Philyaw about the new writing resource she created with graphic designer Diamonde Williamson , Writer Beware . The 20 page infographic takes a look at the distinctions among different publishing paths in order to dispel misinformation and help writers avoid predatory publishers....

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published Nikesha speaks with Rachel Howzell Hall , the author of the thriller Fog and Fury . The publication of this books marks twenty three years since Rachel’s publishing debut. In our conversation, Rachel discusses why it’s important for authors to know and lean into their brand. Plus, what she found to be the tr...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Laura Pegram , the editor of Sing The Truth: The Kweli Journal Short Story Collection . The anthology comes 15 years after Kweli debuted as the premier online literary journal focused on nuturing the voices of emerging writers who identify as Black, indigenous, or as other people of color.&nb...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Nancy Johnson , author of People of Means . It's a dual timeline historical fiction novel about the choices a mother and daughter make as they pursue excellence in a time of intense activism.  In our conversation, Nancy discusses what triggered her to start telling stories of her own. Pl...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with James Stewart, III , the author of the novel, Defiant Acts . It’s a non linear story about an interracial family that couples the mundanity of everyday life with the incendiary explosiveness of racial reckoning out in the world.  In our conversation, James discusses how he recreated his...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Honorée Fannone Jeffers , the author of Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays and Writings . The book blends, history, cultural criticism and memoir seamlessly to weave a story about Black women in America, their worth, their value, and their inherent humanity and equality.  In our conve...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Kristina Forest the author of The Love Lyric . It’s the final installment of Kristina’s romance trilogy about three sisters who are named after flowers.  In our conversation, Kristina’s discusses how working on both sides of the aisle in the publishing industry gives her a unique advanta...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Nikkolas Smith about his new picture book The History of We . It's a book he says shows the lineage for every human on Earth beginning with Black people in Africa. In our conversation, Nikkolas discusses why he's grateful for the winding path that led him to his full time role as an illustrat...