Black Writers Read

Send us Fan Mail Happy National Poetry Month ! Launched in April of 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month celebrates the literary traditions sustained by this mode of storytelling. Thank you so very much to every single poet who has joined me on this platform. This episode features our conversation with Nandi Comer (poetry.), which was live-streamed on April 7, 2024. Nandi C...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Chana Shinegba , which was live-streamed on March 30, 2024.  Chana Shinegba, a gifted storyteller, embodies the spirit of resilience and creativity that defines her generation. Coming of age as a young Black girl in the vibrant but complex landscape of the 1980s and 1990s, Chana grappled with acknowledging her innate talents amidst the b...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Angie Chatman , which was live-streamed on March 16, 2024. For long-time Black Writers Read supporters you may remember Angie from our Black History Month Virtual Event in 2021.  Angie Chatman is a writer and storyteller. She's written for Insider Personal Finance, MIT Tech Review, the National Science Foundation, Yahoo News and els...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Janine Fondon , which was recorded during our live event held in person on March 4, 2024 at Holyoke Media . Janine Fondon , MFA, is an award-winning writer, digital media producer, and educator/historian who uses the art and science of communication and inclusion to elevate voices, engage audiences, and inspire creative thinking in a wor...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Donna Hemans , which was live streamed on Saturday, February 17, 2024. We chatted about her recently released novel, The House of Plain Truth , and her writing career. Donna Hemans is the author of three novels, River Woman , Tea by the Sea , and The House of Plain Truth . Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Slice, Electric Lit...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with T.H. Moore , which was live streamed on Saturday, February 10, 2024. We chatted about his forthcoming memoir, Ghetto Bastard , and his expansive body of work. T.H. Moore is a Southwest Philadelphia native who relocated to Camden, New Jersey at the age of ten. He’s an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and earned a Bachelor...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with K E Garland , which was live streamed on Saturday, January 6, 2024. We chatted about her debut memoir, I n Search of a Salve . K E Garland is a creative nonfiction writer and blogger based in Florida. She uses personal essays and memoir to de-marginalize women's experiences with an intent to highlight and humanize contemporary issue...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Nada Samih-Rotondo (nonfiction. fiction.), which was live-streamed on Saturday, December 16, 2023.  This episode is presented in collaboration with Levee Break Lit.  Nada Samih-Rotondo is a multi-genre Palestinian American writer, educator, and mother. A graduate of Rhode Island College, she earned degrees in English and Education and an...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Minda Honey , which was live streamed on Saturday, November 18, 2023, about her memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS . Minda Honey’s essays on politics and relationships have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Teen Vogue, and Longreads.  Her work is featured in “Burn It Down: Wome...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our latest conversation with Kerika Fields , which was live- streamed on Saturday, October 28, 2023. We chatted about her latest book, With Your Bad Self .  ​​Kerika Fields is a Brooklyn, New York-based writer and photographer whose work has been published and exhibited widely. She is the author of With Your Bad Self (Jacaranda Books, November 29, 2022). With...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to our special series, Black Writers Read Presents Writers Across the Margins , our opportunity to chat with writers from other Diasporas! This episode features our conversation with Jason Montgomery which was live streamed on Saturday, October 7, 2023. During our chat, Jason shared an excerpt from his latest poetry collection, These Latest Apocalypses which was recently p...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our latest conversation with Aina Hunter (science fiction.), which was live-streamed on Sunday, September 24, 2023. We chatted about her debut novel, Charlotte and the Chickenman: the Inevitable Nigrescence of Charlotte-Noa Tibbit (Whiskey Tit Books, 2022) Based in Western Massachusetts, Aina Hunter is an artist with a background in journalism, Food Studies ...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our latest conversation with Aaron Dworkin , which was live-streamed on Sunday, September 17, 2023. We chatted about his latest poetry collection, The Poetjournalist , and his evolving work as a writer. Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts and member of President Biden’s Arts Policy Committee,...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to our first episode of Season Four of Black Writers Read ! This episode featu4res our latest conversation with Sami Miranda , which was live-streamed on Saturday, September 9, 2023. We chatted about his latest poetry collection, Protection from Erasure , and his body of work. Samuel "Sami" Miranda grew up in the South Bronx and resides in Washington, DC. He is a...

Send us Fan Mail We are super excited to kick off Season Four of Black Writers Read ! Learn more about our upcoming lineup of guests and an upcoming project, Writers from the Margins . We're also thrilled to share with you our new online home: www.blackwritersread.com . We launched our website earlier this summer. On it, you'll have access to past episodes and information on upcoming eve...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features excerpts from four conversations we’ve had with guests that reflect on topics relevant to the Juneteenth holiday including family, ancestral influences, food, culture, and honoring our pasts. Included on this bonus episode are the following conversations: Saida Agostini (S2 E6 of the livestream series /Retrospective Episode on the audio podcast) read excerpts...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our latest livestream from Saturday, June 10, 2023 with our guest, Kimberly Mack to discuss her latest book, Time’s Up , which is on the band, Living Colour’s sophomore album. Kimberly Mack will begin her time as the Associate Professor of  English at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign this coming fall. Her book, Living Colour’s Time’s Up , part of Bloom...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our latest livestreamed from Sunday, June 4, 2023 with our guest, Itua Uduebo to discuss his debut novel, Parade of Streetlights . Itua was born in Lagos, Nigeria and currently resides in New York, NY. He graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in International Politics and works in the financial technology industry. Itua's writing journey beg...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our latest livestreamed from Saturday, May 13, 2023 in honor of Mother’s Day weekend. We chatted with poet and nonfiction writer, Shirley A. Jones Luke who read for our 2021 Black History Month virtual event. Shirley A. Jones Luke is a poet and writer. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Ms. Luke has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her poems focu...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Lisbeth White (poetry. prose.), which was livestreamed on Saturday, April 29, 2023. Lisbeth is the author of the 2022 Perugia Prize winning poetry collection, AMERICAN SYCAMORE .   From the bayou, to Belgium, to Barbados, AMERICAN SYCAMORE examines the Black diaspora, ancestral reparation, and the sacred feminine. In pursuit of understan...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with certified doula, writer, book coach, and host of the Write to Heal Podcast , Danielle Jernigan , which was livestreamed on Saturday, April 15, 2023 during Black Maternal Health Week . During our conversation, we talked about Daniellle's writing for popular audiences, how her past work experience in medical research pairs nicely with...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Enzo Silon Surin , which was livestreamed on Saturday, April 8, 2023. We talked about their most recent books including When My Body was a Clinched Fist and the forthcoming poetry collection, American Scapegoat . Enzo Silon Surin is a Haitian-born, award-winning poet, educator, librettist, publisher and social advocate. He is the author...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Philadelphia’s Dr. Raina J. León , which was livestreamed on Saturday, March 25, 2023 to talk about her expansive body of work. Dr. Raina J. León is Black, Afro-Boricua, and from Philadelphia (Lenni Lenape ancestral lands). She is a mother, daughter, sister, madrina, comadre, partner, poet, writer, artist, digital archivist, podcaster, a...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with self-help and business author, La’Vista Jones , which was livestreamed on Saturday, March 18, 2023 to talk about her latest book, The BOSS™ Shift . La’Vista Jones is the founder and CEO of 31 Marketplace, an agency committed to helping women do the work they love, without sacrificing themselves to do it.  As a corporate dropout, turned e...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features our conversation with Regine Jackson, which was hosted live at The Artist Cafe in Downtown Springfield, Massachusetts on February 12, 2023. Regine Jackson is a writer who was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. Born in 1997, Jackson has been an avid reader since she was a child. She always wished to write, specifically stories where the main charac...