Black & Published

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Mahogany L. Browne , the author of the new YA novel A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe. The story is a real time exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York told through a chorus of young voices and borne out of Mahogany’s own battle with the virus.  In our conversation, M...

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree ! This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Kiese Laymon and Alexis Franklin about their new picture book, City Summer, Country Summer. It's a story about an up north city kid who goes down south to visit his country cousins for the summer.  In our conversation, Kiese & Alexis discuss how they were able to explore in their own...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Dwight Thompson , author of the novel, My Own Dear People . It’s a story about a young man reflecting on the harm he and his friends caused a young teacher while they were in high school and why even as a spectator the protagonist was still a perpetrator.  In our conversation, Dwight explains how his own reflection of his boyhood inform...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Denne Michele Norris author of the novel, When the Harvest Comes . The story is one Denne has been working on for 14 years but couldn’t unlock until she freed herself first.  In our conversation, Denne discusses how she worked through her issues of gender, race, and sexuality using her characters and craft. Plus, the reason she bel...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with W.J. Lofton , author of the poetry collection, boy, maybe . The collection explores William’s difficult and at times traumatic childhood, how he survived, and how he’s living now as young, Black queer man in America.  In our conversation, Williams explains the reason he says that even though he crosses many identity intersections i...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with, Arriel Vinson , author of the YA romance novel, Under the Neon Lights . It’s a story that sets the budding love between Jaelyn and Trey against a backdrop of their shifting community landscape and Jaelyn’s fight to maintain her safe place. In our conversation, Arriel explains the reason she grounded this book in her own good memories a...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Cher Terais , author of the wanderlust romance novel, Tempest in Tulum . In crafting her novels, Cher says while her settings may be exotic and lush for love, what the characters go through will always be grounded in reality.  In our conversation she explains why she was never a fan of Prince Charming, the reason it took her twenty year...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Hana Baba the storyteller on the new podcast Folk Tales from Sudan . The first season will feature 10 stories Hana grew up hearing from her uncle,  but was uncertain if she should or could step into his role behind the mic.  A radio journalist by trade, Hana fell in love with voice, how it could emote, and its expressiveness a...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Dolen Perkins-Valdez , about her new historical fiction novel, Happy Land . The books is based on the true story of how a group of Black people founded their own Kingdom on more than 200 acres of mountain land that straddled North and South Carolina.  In writing Happy Land, Dolen is correcting the historical record about the origins of...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Myah Ariel , author of the novel, No Ordinary Love . Myah, who is a journalist, film enthusiast, and lover of all things pop culture said she decided to try her hand at writing after spending the pandemic reconnecting with her love of reading romance novels.  In our conversation she discusses how she managed to write, sell and publish t...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Esme Addison , author of the novel An Intrigue of Witches . The historical mystery novel takes the reader on a treasure hunt with the main character to discover the hidden history of unruly women.  In our conversation, Esme discusses who prophesied her writing and publishing career over her life. Plus, the difficulty she faced in securin...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Jacqueline Crooks, author of the novel, Fire Rush . It's a book that took her 16 years to bring into the world after getting a late start in writing even though it was something she knew she always wanted to do.  In our conversation, Jacqueline explains why she considers her upbringing as an outsider because of her identity as a Caribbea...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Jill Tew , author of the YA dystopian romance novel, The Dividing Sky . It's a book Jill says she hopes disrupts old norms for her young audience In our conversation, Jill explains how she fell into the productivity trap in corporate America and the two major life changes that brought her back to the page. Plus, how rejection of her...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Olufunke Grace Bankole , author of The Edge of Water. The book began as a short story and Olufunke has been working to bring it to fruition as a novel for the last twenty years.  In our conversation she discusses, how she received the gift of patience from an industry insider that relieved the pressure of publishing. Plus, how her l...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Jodi M. Savage , author of the essay collection, Death of a Jaybird: Essays on Mothers and Daughters and the Things They Leave Behind . It’s a collection that reckons with Jodi’s grief before and after the deaths of her mother and grandmother and how she found comfort in the space a blank page provided. In our conversation, she discusses how...

This week, Nikesha speaks with Donna Hill, the newly named executive director of The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, right in the heart of Brooklyn.  Today, as in Thursday March 27, 2025, kicks off the center’s signature event, the National Black Writer’s Conference. This year is their two-day biennial symposium highlighting middle grade and young adult fiction. Tickets a...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Aaliyah Bilal, author of the short-story collection Temple Folk . The collection is made up of ten short stories about Black Americans who identify as Muslim and who were at one time members of the Nation of Islam.  In our conversation, Aaliyah explains why "normalcy" is the main message she wants readers to take away from her collectio...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Jamila Minnicks, author of the novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup . It's a book written about a small, Black, Alabama enclave in the 1950s facing pressure to integrate despite resistance from the town’s male leaders and the women who make their work possible.  A native of Alabama, Jamila says she sees her writing as an extension of he...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Laysha Ward author of the leadership book, Lead Like You Mean It: Lessons on Integrity and Purpose from the C-Suite.  Laysha spent more than 30 years in corporate America, most of that time at Target. Our conversation took place before Target announced their roll back of DEI initiatives but we still discuss how her background as a Black...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with Bernice L. McFadden, the author of several award winning historical fiction novels. She’s out today with her memoir, First Born Girls, a book that weaves the story of her road to publication with her debut novel Sugar, with the story of the women in her family and what they endured.  In honoring her family through the pages of First Bor...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with National Book Award Finalist and Corretta Scott King Award Winner, Amber McBride , about her latest novel, Onyx and Beyond . The novel tells the story of 12-year-old Onyx who’s growing up in the DMV area in the tulmutuous times of the late 60s and early 70s. There’s assassinations and moon landings happening in the world, while at home Onyx’...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with author and MacArthur genius Jason Reynolds about his YA romance novel, Twenty-four Seconds from Now: A Love Story . The novel explores the budding relationship between Neon and Aria. High school seniors who’ve been together for two years and are both ready to take their relationship to the next level of love and intimacy. In our conversation...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with return guest, Victoria Christopher Murray about her latest novel, Harlem Rhapsody . The novel tells the story of Jesse Redmon Faucet. A complex and ambitious woman who moved to New York to be nearer to her lover W.E.B. DuBois, and also to run his magazine, The Crisis . Between the scandal she had to keep quiet and an opportunity she didn’t w...

This week on Black & Published , Nikesha speaks with New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Shanora Williams , about her new romance novel, Beautiful Broken Love. The novel is the second chance love story of Davina Klein-Roberts and Deke Bishop. Reeling from tragedy and trying to rebuild her life, Davina is not prepared for Deke, the NBA star, with his own dark secrets, who takes a s...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Tara Roberts , author of the memoir, Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging . It’s an epic story of Tara fulfilling her childhood desire of becoming a writer commingled with her active decision to embrace a past she’d always run from. A storyteller, adventurer, and traveler, Tara is now an explorer in residence at Nat...