Black & Published

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Donovan X. Ramsey , author of the book, When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era . The book, which was long listed for a National Book Award, is a work of narrative nonfiction exploring how Black America survived the crack epidemic. The book is born out of Donovan's work as a journalist and a Demos Emerging Voic...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Terah Shelton Harris , author of the novel, One Summer in Savannah . Published by Sourcebooks in 2023, the novel was a Target Book Club Pick. Terah, who also works as a librarian and freelance writer, is now focused on writing more upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings.  In our conversation, Terah discusses the real life tragedy that inspi...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Dolen Perkins-Valdez , the New York Times bestselling author of  Take My Hand . The novel was awarded a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and Fiction Award from Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Dolen, who is an Associate Professor in the MFA Program at A...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Denene Millner the New York Times Bestselling author of the novel, One Blood . In addition to her long literary career including stints as a celebrity ghostwriter for titles including Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man from Steve Harve and Around the Way Girl from Taraji P. Henson just to name a few. Denene got her start as a beat reporter for...

This season on Black & Published we're meeting the moment. According to Pen America’s 2023 report, Banned in the USA , 138 school districts in 32 states banned books. The majority of those books featured queer themes and characters, protagonists of color, or addressed racism and activism. So this season we're talking about it all: book bans, mass incarceration, reproductive freedom,...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Erica Simone Turnipseed author of the new children's picture book, Bigger Than Me.  In the book, children discover the impact they can have when they band together and how solidarity lifts everyone up during the 2020 COVID pandemic and racial reckoning.  In our conversation, Erica discusses why she decided to have her young characters use...

What’s Good Black & Published Family…  Yes, I’m still but I wanted to pop into your ears  to tell you how you can win a copy of Cleyvis Natera’s Neruda on the Park which was recently released in paperback.  All you have to do is follow Black & Published (@BLKandPublished) and Cleyvis Natera (@CleyvisNatera) on both Twitter and Instagram.  And then of course like this post.  The drawing wil...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Lori L. Tharps , an author and ghostwriter living abroad in Spain. Her work sits at the intersection of race and real life. She is the author of  three critically-acclaimed nonfiction books including, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America (St. Martin's) Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (Atria), and Same Family, D...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Victoria Christopher Murray , author of Pride, A Seven Deadly Sins Novel . A native of Queens, New York,   Victoria spent years in Corporate America and as an entrepreneur before embarking on her literary career in the late 90s. Dubbed a Christian Fiction writer because no one else was writing about religious topics, Victoria blazed the litera...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Nicole Cuffy , author of Dances . Nicole is a D.C.-based writer with a BA from Columbia University and an MFA from The New School. She is a lecturer at the University of Maryland and American University. Her work can be found in Mason’s Road , The Master’s Review Volume VI (curated by Roxane Gay), Chautauqua , and Blue Mesa Review , and her ch...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Rhonda McKnight , author of The Thing About Home . Rhonda is also the author of twenty-five traditional and indie-published award-winning bestsellers, including An Inconvenient Friend, What Kind of Fool, and Unbreak My Heart. She is a two-time winner of the Emma award in the categories of Inspirational Romance of the Year (2015) and Debut Auth...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Nikki May , author of Wahala . Born in Bristol and raised in Lagos, Nikki May is Anglo-Nigerian. At twenty, she dropped out of medical school, moved to London, and began a career in advertising, going on to run a successful agency. Her debut novel Wahala was inspired by a long boozy lunch with friends. In our conversation, we discuss how her o...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Caseen Gaines , author of When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical that Changed the World. Caseen Gaines is an author, director, educator, and pop culture historian. He is the author of We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy , A Christmas Story: Behind the Scenes of a Holiday Classi...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Yessoh G.D. author of the African fantastical suspense thriller, Ta Lé Book One: Knowledge . Yessoh grew up in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, a country on the southern coast of West Africa. He believes that books have the power to change people for the betterment of the whole. When he is not day-dreaming about stories and the world, he is...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Derrick Harriell author of the poetry collection, Come Kingdom . Derrick Harriell is the Ottilie Schillig Associate Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Mississippi. His previous collections of poems include Stripper in Wonderland, Cotton, and Ropes, winner of the 2014 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Dior J. Stephens author of the poetry collection, CRUEL/CRUEL . Dior J is the author of the chapbooks SCREAMS & lavender, 001, and CANNON!. They proudly serve as the Managing Poetry Editor of Foglifter Journal and Press and are a fellow of Cave Canem and Lambda Literary's Emerging LGBTQ Voices Fellowship.  In our conversation, Dior di...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Victor LaValle author of the novel Lone Women . As the writer behind six other works of fiction, Victor's novels have been included in best-of-the-year lists by The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly, among others. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Laura Warrell , author of the novel, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm , which was named a ‘best’ or ‘must-read’ book by Vanity Fair, People, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and more. The novel was chosen as a Good Morning America Buzz Pick and Laura was named  a “Writer to Watch” by Publishers Weekly. She grew up in Kent and Columb...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Yvette Lisa Ndlovu , author of the short story collection, Drinking from Graveyard Wells (University Press of Kentucky, Spring 2023) which was selected for the 2021 UPK New Poetry & Prose Series. Yvette is a Zimbabwean sarungano (storyteller).  Her novel manuscript in progress was selected by George RR Martin for the Worldbuilder Scholarsh...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Sophronia Scott , author of the novel, Wild, Beautiful and Free . Sophfronia holds a BA in English from Harvard and an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She began her career as an award-winning magazine journalist for Time, and People. When her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2004 Sophf...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Diane Marie Brown , author of the novel, Black Candle Women . A  professor at Orange Coast College and a public health professional for the Long Beach Health Department, Diane has a BA and MPH from UCLA and a degree in fiction from USC’s Master of Professional Writing Program. She grew up in Stockton and now lives in Long Beach, California, wi...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Destiny O. Birdsong , author of the triptych novel Nobody's Magic .  She's also a poet and essayist, and her workhas either appeared or is forthcoming in the Paris Review Daily, Poets & Writers, African American Review, The Best American Poetry 2021, and elsewhere. Nobody’s Magic , was published by Grand Central in February 2022...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Danyel Smith , author of the Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop . Danyel is anaward-winning journalist, and producer. She’s the creator and host of the Black Girl Songbook podcast, a music and talk show that centers black women in music. Danyel has served as editor of Billboard, editor at large at Time Inc., and editor...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Tia Williams , author of the New York Times bestselling novel Seven Days in June . Tia had a fifteen-year career as a beauty editor for magazines including Elle, Glamour, and Essence. She also wrote the bestselling novel, The Accidental Diva, and penned two YA novels: It Chicks, and Sixteen Candles. Her award-winning novel, The Perfect Find, w...

This week on Black and Published , Nikesha speaks with Janay Harden , author of the novel Forty-Two Minutes . As a licensed clinical social worker, Janay works as a mental health therapist.  She is the CEO of Restoring Your Destiny Counseling and Consulting and has over ten years of experience working in the mental health field with children, families, and schools. She's translated her backgr...