Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Eden Royce (Southern Gothic.), which was live-streamed on May 3, 2025. Eden Royce is a writer from Charleston, South Carolina now living in Southeast England. She is a Shirley Jackson Award finalist and a Bram Stoker Award nominee for her adult short fiction, which has appeared in various print and online magazines. Her debut middle-grade novel, ROOT MAGIC is a Walter Award Honoree, a Nebula Award finalist, a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award win...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Season 5Ep. 23
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Essie Chambers , which was live-streamed on April 22, 2025. Essie Chambers is an award-winning author and producer. Her debut novel, Swift River — a Today Show “Read with Jenna” Book Club pick —won the 2024 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize and was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post , NPR, The Boston Globe , Elle , and others. It was also longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and The Center ...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 22
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Brother’s Keeper Poetry Theater Ensemble , which was live-streamed on April 12, 2025. Since 2013, Brother’s Keeper Poetry Theater Ensemble has been a beacon of hope and transformation, weaving together words, emotions, and stories to create powerful theatrical performances that resonate deeply with their audiences. The group blends elements of poetry, spoken word, theatre and music to create a unique performance which is not only enterta...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 41 min•Season 5Ep. 21
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Nzima Hutchings (poetry. prose.), the 2023-2025 Poet Laureate for Enfield, Connecticut , which was livestreamed on April 7, 2025 to kick-off National Poetry Month . An award-winning author, editor, educator, and workshop facilitator, Nzima Hutchings has worked with various organizations including Trinity Health of New England, Saint Francis Hospital Family Advocacy Center, Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Asnuntuck Community ...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 20
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with contemporary romance author, Reese Ryan , which was live-streamed on March 23, 2025. Award-winning author Reese Ryan writes sexy, emotional, “grown folks” romantic fiction. Her characters find love while navigating career crises and family drama. The two-time recipient of the Donna Hill Breakout Author Award is an advocate for the romance genre and diversity in fiction. Reese’s books have been featured on Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, ...
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with nonfiction, business, and Christian Self-Help author, LaTanya Orr, which was live-streamed on March 15, 2025. Brand strategist, certified life coach and visual storyteller, LaTanya Orr , strategically equips entrepreneurs, corporate executives and ministry leaders with award-winning concepts that showcase their brand brilliance with intention and maximum impact. With over two decades in marketing, public relations, and design, LaTanya sh...
Apr 10, 2025•58 min•Season 5Ep. 18
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Dr. Donna J. Nicol , which was live-streamed on March 8, 2025, the day nationally recognized as International Women’s Day. We talked about her book, Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action (University of Rochester Press, 2024). Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action examines the leadership str...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Season 5Ep. 17
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Victoria Christopher Murray , which was live-streamed on March 1, 2025. Victoria Christopher Murray is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including The Personal Librarian , a Good Morning America book club pick, and The First Ladies , Target’s 2023 Book of the Year, both of which she coauthored with Marie Benedict. She is a NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literary Work for her novel Stand Your Ground...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 16
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Roya Marsh , which was live-streamed on February 3, 2025. Bronx, New York native, Roya Marsh is a poet, performer, educator and activist. She is the author of dayliGht, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry and SAVINGS TIME (MCDXFSG). Roya works feverishly toward Queer liberation and dismantling white supremacy. She is the co-founder of the Bronx Poet Laureate, a PEN America Emerging Voices Mentor, Lambda Literary fa...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 15
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Justin Haynes , which was live-streamed on January 18, 2025. Justin Haynes is a fiction writer originally from the Caribbean. His work has been supported by various residencies and fellowships, including from the Fine Arts Work Center and the Tin House Summer Workshop. His writing has been published in various literary magazines and journals, including Caribbean Quarterly and SX Salon|Small Axe Project. Haynes lives in Atlanta and teache...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 14
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with T’challa Williams , which was live-streamed on January 11, 2025. Through love, marriage, motherhood and loss, T’challa Williams' voice has matured and narrated her experiences in a way that produced seven collections of poetry over the last five years. In addition to poetry, she shares her most intimate life experiences in anthologies. The most recent contribution with A Queen’s Narrative for their anthology, Heavy is The Crown , where s...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Season 5Ep. 13
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Jennifer Janell (spicy women's fiction.), which was live-streamed on December 21, 2024. Jennifer Janell is a new women's fiction author who lives in San Antonio, Texas. She has a passion for writing spicy stories that resonate with readers, explore relationships, and offer an escape from everyday life. Her love for writing about flawed characters inspired her first book series. The Lee Series includes The Year of Lee (available as a free...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 12
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Crystal Senter-Brown , which was live-streamed on December 14, 2024. Crystal Senter-Brown's life's purpose can be summed up in one sentence: Empowering Women and Children. And Crystal lives her purpose every single day, whether it is by publishing books that teach children the importance of being kind to others, leading writing workshops in the community, speaking at local schools or leading the career center at Bay Path University. She ...
Jan 23, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Dr. DuEwa Frazier , which was live-streamed on December 7, 2024. Dr. DuEwa Frazier is an award-winning author, poet, writer, editor, professor, creative entrepreneur, keynote speaker, arts and education leader, and digital creator. She is the editor of Introduction to Afrofuturism: A Mixtape in Black Literature & Arts (Routledge, 2024). DuEwa's writing focuses on contemporary education issues, arts and culture, hip - hop culture, wom...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Sabin Prentis Duncan , which was live-streamed on December 7, 2024. Dr. Sabin Prentis Duncan is a husband, father, educator, and creator of Literary Soul Food. He holds an Executive Masters from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, Doctorate and Specialist degrees from Eastern Michigan University, and Masters and Bachelor degrees from Hampton University. He writes fiction & Hip Hop essays as Sabin Prentis and non-fic...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Ebony Aya , which was live-streamed on November 23, 2024. During our chat, we talked about her latest book, Reconsidering Eve: Towards a Deepened Consciousness . Ebony Aya works at Macalester College as a Program Manager for the Jan Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching. She is a recent doctoral graduate from the University of Minnesota in Curriculum and Instruction, with minors in Culture and Teaching and African American and Africa...
Dec 26, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Brianna Wheeler , which was live-streamed on November 16, 2024. Brianna Wheeler covers cannabis, culture, food, film, parenting and local politics for print and web. She served as host, writer and producer of the Willamette Week news podcast, and is a frequent contributor to Portland City Cast. Her creative nonfiction work has appeared in The Nasiona, Midnight and Indigo, and has been featured in Medium’s Human Parts newsletter. Her firs...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Nathan Alexander Moore (Speculative Fiction. Poetry. Nonfiction. Critical Theory.), which was live-streamed on November 2, 2024. Nathan Alexander Moore (she, they) is a Black nonbinary transfemme writer, cultural theorist, and educator. Currently she is the Assistant Professor of Black Trans and Queer Studies in the Department of Women & Gender Studies at University of Colorado Boulder. Her research explores Black transfemininity, sp...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Adrian Burks , which was live-streamed on October 20, 2024. Adrian Burks is a director, writer, actor and producer. An ex-collegiate athlete originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Adrian has been a filmmaker in Los Angeles for over a decade. He has appeared in movies such as the Academy Award winning WHIPLASH, and the comedic cult classic FIRST PERIOD. Adrian has also appeared in television shows such as CBS: CODE BLACK, and ALL ABOUT LIZ...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Dr. Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman , which was live-streamed on October 19, 2024. We chatted about her recently released poetry collections, For the Girls Who Do Too Much and The Summoning of Black Joy . Dr. Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman is founder of the 501(c)3 nonprofit, Black Writers for Peace and Social Justice , and the current Poet Laureate of Prince George's County, Maryland. Her creative work as a poet and playwright has been showcased on pr...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Send us a text On this episode, we welcomed back Tracy Cross (who first joined us in Season Two) for our conversation on October 5, 2024 to talk about her recently released second book, A Gathering of Weapons . About A Gathering of Weapons Nearly four years have passed since the events of Rootwork (the first book of The Conjure Series) and the youngest Conway sister, Pee Wee, is now thirteen years old and on the cusp of magical greatness. Ever since the tragedy of 1889, she's worked tirelessly t...
Oct 24, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Send us a text This episode features our conversation from September 28, 2024 with Lori L. Tharps , founder of the Reed, Write & Create platform. Lori is an award-winning author, journalist and educator. A self-described, storytelling evangelist, Tharps is a recognized voice in the areas of race, identity politics and African-American culture. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Glamour and Essence magazines, among others. In 2021, Tharps m...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Send us a text This special bonus episode of Black Writers Read is the first episode of Season Eight of Podcasting is the New Kink! which features me as a guest co-host! I was invited by Jasmine Gary to join her on her platform to chat about the novel, The Other Black Girl (Atria, 2021) by Zakiya Delila Harris , and the subsequent television series adaptation (now available to stream on Hulu). Urgent, propulsive, and sharp as a knife, this thriller, Harris's debut novel, is about the tension...
Oct 03, 2024•59 min
Send us a text This episode features my conversation with guest host, fellow Black woman podcaster Jasmine Gary, about the book, Caste: The Origin of our Discontents (2020) , by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, Isabel Wilkerson and its film adaptation, Origin , written and directed by Ava DuVernay ( Array ). Both the book and the film revisit some very dark moments in history, making important connections to today’s political climate. Both are vital to experience now as DuVernay has...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Send us a text This episode features our conversation with Yael Valencia Aldana , the recipient of the 2024 Pushcart Prize for Poetry. We chatted about her forthcoming poetry collection, BLACK MESTIZA , which is scheduled for release in January of 2025 . Yael Valencia Aldana is an award-winning poet and writer. She is the author of the poetry collection Black Mestiza (University of Kentucky Press, 2025) and the chapbook, Alien(s) (Bottlecap Press, 2023). She is a Pushcart Prize winner, and her w...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Send us a text Welcome to Season Five of Black Writers Read ! For this season, we're expanding the definition of “writer” to look at narrative construction. We start the season with a Pushcart Prize winning author and we’ll end Season Five with a documentary filmmaker. We're beyond excited to add the genre Afrofuturism to the platform as well as two countries. I’ll also be bringing back some past guests to talk about their newest work. Please be sure to subscribe as we'll be posting exclusive co...
Sep 11, 2024•4 min
Send us a text This bonus episode features my recent conversation with Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin from the latest release from A24 Films, SING SING . About SING SING Divine G (played by Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men, including wary newcomer (Clarence Maclin), in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensem...
Aug 16, 2024•21 min
Send us a text Today, August 2, 2024, is African American essayist, novelist, poet, cultural critic, orator and activist James Baldwin’s (1924-1987) centennial birthday. In this retrospective, we take a look back at conversations with poets whose work performs the task of "bearing witness" , like that of Baldwin's writing. Baldwin's canon of work explored fundamental questions about the experiences of African Americans, particularly issues pertaining to class, race, religion, masculinities, sexu...
Aug 02, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Send us a text In this bonus episode, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the book, Queenie (2019) by Candice Carty-Williams and its streaming television series adaptation. The novel Queenie, published in 2019. is about the life and loves of its lead character, Queenie Jenkins. A 25-year-old British-Jamaican woman living in the UK, we follow her journey through a year from hell. Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into ...
Jul 24, 2024•18 min
Send us a text I've been so excited to share insight on a project I've been working on for the past few months. Serving as editor on this project, I wanted to give the Black Writers Read community a preview of the anthology, Heavy is the Crown , which is scheduled for release in August of 2024. It is now available for pre-order . Produced under the auspices of A Queen’s Narrative , Heavy is the Crown features essays and creative writing contributed by twenty-two women, femme-identified, and tran...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 20 min
