Black & Published

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Roberto Carlos Garcia, author of the poetry anthology, What Can I Tell You.  Roberto is the author of three previous poetry collections Elegies, black / Maybe: An Afro Lyric, and Melancolía. 

In our conversation, Roberto discusses unlearning the ways in which colonialism have infected the mind. How anti-Blackness begins at home in some Afro-Latin communities, and the reason he ...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Tracey Rose Peyton, author of the novel, Night Wherever We Go.  The novel follows the lives of six enslaved women on a struggling plantation in Texas. When their owners The Lucy's, nicknamed after Lucifer himself, come up with a plan to increase their prosperity through reproduction, the women refuse despite the consequences of such open rebellion. 

In our conver...

This week on Black & Published Nikesha speaks with Kim Johnson, author of the YA novel, Invisible Son. The book is set in Oregon during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020. A setting Kim chose to bear witness to all that was happening while also balancing the trauma of that year with its triumphs as well. 

In our conversation, Kim readily admits that she came to writing late in life. She explains the feeling of be...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Jennifer Baker, author of the YA novel, Forgive Me Not. The story centers the life, loves and struggles of a teenaged Black girl to explore the pitfalls and failures of mass incarceration and carceral systems. 
 
In our conversation, Jennifer opens up about how she stayed motivated to continue writing while working for some twenty years in the publishing industry. Plus, ...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Lamya H, author of the memoir, Hijab Butch Blues. The book is an in depth extension of the personal essays Lamya has penned for years. Their writing has appeared in Vice, Salon, Vox, Black Girl Dangerous, Autostraddle, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. They are a  former Lambda Literary Fellow  and currently live in New York with their partner. 

In our conversation, ...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with K E Garland, author of the memoir, In Search of a Salve: Memoir of a Sex Addict.  K E Garland is an award-winning creative nonfiction writer and blogger who uses personal essays and memoir to de-marginalize women's experiences with an intent to highlight and humanize contemporary issues including adoption and addiction. 

In our conversation, K E discusses how she c...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Kim Coleman Foote, author of the biomthyography novel, Coleman Hill. The novel draws from Kim's own family legend, historical record, and fervent imagination to create an unforgettable new history. 

In our conversation, Kim discusses how she came to tell the story of her family while she was working on another novel. Plus, how she got over her own jealousy of other...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Liv Little, author of the novel, Rosewater. A writer of Jamaican and Guyanese descent living in South London, Liv tells stories about the people and places that matter to her; specifically the Black, queer, femme community. 

In our conversation, Liv discusses why she was dedicated to illustrating the ways Black, queer and femme communities show up and support one anothe...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with jarrett hill and Tre'vell Anderson, the authors of, Historically Black Phrases: From "I Ain't One of  Your Little Friends" to "Who All Gon Be There?" Tre'vell and jarrett both have backgrounds in journalism and they are the hosts of the award-winning podcast FANTI. Their book chronicles the living language of Black people and how we bend a phra...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Minda Honey, author of the memoir, The Heartbreak Years. A retrospective for  the twenty-somethings who are ready to stop leaping into the lives of the men they like and instead choose themselves and a life they love. The book is born out of Minda's series of essays for Longreads on dating politics. Her writing has also been featured in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the ...

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Anissa Gray, author of the novel, Life and Other Love Songs. The novel uses music as a metaphor to examine the aftermath of one man's decision on his entire family after they lose the loves of their lives. 

In our conversation, Anissa discusses how she processed her own personal tragedies on the page. Plus, the reason she says writing Life and Other Love Songs was ...

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 Voices Fellow. 

In our conversati...

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 inspired her to explore the theme ...

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 American University in Washington, D.C....

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 the Associated Press and the New York...

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, homophobia and transphobia, rape cul...

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 actual building blocks to ...

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 will close one week from today on June 26,...

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, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism...