Black & Published

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 believes it’s her duty to walk readers th...

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 it’s not his life that is fractured.&nbs...

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 as a way to explore the harm of encroach...

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 years to return to the page after she first...

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 at an early age though she grapples wit...

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 the Happy Land settlers that has stood ...

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 two books in the four years from when sh...

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 securing an agent and publisher willing to ta...

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 Caribbean immigrant in the UK a privilege on ...

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 first novel prepared her to write 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 love of social justice and her career ...

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 she processed her life in real time a...

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 are free for seniors and for anyone e...

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 collection. Plus, the reason she believes borro...

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 her work as an advocate. The reason...

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 girl from rural Indiana helped her f...

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 Born Girls, Bernice coined a new word. I...

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’s mother is slowly succumbing to earl...

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, Jason explains how writing this nove...