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, which was also a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Our conversation centered around Victoria’s latest historical fiction novel, Harlem Rhapsody (February 4, 2025, Berkley).

In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all.

W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart. Amidst rumors of their tumultuous affair, Jessie is determined to prove herself. She attacks the challenge of discovering young writers with fervor, finding sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen, who becomes one of her best friends. Under Jessie’s leadership, The Crisis thrives…every African American writer in the country wants their work published there.

When her first novel is released to great acclaim, it’s clear that Jessie is at the heart of a renaissance in Black music, theater, and the arts. She has shaped a generation of literary legends, but as she strives to preserve her legacy, she’ll discover the high cost of her unparalleled success.

Congratulations to Victoria and Harlem Rhapsody for being chosen as the March read for the Club Calvi Book Club! Watch Victoria's interview about this month's read.

To learn more about Victoria and her expansive body of work, please visit her website at victoriachristophermurray.com.

Special thanks to Wendy Healey of Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion and Museum and Shawn Matel from Our Culture Is Beautiful (CT) for making this connection happen.

Find Victoria on Instagram: @victoriachristophermurray

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support the show

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 faculty and the awardee of the Lotos Foundation Prize for Poetry and 2024 Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) Grant from Bronx Council on the Arts.

Roya’s work has been featured widely including, The Academy of American Poets, Poetry Magazine, the Village Voice, Nylon Magazine, Huffington Post, The Root, Button Poetry, BAM, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Apollo Theater, Lexus Verses and Flow, On One with Angela Rye, BET and The BreakBeat Poets Vol 2: Black Girl Magic (Haymarket 2018).

This episode’s conversation centered around her recently released poetry collection, savings time, which hit bookshelves on February 4, 2025.

The poems in Roya Marsh’s second collection, savings time, wear their raw feeling and revolutionary forcefulness on their sleeves. Alternating between confrontation and celebration, Marsh trains her unsparing eye on the twinned subjects of Black rage and Black healing with practiced, musical intention.

In poems flitting between breathless prose and measured lyricism, Marsh contemplates the contradictions and challenges of Black life in America, tackling everything from police brutality and urban gentrification to queer identity, presidential elections, and pop culture, all while calling for a world where self-care, especially for Black women, is not just encouraged but mandated. “no one told the Black girl,” she writes, “‘see you later’ was a prayer / begging us survive our own erasure.”

As unforgettable on the page as when recited in Marsh’s legendary spoken-word performances, the poems in savings time are focused on both revolution and self-love, at once holding society accountable for its exploitation of Black life and honoring the joy of persisting nonetheless.

Purchase your copy of savings time TODAY: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374615796/savingstime/

Find Roya on Instagram: @champagnepoet

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support the show

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 teaches English and creative writing at Oglethorpe University.

During this episode, we chatted about Justin’s recently released novel, Ibis (Overlook Press, February 11, 2025).

A bold, witty, magical new voice in fiction, Justin Haynes's Ibis weaves a cross-generational Caribbean story of migration, superstition, and a search for family in his debut novel.

There is bad luck in New Felicity. The people of the small coastal village have taken in Milagros, an 11-year-old Venezuelan refugee, just as Trinidad’s government has begun cracking down on undocumented migrants—and now an American journalist has come to town asking questions. New Felicity’s superstitious fishermen fear the worst, certain they’ve brought bad luck on the village by killing a local witch who had herself murdered two villagers the year before. The town has been plagued since her death by alarming visits from her supernatural mother, as well as by a mysterious profusion of scarlet ibis birds.

Now, skittish that the reporter’s story will bring down the wrath of the ministry of national security, the fishermen take things into their own hands. From there, we go backward and forward in time—from the town’s early days, when it was the site of a sugar plantation, to Milagros’s adulthood as she searches for her mother across the Americas. In between, through the voices of a chorus of narrators, we glimpse moments from various villagers’ lives, each one setting into motion events that will reverberate outwards across the novel and shape Milagros’s fate.

With kinetic, absorbing language and a powerful sense of voice, Ibis meditates on the bond between mothers and daughters, both highlighting the migrant crisis that troubles the contemporary world and offering a moving exploration of how to square where we come from with who we become.

To learn more about Justin and his work, please visit his website at justinhayneswriter.com.

Purchase your copy of Ibis today: https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/ibis

Find Justin on Instagram: @justinhayneswriter

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support the show

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 she remembers the recent loss of her grandmother. Many of you may remember T’challa from the special episode of Black Writers Read upon the release of this anthology.

Her powerful words combine with an open heart to paint a boldly compassionate picture of The Lover & The Revolutionary. As a creative advocate she tackles the hard issues head on and works through her craft to empower the voiceless and stay on the back of injustice. A member of Ruby’s Realm Production company, she reprises her character Nessa twice each year. The latest live production, Mind Your Business, can be found on Nutmeg TV on YouTube. Using her poetry, workshops and presence, T’challa works to shine a light on advocacy and create a vital impact within her community. As Executive Co-Founder of the organization Hartford’s L.I.T.; Greater Hartford Arts Council Board member; member of the Resident Community Advisor Council for the North Hartford Ascend Pipeline; T’challa works with her community and supports local artists.

During this episode, T’challa shared excerpts from her fourth poetry collection, Passions…released (2022). We also had a chance to chat about her latest poetry collection, Captured Thoughts. Released in June of 2024, Captured Thoughts is a beautifully written tribute in memory of her grandmother who we had an opportunity to discuss her influence on T’challa’s work during our chat.

Passions, released... is a collection of pieces from within a poet that tie love, lust and desire into words that tell stories of relationships past and present. Connections of friendships and romance and family. Old connections and new ones, all tied into our passions of life. May you find words that touch your heart and inspire you to once again feel passion, compassion and peace. May peace remind you, that you are full of love.

Her books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Find T'challa on Instagram: @challarock

Find Hartford's L.I.T. on Instagram: @hartfordslit

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support the show

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 e-book), For the Love of Lee, and the upcoming The Betrayal of Lee (now available for pre-order). These stories depict the changes a woman goes through when navigating the complex journey of single life, love, loss, marriage, and motherhood. Jennifer’s goal is to write relatable but complex characters that people love. Her debut book, For the Love of Lee, was awarded second place for women’s fiction in the fall 2024 Book Fest awards. Jennifer is a wife, mother of three, and a registered nurse for over 20 years. She also has a master’s degree in nursing informatics.

On this episode, we talked about The Lee Series and chatted in-depth about the second book of the series, For the Love of Lee.

After a year of masking childhood traumas with sex, alcohol, and self-destruction, Leesha Roberts is ready to embark on a journey that will break her free from the toxicity that has been holding her back from true love.

Eliminating useless lovers is first on the list …

She bids farewell to the older, irresistible but very married Mike and the younger, eager-to-please Roy, but letting them go is not easy and proves to be more of a detox than a graceful exit. Determined to rebuild herself, Leesha embraces counseling, and even considers confronting her turbulent past with her mother. But just as her self-love journey gains momentum, fate throws a curveball when Francine, a prospective resident at the assistant living facility Leesha manages, introduces her to her grandson, Karl, the embodiment of every woman’s desire. Karl seems to be the perfect match, but there’s just one thing holding Leesha back—his race.

Clumsily navigating the pitfalls of adulting, Leesha leans on her steadfast friend, Johnathon … until his own troubles lead him away. Now facing life without his support, Leesha grapples with the risk of falling into yet another toxic relationship. Can she preserve her path to a better life, trusting that history won’t repeat itself with Karl?

Embrace Leesha’s poignant journey of self-discovery, love, and resilience in this spicy Women’s Fiction novel. For the Love of Lee was released in July of 2024.

To learn more about Jennifer and her work AND to purchase your copy of For the Love of Lee, please visit jenniferjanell.com.

Find Jennifer Janell on Instagram: @jenniferjanellauthor
Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread
Find Black Wri

Support the show

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 has authored 12 books to date and is currently working on her 13th. One of her novels ("The Rhythm in Blue") was turned into a feature film and won several awards at film festivals around the world. Crystal is the recipient of the BusinessWest Difference Maker Award for her work empowering and inspiring women and young girls. She is certified as a Gallup strengths career coach, and recently began her work to earn her doctorate in Education. Married to the love of her life for almost 25 years, she is also a mother and dog mom.

During this episode, Crystal shared excerpts from her second poetry collection, But She Has Such a Pretty Face (2014). Here’s what Crystal offers about But She Has Such a Pretty Face: "Every time someone would say to me: "But you have such a pretty face" I would cringe and think: But what about the Rest of me? "But you have such a pretty face" tells my story through a series of 43 poems. I wrote about my childhood in Morristown, Tn (Home, Ella's tambourine, That Time When my Brother Jerome was Evel Kneivel), marriage (Before dawn, Loving outloud), love (Lucky Jeans, Flirt) motherhood (for Aj at Seventeen, First Bath), relationships (Twenty-first morning, Monsters in the Closet), family (Welcome Home, The Droopy-Boob Haiku), the importance of fatherhood (The Luckiest Girl on Earth, Disposable Daddy, When everything was new) to learning to love my body at Every size (Chunk, Beautiful Me). I hope that no matter who you are, you'll find a few poems you can relate to. Whether you are a mother, wife, father, sister, poet, college student, mess-talker, best friend or just a girl with more than a pretty face, I hope you enjoy the read!"

To learn more about Crystal and her expansive body of work, please visit crystalsenterbrown.com.


Find Crystal on Instagram: @crystalsenterbrown
Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread
Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support the show

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, women's interest, and opinion. Her TEDx Talk, “Word is Bond,” was given in 2019. She has produced work in multiple areas in connection to writing, arts, and education management. Her research and work in the education field has focused on culturally responsive pedagogies, educational leadership, professional development, contemporary education issues, coaching and mentoring, arts and education initiatives, and student achievement.

She is the author of several volumes of poetry and books for young readers including Shedding Light From My Journeys, Stardust Tracks on a Road, Ten Marbles and a Bag to Put Them In, Goddess Under the Bridge: Poems, Deanne in the Middle, Quincy Rules, Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees, and Baby Ray's Old School vs. New School Hip-Hop Party. She is the founding publisher of Lit Noire Publishing and creator of Nerdacity Podcast and Afrofutures Pod.

Featured in this episode is the recently released anthology, Introduction to Afrofuturism: A Mixtape in Black Literature & Arts and DuEwa’s expansive body of work as a writer, performer, editor, educator, and scholar.

Introduction to Afrofuturism delivers a fresh and contemporary introduction to Afrofuturism, discussing key themes, understandings, and interdisciplinary topics across multiple genres in Black literature, film, and music. From Afrofuturism’s origins to the present, this critical volume features scholarly works, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction which illuminates on the contributions of notable Afrofuturists such as Octavia Butler, Sun Ra, N.K. Jemisin, Janelle Monáe, Nnedi Okorafor, Saul Williams, Prince, and more. The volume highlights the impact of films such as Black Panther (2018, 2022), The Woman King (2022), and They Cloned Tyrone (2023) and covers a variety of essential topics giving students a comprehensive view of the legacy of storytelling and the tradition of “remixing” in Black literature and arts. This volume makes connections across academic subject areas and is an engaging reader for pop culture and media film studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, Black and Africana studies, hip-hop studies, creative writing, and composition and rhetoric.

To learn more about DuEwa and her expansive canon of work, please visit www.duewaworld.com.


Check out Nerdacity on Apple Podcasts
Check out Afrofutures Pod on YouTube

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread
Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support the show

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-fiction as Sabin Duncan.

During our conversation, we took a deep dive into his award-winning novel, DANCE WITH MY FATHER, which is the third and last book of the Love & Family Trilogy Series.

Throughout his life, Cleveland Robeson has shouldered life's challenges and traumas without asking for help. Whether it is because of his age, his gender, or because he is black, he has survived by putting his head down, plowing ahead, and never acknowledging the well-being of his mental health. But when he suggests therapy for his wife, what follows could change their marriage and his life. Published by Fielding Books in 2022, DANCE WITH MY FATHER is the recipient of the Best Fiction for Self-Publishing EBook by the Black Caucus of American Librarian Association!

To learn more about Sabin and his expansive canon of work, please visit fieldingbooks.com.


Find Sabin on Instagram: @sabinprentis
Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread
Find Black Writers Read online: blackwritersread.com

Support the show