Black & Published

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Chinedu Achebe, author of the novel, The Miseducation of Obi Ifeanyi. Chinedu is Nigerian-American. He graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors degree in Economics. He published his first book, Blunted on Reality in 2012. Chinedu has also written articles in the Huffington Post, Medium, and Bella Naija. He currently lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and son.

In our conversation, he discusses the historical event that inspired his writing, why he doesn't mind if readers have problems with some elements of his fiction, and why he thinks most books marketed toward Black people are overrated. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, author of the novel, Embers on the Wind. Becoming a novelist is Lisa's third career. Before writing, she was a professional ballet dancer with the Pennsylvania and Pacific Northwest Ballet Companies. She also has a Masters in Social Work and works as a psychotherapist. Lisa is biracial and Jewish and her writing on identity has been published  in Longreads, Narrative.ly, Literary  Mama and The Piltdown Review, where she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

In our conversation, Lisa discusses how her career in ballet prepared her for publishing, the seven full novels she wrote before Embers on the Wind, and what she felt she owed to the spirit of an ancestor who inspired her main character. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Mateo Askaripour, author of the novel, Black Buck. The New York Times bestseller takes on racism in corporate America with humor and wit. Askaripour was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly’s “10 rising stars to make waves,” and Black Buck was a Read With Jenna Today Show book club pick. He lives in Brooklyn. 

In our conversation, Mateo discusses the fine line between cult and culture in corporate America, the key dates he will always remember along his writing journey, and how he finds the balance between his head and his heart. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Maisy Card, author of the novel, These Ghosts Are Family which won an American Book Award, the  2021 OCM Bocas Prize in fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, among others.  Maisy's writing has appeared in The Paris Review Daily,  The New York Times, and other publications. She was born in Portmore, Jamaica but was raised in Queens, NY. 

In our conversation, Maisy discusses the difference between the fun and work of writing, telling a family story to say all the things she couldn't say to her own family, and the spooky parallels she noticed between the ghost story she created and her own real life. 

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On this BONUS episode of Black & Published, Nikesha talks about the release of her new book, Mardi Gras Indians, coming out from LSU Press on October 5, 2022. 

She details the journey since her last bonus episode detailing her own Black & Published story about how the book started with an essay about food, evolved through a global pandemic and pregnancy, and left her with doubts and fears about whether she'd really be able to tell a story older than America. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Katerina Canyon, author of the poetry collection, Surviving Home. Katerina is a 2020 and 2019 Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her stories have been published in New York Times and Huffington Post. She also served as the Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga from 2000 - 2003.  She has published multiple chapbooks and an album.

In our conversation, Katerina explains why she doesn't believe she has to be happy, how she was tricked into being committed to a psychiatric ward by her own therapist, and how she's learning to take pride in sharing the truth of her trauma. 

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of suicidal ideations, domestic and sexual abuse, extreme poverty and homelessness. Please be gentle with yourself when listening. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Dawn Turner, author of the memoir, Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood. An award-winning author and journalist who's reported all over the world, Dawn is a former columnist for the Chicago Tribune where she spent 15 years writing about race, politics and people whose stories are often dismissed and ignored. In 2018, she established the Dawn M. Turner and Kim D. Turner Endowed Scholarship in Media at her alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

In our conversation, Dawn explains how her global dreams started with her parents "pointing her towards the sun." She also divulges the secret she kept in shame until writing her memoir made her relive her vulnerable moments. And she explains why even though her memoir  chronicles abortion, addiction, murder, and incarceration she believes this is still a story of redemption. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks Marita Golden, author of the novel, A Woman's Place, which was first published in 1986 and is now being re-released by McSweeney's. Marita is the author of six novels as wells as memoirs and other non-fiction works. She's also the co-founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation and works with writers all over the world facilitating workshops to help them get their stories out.  

During our conversation, Marita discusses the ruthlessness she had in writing her memoir based on what she was living through, why we shouldn't look to mainstream (white) publishing as the place where the best of Black thought has been produced, and the charge she has for the next generation of your writers to carry on. 

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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Natasha Marin, curator of the Black Powerful anthology; the latest installment in her Black Imagination artist series. A conceptual artist whose people-centered projects have circled the globe, Natasha's focus is on  amplifying, centering, and holding sacred space for a diverse sample of voices including LGBTQIA+ Black youth, incarcerated Black women, Black folks with disabilities, unsheltered Black folks, and Black children. She pays the bills by helping individuals and institutions achieve their antiracism goals through creative consulting (NONWHITEWORKS).

During our conversation, Natasha explains why even though she got an MFA, she didn’t think she had gone through enough trauma to call herself a writer. Plus the one subject she tackled with her writing that led to doxing and death threats, and what it means to believe in Black supremacy. 

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Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
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IG: @nikesha_elise
Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise
Website: www.newwrites.com

Black & Published podcast is coming back with fresh episodes for all of your literary needs.

We're of course talking writing and publishing, but it's all dipped in the Black experience. Our stories and the lessons we learned from our families, even the crazy ones, and what it means to live a life where your legacy is words.

New episodes drop every Tuesday starting September 6. Subscribe to Black & Published in your podcast platform of choice and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BLKandPublished. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

IG: @nikesha_elise
Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise
Website: www.newwrites.com