Black & Published

We're sharing a special preview of the new podcast, Well-Read Black Girl from Pushkin Industries. Well-Read Black Girl is the literary kickback you never knew you needed. Glory Edim, author and founder of the Well-Read Black Girl community, sits in deep, honest and close conversation with authors like Tarana Burke, Min Jin Lee, Anita Hill, Gabrielle Union, Elizabeth Acevedo and more. You’ll also meet book club members, literacy advocates, and Black booksellers to hear what they’re reading and what it means to be well-read. Join Glory through this current cultural moment – where art, justice and literature collide – and pay homage to the literary legacies of the women who paved the way. You’ll laugh, cry, connect and build space for kinship in a shared love of literature. Tune in, turn the page, and join the celebration. You can listen to Well-Read Black Girl at https://link.chtbl.com/blackandpublishedwrbg.

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Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise
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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts, author of the essay collection, Black Joy. Tracey, holds both an MBA and an MFA. She's come up through the indie author ranks, has served as a celebrity ghostwriter, and is the author of 15 other titles.



Episode Notes
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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts, author of the essay collection, Black Joy. Tracey, holds both an MBA and an MFA. She's come up through the indie author ranks, has served as a celebrity ghostwriter, and is the author of 15 other titles. 

During the Conversation, Tracey opens up about the happenstance opportunity that propelled her from relative anonymity to major book deal visibility, how joy feels in her body, and the ways she's creating legacy for her daughter. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with author Chris Stuck, author of the short story collection, Give My Love to the Savages. Chris, holds an MFA from George Mason University and was also a fiction fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center. In his work, Chris was intentional about exploring race, sexuality, masculinity and the intersections therein. 

Episode Notes
_________________________
On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with author Chris Stuck, author of the short story collection, Give My Love to the Savages. Chris, holds an MFA from George Mason University and was also a fiction fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center. In his work, Chris was intentional about exploring race, sexuality, masculinity and the intersections therein. 

During the Conversation, Chris opens up about the real life events that inspired a few of the stories in his collection as well as the anxiety he's had navigating the publishing industry and its litany of closed doors.



Keep Up with Us
___________________________
Follow Nikesha on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Black & Published on Twitter and Instagram (Bonus Clip from the episode posted on Instagram NOW!)

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with poet Kelly Harris-DeBerry, author of the collection, Freedom Knows My Name. Kelly, originally from Cleveland but now living in New Orleans, said she wanted her collection to be one for her folks and her people.

The Cave Canem fellow works as the New Orleans Literary Coordinator for Poets & Writers. She also freelances and owns a small communications boutique that serves nonprofits and artists.

Episode Notes

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with poet Kelly Harris-DeBerry, author of the collection, Freedom Knows My Name. Kelly, originally from Cleveland but now living in New Orleans, said she wanted her collection to be one for her folks and her people.

The Cave Canem fellow works as the New Orleans Literary Coordinator for Poets & Writers. She also freelances and owns a small communications boutique that serves nonprofits and artists.

Kelly's collection is described as an electric collection that mixes brilliant poetics with the political. During our chat, Kelly discussed why she prefers to forego the polished for the real and why she says she was pushed into poetry by friends and the ancestors.


Keep Up with Us
----------------------
Follow Nikesha on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Black & Published on Twitter and Instagram (Bonus Clip from the episode posted on Instagram NOW!)

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

Welcome back to Black & Published. The weekly interview format podcast bringing you the journeys of BIPOC writers, poets, playwrights, and storytellers of all kinds.

Hosted by two-time Emmy Award-winning producer and award-winning author Nikesha Elise Williams.

Full Episodes return January 18, 2022.

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Keep Up with Us

Follow Nikesha
Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise
Instagram: @nikesha_elise

Follow Black & Published
Twitter: @BLKandPublished
Instagram: @blkandpublished

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

In this bonus episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is sharing her story about becoming a writer and finding her way in the publishing industry. From exploring and utilizing both traditional and independent avenues, Nikesha discusses when she knew she was a writer, the 7-year-long journey of publishing her debut novel, Four Women, founding her company, NEW Reads Publications, and how she has kept going despite lots of rejection to publish four more novels, a poetry collection, and four other authors in addition to doing all the things in life, love, career, and the pursuit of dreams. 

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Follow @Nikesha_Elise on Twitter and Instagram and check out her latest novel Beyond Bourbon Street available everywhere books are sold.

Don't forget to subscribe to Black & Published on your podcast platform of choice as well as rate and review. If you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about the episode, hit us up at @blkandpublished on Twitter and Instagramusing the hashtag #blackandpublished. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with journalist and author, Dawnie Walton about her debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. Dawnie is a Jacksonville native. She worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE before she decided to take a leap of faith and pursue her passion for fiction. A MacDowell Colony fellow (2015) and Tin House Scholar (2017), Dawnie earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers's Workshop in 2018.  She has been hailed as a "bold new voice in contemporary fiction" with her novel's fictional oral history of a Black punk rocker in 1970s New York.

Episode Notes

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with journalist and author, Dawnie Walton about her debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. Dawnie is a Jacksonville native. She worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE before she decided to take a leap of faith and pursue her passion for fiction. A MacDowell Colony fellow (2015) and Tin House Scholar (2017), Dawnie earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers's Workshop in 2018.  She has been hailed as a "bold new voice in contemporary fiction" with her novel's fictional oral history of a Black punk rocker in 1970s New York.

During the interview, Dawnie discusses the role music has played over the course of her life, not seeing herself reflected in her favorite genre, and making the switch from journalism to fiction writing in her 40s. She also talks about the discipline required as a writer, especially when you don't have a publishing deal and you're making your own deadlines.




***
Follow @Nikesha_Elise on Twitter and Instagram and check out her latest novel Beyond Bourbon Street available everywhere books are sold.

Don't forget to subscribe to Black & Published on your podcast platform of choice as well as rate and review. If you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about the episode, hit us up at @blkandpublished on Twitter and Instagramusing the hashtag #blackandpublished. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with M Shelly Conner about her debut novel, everyman. M Shelly is a Chicago native who spent her summers bouncing between her grandmother in Memphis and relatives in Los Angeles, reveling in the sprawl of the Great Migration. That sprawl informs the work in everyman which M Shelly began working on first in 2005 and seriously during her PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. An excerpt of everyman appears in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora. M Shelly is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas and lives in Arkansas with her wife and their dog Whiskey.

Episode Notes

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with M Shelly Conner about her debut novel, everyman. M Shelly is a Chicago native who spent her summers bouncing between her grandmother in Memphis and relatives in Los Angeles, reveling in the sprawl of the Great Migration. That sprawl informs the work in everyman which M Shelly began working on first in 2005 and seriously during her PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. An excerpt of everyman appears in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora. M Shelly is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas and lives in Arkansas with her wife and their dog Whiskey.

Over the course of the conversation M Shelly discusses the novel that made her want to get better at writing, crafting an epic generational story, and unpacking the so-called "phases" of life our parents' and grandparents' generation had knowledge of but never talked about.



***
Follow @Nikesha_Elise on Twitter and Instagram and check out her latest novel Beyond Bourbon Street available everywhere books are sold.

Don't forget to subscribe to Black & Published on your podcast platform of choice as well as rate and review. If you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about the episode, hit us up at @blkandpublished on Twitter and Instagramusing the hashtag #blackandpublished. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with Dantiel W. Moniz about her debut short story collection, Milk Blood Heat. Dantiel is a Jacksonville native who attended FSU for undergrad and received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work has appeared in the Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, The Yale Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and elsewhere. Described as wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive Milk Blood Heat has been hailed a "must-read" by TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Elle, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Episode Notes

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with Dantiel W. Moniz about her debut short story collection, Milk Blood Heat. Dantiel is a Jacksonville native who attended FSU for undergrad and received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work has appeared in Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, The Yale Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and elsewhere. Described as wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive Milk Blood Heat has been hailed a "must-read" by TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Elle, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Considered a bright new literary star, Dantiel opens up about the psychological separation between loving writing and knowing you want to be a published writer, learning that "our world prepares us to work for other people, but not ourselves" and why writers should go after every opportunity they come across and never count themselves out. She also discusses her intention for Milk Blood Heat  to make people feel her stories in their body.



***
Follow @Nikesha_Elise on Twitter and Instagram and check out her latest novel Beyond Bourbon Street available everywhere books are sold.

Don't forget to subscribe to Black & Published on your podcast platform of choice as well as rate and review. If you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about the episode, hit us up at @blkandpublished on Twitter and Instagramusing the hashtag #blackandpublished. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with Dr. Kim Mack about her book, Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White. Dr. Mack is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo where she specializes in African American literature and culture, twentieth- and twenty-first-century ethnic American literature, autobiographical narratives, and American popular music. Her academic career comes after a journey that includes screen- and playwriting and music criticism. A self-professed rock fan, it was her love of what seemed to be a "white" music genre that led to her discovery, research, and now book about the blues. 

Episode Notes

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha is speaking with Dr. Kim Mack about her book, Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White. Dr. Mack is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo where she specializes in African American literature and culture, twentieth- and twenty-first-century ethnic American literature, autobiographical narratives, and American popular music. Her academic career comes after a journey that includes screen- and playwriting and music criticism. A self-professed rock fan, it was her love of what seemed to be a "white" music genre that led to her discovery, research, and now book about the blues.

During the interview, Kim discusses why she resisted the title of journalist and even becoming one for so long as well as her winding journey that took her from New York to L.A. and from screenwriting to the hallowed halls of academy. She also says that at the end of the day, no matter what she's writing, she's just a storyteller.



***
Follow @Nikesha_Elise on Twitter and Instagram and check out her latest novel Beyond Bourbon Street available everywhere books are sold.

Don't forget to subscribe to Black & Published on your podcast platform of choice as well as rate and review. If you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about the episode, hit us up at @blkandpublished on Twitter and Instagramusing the hashtag #blackandpublished. 

Support the show

Follow the Show:

IG: @blkandpublished
Twitter: @BLKandPublished

Follow Me:

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