Black & Published

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Rickey Fayne, author of the novel The Devil Three Times. A multi-generational story about one family, their spiritual gifts, and how they see they’re calling in life as either from God or Satan.

In our conversation, Rickey reveals who gave him the push he needed to take his work seriously. Plus, in making the devil a central figure in his novel, what Rickey believes that says about the toll men face for being spiritually sensitive and what’s at stake for Black liberation with the devil at the helm of the fight.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Christina Dotson, author of the novel Love You to Death.

The story is billed as a Black Thelma and Louise who go on a murderous romp throughout the south.

In our conversation, Christina explains how the complex characters she works with in real life help as a social worker, help her craft the imperfect personalities of the people in her novels. Plus, the real life news story Christina saw that embedded itself in her brain and took her on the wildest writing ride of her life

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Helena Haywoode Henry, author of the YA novel, Last Chance Live!

The book looks at the price of eternity through the eyes of an 18-year-old girl on death row, who decides to try to win her freedom on a reality show.

In our conversation, Helena discusses the legal papers she read during her time as a lawyer that inspired the premise of her novel. Plus, the reason Helena believes reimagining the current state of capital punishment is one small way to reimagine the current state of America.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Reginald Dwayne Betts, author of the poetry collection, Doggerel, which he says is his most joyous to date.

In our conversation, Dwayne explains how he became intentional about singing a different song after realizing he’d become a long suffering Black man. Plus, why he believes identity is always in flux and why he said he’s never had a problem reading his work in prisons until he started writing about love.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lizzie Damilola Blackburn about her second novel, The Re-Write. A second chance romance between a full-figured woman and a reality TV star who’s struggling to decide exactly what kind of man he wants to be.

In our conversation, Lizzie explains why she wanted to tackle toxic masculinity and fat phobia.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Ashley M. Jones, author of the poetry collection, Lullaby for the Grieving. A deeply personal look at what it means to find and lose love at the same time of unprecedented political turmoil.

At 31-years-old, Ashley became the poet Laureate of Alabama, becoming both the youngest and the first person of color ever to hold that title.

In our conversation, she discusses the amplified pressure she faced during her four-year term, what she’s learned about creating a sustainable writing practice, and the reason she says writing love poems feels unnatural.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lauren Morrow. Author of the novel, Little Movements. A book that explores what it means to leave behind the life you know and take a risk on what you love without the guarantee of reward.

In our conversation, Lauren explains why she's not turned off by her book being characterized as auto-fiction. Plus, what she’s learned about her own artistic voice and where it fits in the Black literary canon And how she views starting over as an artist on the verge of breakout.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Camonghne Felix, author of Let The Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom.

It’s a treatise on the inherent harm of political power and an entreaty for people to seek collective and communal good from a praxis of poetics.

In our conversation, Camonghne explains why the erasure poems she included in the text are the best option to show people a new narrative of democracy. Plus, the reason she advocates for anarchy.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Jodi-Ann Burey, author of the book Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work.

Part memoir, part sociological study of how women, queer, disabled, and minoritized people are discriminated against in the workplace, the book is an outgrowth of Jodi-Ann’s 2020 Ted Talk on the same subject that’s been viewed nearly two million times.

In our conversation, Jodi-Ann shares the life-threatening health diagnosis that shifted her relationship with work, the predatory publishing offers she received after internet virality, and why she says the future of work depends on other people.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Tayari Jones, author of the novel Kin.

Kin, is Tayari’s fifth novel and her second Oprah’s book club pick after 2018’s An American marriage.

In our conversation, she explains why she’s grateful for her “slow burn career" and how she surrendered to the story that wanted to be written … even though it was not the novel she planned.

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