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Dorsey Spencer Jr. (fiction - children's picture books) was our guest on Episode 4  of Season 1 of Black Writers Read, which was livestreamed on November 14, 2020.

Dorsey Spencer Jr. is an educator, author and entrepreneur. He is the owner of See Us Fly LLC, an independent publishing company. Dorsey began to write as a way to uplift and highlight the experiences and voices of underrepresented communities. He hopes his work will contribute to the growing body of literature that portrays Black men and boys positively, especially in father-son relationships. Dorsey grew up in Long Island, New York and now lives in central New York with his wife and two children. He has a bachelor’s degree in Sport and Recreation Management from Temple University, a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a doctorate in Higher Education from Florida State University.

During the episode, Dorsey read from his first children’s picture book, Worms are a Yummy Snack A Story of Patience, Anger, and Joy. This delightful story showcases a loving relationship between father and son, and allows parents, caregivers and young readers to positively discuss themes of patience, expression and management of emotions and dealing with failure.

Since joining us for Black Writers Read, Dorsey and See Us Fly LLC has published another children’s picture book, Queen Cara and the Kingdom of Jama’a, which was released on November 15, 2021.  

To learn more about Dorsey’s work, please visit seeusfly.com

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Saida Agostini is a queer Afro-Guyanese poet whose work explores the ways Black folks harness mythology to enter the fantastic. Her work is featured in Plume, Hobart Pulp, Barrelhouse, Auburn Avenue, amongst others. Saida’s work can be found in several anthologies, including Not Without Our Laughter: Poems of Humor, Sexuality and Joy, The Future of Black, and Plume Poetry 9. She is the author of STUNT (Neon Hemlock, October 2020), a chapbook reimagining the life of Nellie Jackson, a Black madam and FBI spy from Natchez, Mississippi. Her first full-length collection, let the dead in (Alan Squire Publishing) was released in Spring 2022. A Cave Canem Graduate Fellow, and member of the Black Ladies Brunch Collective, Saida is a two time Pushcart Prize Nominee and Best of the Net Finalist. Her work has received support from the Ruby Artist Grants and the Blue Mountain Center, amongst others.

During the episode, Saida read excerpts from let the dead in. let the dead in is an exploration of the mythologies that seek to subjugate Black bodies, and the counter-stories that reject such subjugation. Audacious, sensual, and grieving, this work explores how Black women harness the fantastic to craft their own road to freedom. A journey across Guyana, London, and the United States, it is a meditation on black womanhood, queerness, the legacy of colonization, and pleasure. These poems craft a creation story fat with love, queerness, mermaids, and blackness.

Saida lives online at www.saidaagostini.com.

This episode of Black Writers Read was presented in collaboration with Lisa Pegram and Levee Break Lit.

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On July 30, 2022, Black Writers Read, Attack Bear Press, and Radioplasma hosted the virtual book launch of Miguel Bacho's latest poetry collection, Labores. Written in Spanish by Miguel and translated into English by Ramón J. Stern, it was an honor to collaborate on this livestreamed event. This bonus episode features the audio from that event, which includes Miguel and Ramón reading excerpts from the book and my conversation with them.

Labores (Laboring) is the latest poetry collection written by Miguel Bacho. Situated in a period of forced silence, Bacho explores learning the language, working, and observing. Its pages contain part of the struggle, the adventure, and the trip of adapting to a new culture and language, as well as period for drastic changes not just on behavior, but also a deep enhancement of believes.

Miguel Bacho Cabezas was born in Iquique, Chile, in 1986. There, he participated in several local initiatives, such as Literary Caravans to Cochabamba and La Paz, Bolivia in 2010. In 2013, the Universidad Nacional de Lanús Press in Argentina published his first book of poems, Papeles Sueltos. Half of this printing was sent to Iquique’s public Libraries. Between August and October of 2016, Miguel collaborated with the website www.viceversa-mag.com in the section Crónicas Urbanas. He also participated in the Locating Me workshop series, which ended with the printing of a chakpbook with the same title. Miguel has an unpublished nouvelle, Primera Fila, and it’s writing his first novel, Divino Tesoro. His last book of poems Labores, was published in 2022 by Sismo Press in his hometown. He currently resides in Ewing, NJ.

Ramón J. Stern is a translator between Spanish, Portuguese and English (he is also proficient in Hebrew and Arabic) with a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. Stern has served as a medical interpreter, translation project specialist and proofreader, admissions reader and as a higher education administrator. His translation, Syrian and Lebanese Patrícios in São Paulo: From the Levant to Brazil (University of Illinois Press, 2018), won the Arab-American Non-Fiction Book Award in 2019. He has also translated COVID manuals, research interviews, book chapters, arts magazine articles, human right reports and the bilingual edition of Labores (Laboring) by Miguel Bacho. Stern is currently a Fulbright scholar in Manaus, Brazil researching Moroccan Jewish migration to the Brazilian Amazon.

Special thanks to Jason Montgomery of Attack Bear Press and Iohann Rashi Vega of Radioplasma for coming together to celebrate Miguel and Ramón.

Find Attack Bear Press online: www.attackbearpress.com
Find Radioplasma online: radioplasma.com

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Shanta Lee Gander (poetry, prose, journalism, photography) was our guest on Episode 5 of Season 2 of Black Writers Read, which originally aired on April 10, 2022 during National Poetry Month.

Shanta Lee Gander is a photographer, writer across genres and is a public intellectual whose work has been widely featured. She is the author of GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA: Dreamin of Mama While Trying to Speak Woman in Woke Tongues, the winner of the 2020 Diode Press full-length book prize with an honorable mention from the Sheila Margaret Motton prize, and reviews featured in the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet Books, Seven Days, the Kenyon Review, and the The Adroit Journal. Her forthcoming collection, Black Metamorphoses (Etruscan Press, 2023), is what Shanta Lee describes as a 2000+ year old phone line opened to Ovid as well as an interrogation of the Greek mythos while creating her own new language in this work. Black Metamorphoses is an illustrated poetry collection that has been longlisted for the 2021 Idaho poetry prize, shortlisted for the 2021 Cowles Poetry Book Prize, and named a finalist in the 2021 Hudson prize.

In addition to teaching a Media Studies course at The Putney School, Shanta Lee is one of the writers for the Ms. Magazine Blog, a regular contributor to Art New England and is a producer and reporter for Vermont Public Radio. Her major exhibition, Dark Goddess: An Exploration of the Sacred Feminine, was on exhibit at the Fleming Museum of Art at the time of our conversation. This exhibition started off as an initial idea and inquiry: Who or what is the Goddess when she is allowed to misbehave?

During the episode, Shanta Lee read an excerpt from GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA: Dreamin of Mama While Trying to Speak Woman in Woke Tongues.

To learn more about her visual art and written work, visit: Shantaleegander.com.

Find Shanta Lee on Instagram: @mz.shanta_lee

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In this bonus episode of Black Writers Read, Nicole M. Young-Martin (our founder, producer, and host) shares a short story she's been working on. This work doesn't have a title yet and Nicole would deeply appreciate some ideas and feedback on both the title and this piece of writing. Initially a poet and playwright, Nicole enjoys exploring other literary genres. She is a fan of young adult fiction and takes her pen to explore the genre in this work. She hopes to submit it for publication in the near future.

Find Nicole on Facebook: www.facebook.com/writercocopenexplore 
Find Nicole on Instagram: @coco_penexplore

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Aprell May (urban creative non fiction. journalism) was our guest on the first episode of Season 2 of Black Writers Read, which originally aired on November 14, 2021.

Previously a Salon Owner, Aprell May graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Bay Path University in 2021. She is a seventh generation storyteller coming from a proud lineage of family members and ancestors who could hold an audience with compelling words, prose, and narration. Her poetry collection, Expose Such a Life, which was published in 2017, is available on Amazon. On this episode, Aprell May read essays from her not yet published memoir, Classic Fly written as urban creative nonfiction. When she is not spending time with her wonderful daughter and dogs Bentley and Lolaisha, Aprell May loves writing about her fascination with food, culture, adventure, social justice and family! Based in Springfield, MA, Aprell May currently serves as a trending and breaking news reporter for The Republican, a newspaper based in Western Massachusetts.

Find Aprell May on Instagram: @aprellmaydaily

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Poet, fiction, and nonfiction writer Kaija Langley was our very first guest on Black Writers Read, which was originally livestreamed in September of 2020.  Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Kaija Langley has been writing since she fell in love with words at age seven. She knew she was onto something when she wrote her first poem and her grade school classmates thought she'd copied it from a book! A proud alumna of Morgan State University, a Historically Black College and University in Baltimore, MD, she received her MFA in Fiction from St. Mary's College of California in 2005. She's called many places home over the years -- New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, DC, California, Louisiana -- and currently lives, writes, and plays in Cambridge, MA with her two bonsai and her Beloved.

During the episode, Kaija read from the first chapter of non-yet-published Middle Grade Novel, Call Me Early, is a coming-of-age story about a Black 12 year old girl who spends her summer unexpectedly straddling family, friendship, and identity. Since appearing on Black Writers Read, Kaija’s debut children's picture book, When Langston Dances, was published in the fall of 2021, exactly a year later following her conversation with Black Writers Read.  When Langston Dances was nominated for a 53rd NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Literary Work for Children. Other nominees in this category include Amanda Gorman, Stacy Abrams, and Misty Copeland. Kaija’s debut Middle Grade novel, The Order of Things is slated for release in 2023 and will be published by Nancy Paulsen Books. Her second children’s picture book, A Century for Caroline, scheduled for publication in 2024. 

Find Kaija on Instagram: @kaijalangley

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Memoirist and essayist Shannon Luders-Manuel joined us for Episode 7 of Season One of Black Writers Read. Shannon Luders-Manuel is a West Coast writer, editor, and sensitivity reader. She received her master's in English literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Real Simple, among others. She is currently represented by Chase Literary Agency for her memoir about growing up mixed race, coming in and out of conservative Christianity, and her complicated relationship with her absent, alcoholic father.  During this episode, Shannon read from her essay, "Rediscovering My Father," which was published in the New York Times in 2019.

To read the essay in its entirety, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/well/family/memory-photos-family-alcoholism.html. 

Find Shannon on Instagram: @shannon_luders_manuel 

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In this bonus episode of Black Writers Read, hear from Nicole M. Young-Martin, the person behind the scenes about herself, career, and the reason(s) behind Black Writers Read.

Originally from Detroit, Nicole M. Young-Martin (she/her) is a performance poet, playwright, events curator, and nonprofit professional. Nicole has called New England "home" for over 15 years. As a performance poet, she has performed her work in over 20 venues in various states including Massachusetts, New York, and Michigan opening for musicians and other spoken word artists.  Her award-winning play, get (t)his! has been produced by fringe and one-act festivals in her hometown and in New York City. In 2019, Nicole released a self-produced spoken word album, In/Put: Live from the Valley, which was recorded in front of a live audience. As an educator, she has taught composition, developmental writing, and Theatre at several colleges and universities and is a regularly sought-after writing workshop facilitator.

Find Nicole on Facebook: www.facebook.com/writercocopenexplore 
Find Nicole on Instagram: @coco_penexplore

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Historian, essayist, and nonfiction writer, Dr. Khary Oronde Polk joined us for Episode 3 of Season Two of Black Writers Read.  An Associate Professor of Black Studies & Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies at Amherst College, Dr. Polk is the author of Contagions of Empire: Scientific Racism, Sexuality, and Black Military Workers Abroad, 1898-1948 published by University of North Carolina Press in 2020. Contagions of Empire examines how the movement of Black soldiers and nurses around the world in the early-to-mid twentieth century challenged U.S. military ideals of race, nation, sexuality and honor.

Polk has written for the Studio Museum of Harlem, Interim: A Journal of Poetry & Poetics, The Journal of Negro History, Women’s Studies Quarterly, Gawker, and the journal Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly. He has also contributed essays to a number of queer of color anthologies, including If We Have To Take Tomorrow, Corpus, and Think Again. Polk is a member of the African Atlantic Research Group, the Critical Militarization Editorial Collective, and recently held a visiting professorship at the JFK Institute for North American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.  During this episode, Dr. Polk read from his new essay/project, "Spacewalking in the Archive: Transatlantic Black Feminist Lives" To read the essay in its entirety, please visit: https://www.interimpoetics.org/384/khary-oronde-polk/. 

Find Dr. Khary Oronde Polk on Twitter: @kharypolk. 

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