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This episode features our conversation with Nada Samih-Rotondo (nonfiction. fiction.), which was live-streamed on Saturday, December 16, 2023. 

This episode is presented in collaboration with Levee Break Lit. 

Nada Samih-Rotondo is a multi-genre Palestinian American writer, educator, and mother. A graduate of Rhode Island College, she earned degrees in English and Education and an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. When she is not befriending trees or attuning to hidden stories, she is leading transformational educational experiences and addressing the social-emotional needs of historically underserved and multilingual youth. Her writing has appeared in Masters Review, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, and Squat Birth Journal. She lives in Providence with her husband and three children.  All Water Has Perfect Memory (Jaded Ibis Press, 2023) is her first book. 

All Water Has a Perfect Memory is a memoir that takes readers from the author’s ancestral origins - the coast of Yaffa, Palestine, to her birthplace of Kuwait, eventually landing on the shores of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. Life changed forever for six-year-old Nada following Iraq’s invasion of her birth country, Kuwait, and subsequent immigration to the United States with her maternal family. Just as she finally settles into her strange new life apart from her father in Rhode Island, learns English, and grasps the fact that she is not merely visiting but is here to stay, life throws other surprises her way to forever change her world. narrative confronts generations of silence and, ultimately, revelation with an imaginative blend of folklore and history that explores the relationship between our bodies, ancestors, and the Earth. The work explores the way the author is intertwined with her maternal line while reuniting with her father after a 30-year separation.

Voices once hidden in the waters of our bodies are amplified and released to forever alter the landscape, breaking cycles and seeding an audacious hope interconnected to lands past and present.

To learn more about Nada and her other work, please visit her website at https://nowapproachingprovidence.wordpress.com. 

Find Nada on Instagram: @nadasamihwrites

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This episode features our conversation with Minda Honey, which was live streamed on Saturday, November 18, 2023, about her memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS.

Minda Honey’s essays on politics and relationships have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Teen Vogue, and Longreads. 

Her work is featured in “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger”, “A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South”, and “Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic.”

She is the editor of Black Joy at Reckon — the newsletter has nearly 60K subscribers. She was the director of the BFA in Creative Writing program at Spalding University, a relationship advice columnist for LEO Weekly in Louisville, Kentucky, and founder of the capsule project, TAUNT, an alt-indie publication for Louisville that elevated the voices of the unaccounted during the height of the pandemic and ended in late 2021. 

Her debut memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS (Little A, October 2023), is a hilarious and intimate portrait of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time.

To learn more about Minda and her work, please visit mindahoney.com.

Find Minda on Instagram: @mindahoney

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This episode features our latest conversation with Kerika Fields, which was live- streamed on Saturday, October 28, 2023. We chatted about her latest book, With Your Bad Self. 

​​Kerika Fields is a Brooklyn, New York-based writer and photographer whose work has been published and exhibited widely. She is the author of With Your Bad Self (Jacaranda Books, November 29, 2022). With Your Bad Self is a coming-of-age love story set in an economically challenged Brooklyn on the precipice of WWII where 'Love Conquers All' may not be true this time. Her debut book, He’s Gone…You’re Back! The Right Way to Get Over Mr. Wrong, was published by Kensington Publishing and released in 2010.

She has covered current events and the arts & entertainment scene in NYC for over two decades. Her articles and photographs have appeared in The Amsterdam News, Black Elegance, Caribbean Life, The Daily News, Honey, Savoy, The Source, Spice!, Variety, Vibe and online at ABFF.com, Bust.com, curlynikki.com, soulhead.com, and Tuenight.com.

Kerika Fields' photographs have been exhibited at The African American Museum of Philadelphia, The Brooklyn Historical Society, The Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn Moon Café, Corridor Gallery in Brooklyn, Five Myles Gallery in Brooklyn, 40 Acres Art Gallery in San Francisco, The McKenna Museum in New Orleans, and the RUSH Arts Gallery and Leica Gallery in Manhattan.

She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband, daughter, and the spirit of her cat Smokey. Learn more about Kerika and her other work by visiting withyourbadself.com.

Find Kerika on Instagram: @with_yourbadself

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Welcome to our special series, Black Writers Read Presents Writers Across the Margins, our opportunity to chat with writers from other Diasporas!

This episode features our conversation with Jason Montgomery which was live streamed on Saturday, October 7, 2023. During our chat, Jason shared an excerpt from his latest poetry collection, These Latest Apocalypses which was recently published by Arteidolia Press.

Jason R. Montgomery (he/they), or JRM, is a Chicano/Indigenous Californian writer, painter, community artist and engagement artist from El Centro, California. In 2016, along with Poet Alexandra Woolner, and illustrator Jen Wagner, JRM founded Attack Bear Press in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Jason’s work engages the cross-section of Chicano/Indigenous identity, cultural hybridization, post-colonial reconstruction, and political agency. His writing and visual art bridges the aesthetics and feel from the early cubist collage movement and the Russian abstract movement of the 1920s with living and historical Native/Indigenous Californian and Chicano art traditions to explore the Post-colonial narrative through active synthesis and guided (re)construction. JRM’s work has appeared in Split Lip Magazine, Storm Cellar, Ilanot Review, Rust and Moth and other publications. Jason is one of 2021 Newell Flather Awards for Leadership in Public Art outstanding nominees and 2021-2023 Easthampton Poets Laureate. Jason is also the co-founder of the police abolition group “A Knee is Not Enough” (AKINE) in Easthampton, MA.

To learn more about Jason and their other work, please visit attackbearpress.com. 

Find Jason on Instagram: @howka.jrm or @attackbearpress

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This episode features our latest conversation with Aina Hunter (science fiction.), which was live-streamed on Sunday, September 24, 2023. We chatted about her debut novel, Charlotte and the Chickenman: the Inevitable Nigrescence of Charlotte-Noa Tibbit (Whiskey Tit Books, 2022)

Based in Western Massachusetts, Aina Hunter is an artist with a background in journalism, Food Studies  and Japanese having studied at Columbia University, New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development  and University of California Berkeley. She has written award-winning features for The Village Voice, Essence, Mother Jones and others.

About the Book
It's November 2, 2059 in Baltimore and Charlotte-Noa Tibitt, the downwardly mobile, adult daughter of a popular HelloCast lifestyle coach, feels like death. A few months back Charlotte and her Eurindigenous girlfriend scored a sweet subsidized apartment in a building chock full of fellow queer-radical-feminist animal rights activists. But when an unspeakable right-wing candidate again wins the US presidency, Charlotte seeks refuge in a luxury roof-top hotel bar and life begins to unravel.

So now it’s time to stop mourning. Get back on the bus, make a plan, start over.

All this on a screaming planet divided into ethno-states mostly controlled by South Africa’s ruling Economic Freedom Party and their right wing, anti-black opposition – the Eurin supremacists of the New Broederband.

Charlotte could probably use some trauma therapy, but first a quick trip to Haiti for a medical thing. And while she’s there, maybe she can find some comfort at the receiving end of a controversial reparative food justice initiative, which may or may not be sanctioned by New Caricom’s shadow government.

Find Aina on Instagram:  @eat_ur_yte

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This episode features our latest conversation with Aaron Dworkin, which was live-streamed on Sunday, September 17, 2023. We chatted about his latest poetry collection, The Poetjournalist, and his evolving work as a writer.

Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts and member of President Biden’s Arts Policy Committee, Aaron P. Dworkin is former dean and current Professor of Arts Leadership & Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance.  Aaron is a best-selling writer and poetjournalist having authored his poetry collection, They Said I Wasn’t Really Black, along with four other books including his memoir, Uncommon Rhythm: A Black, White, Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, Irish Catholic Adoptee's Journey to Leadership and The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives. Aaron originated the terminology “poetjournalism” which he defines as “journalism in which a news story or other event is presented in poetic form incorporating elements of emotion, opinion and creative illustration.” He serves as the Poet-in-Residence of the City of Ann Arbor’s Bicentennial, the Rodham Institute, Fisher Foundation, Wright Museum of African-American History, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Grantmakers in the Arts, Ovation TV and Shar Music. He has been featured on The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Jet Magazine and named one of Newsweek’s “15 People Who Make America Great.” His Emmy award-winning film An American Prophecy was honored by numerous festivals, while his digital art project, Fractured History, has exhibited to rave reviews.

Aaron is also a leading social entrepreneur having founded the globally-recognized Sphinx Organization, the leading arts organization with the mission of transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. He also serves as host of the nationally-broadcast Arts Engines show with a viewership of over 100,000.

A sought-after global thought leader and a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, excellence in arts education, entrepreneurship, and leadership, as well as inclusion in the performing arts, Aaron is a frequent keynote speaker and lecturer at numerous universities and global arts, creativity, and technology conferences and is on the roster of the prestigious APB speakers bureau. Having raised over $50 million for philanthropic causes, Aaron personifies creative leadership, entrepreneurship, and community service with an unwavering passion for the arts, diversity, and their role in society.

To access Aaron's full bio and learn more about his other work, please visit his website at www.aarondworkin.com.


Find Aaron on Instagram: @aaronpdworkin

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Welcome to our first episode of Season Four of Black Writers Read!

This episode featu4res our latest conversation with Sami Miranda, which was live-streamed on Saturday, September 9, 2023. We chatted about his latest poetry collection, Protection from Erasure, and his body of work.

Samuel "Sami" Miranda grew up in the South Bronx and resides in Washington, DC. He is a visual artist, poet, and teacher who uses his craft to highlight the value of everyday people and places. His work is heavily influenced by Puerto Rican culture and family history, as well as his interactions with his students, people he encounters in his travels, and DC locals. Much of his work is figurative and explores how the body and face illustrate the successes, hardships, and beliefs that people carry with them. He is the author of Protection from Erasure, published by Jaded Ibis Press, Departure, a chapbook published by Central Square Press, and We Is, published by Zozobra Publishing. He is currently working on collaborative projects with musicians and visual artists about the deep connections they can make through their artwork. Samuel's artwork has been exhibited internationally in Puerto Rico and Madrid, as well as New York and Washington, DC. Most recently, Samuel's artwork has been included in the Smithsonian's new Molina Family Latino Gallery inaugural exhibition ¡Presente! His artwork has been included in University and private collections.

In Protection from Erasure, Samuel Miranda aims to capture and celebrate a life lived and lives encountered. Through observations and conversations, we're reminded that mundane events and minute moments in our everyday lives can and should be memorialized. Part portraiture, part social commentary, and part memory, Protection from Erasure is meticulously crafted with arresting dialogue, sincere lines, and raw reflections that knit together and hover upon the edge of a shared remembrance.

To learn more about Sami and her work, please visit his website at samimiranda.com.

This episode is presented in collaboration with Levee Break Lit. Special thanks to Lisa Pegram and Levee Break Lit for supporting this episode.

Find Sami on Instagram: @tres_raices_arts

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We are super excited to kick off Season Four of Black Writers Read! Learn more about our upcoming lineup of guests and an upcoming project, Writers from the Margins.

We're also thrilled to share with you our new online home: www.blackwritersread.com. We launched our website earlier this summer. On it, you'll have access to past episodes and information on upcoming events including live-streamed interviews and book discussions with our authors. Be sure to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Find Black Writers Read on IG: @blackwritersread
Find our host, Nicole on IG: @coco@penexplore

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This episode features excerpts from four conversations we’ve had with guests that reflect on topics relevant to the Juneteenth holiday including family, ancestral influences, food, culture, and honoring our pasts.

Included on this bonus episode are the following conversations:

Saida Agostini (S2 E6 of the livestream series/Retrospective Episode on the audio podcast) 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.  Listen to Saida's full interview.

St. Clair Detrick-Jules (S3 E1) is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, author, activist, and public speaker. She captures personal stories and intimate moments centering Black liberation, immigrant justice, and women's rights. An Afro-Caribbean artist who remains rooted in her community, St. Clair grounds her work in radical love, joy and the knowledge that a more just world is possible. Her book, My Beautiful Black Hair: 101 Natural Hair Stories from the Sisterhood (Chronicle Books, September 2021), showcases the photographs and stories of Black women embracing their crowns. Listen to St. Clair's full interview.

Lisa Pegram (S3 E10) is a writer, arts integration specialist and publishing professional who hails from Washington, DC. She has over 20 years of experience in high-level program design for such organizations as the Smithsonian Institute, Corcoran Gallery of Art and National Geographic. She served as DC WritersCorps program director for a decade, and as co-chair of United Nations affiliate international women’s conferences in the US, India and Bali. She is currently working on a family memoir that is a narrative cookbook which explores her life story through the lens of food and music. Listen to Lisa's full interview.

Desiree Cooper's (S3 E6) Nothing Special is a buddy story that spans generations. Published by Wayne State University Press and illustrated by Bec Stone, it's also a love letter to the black family connections that survived the Great Migration. Between 1910 and 1970, more than six million African Americans left the Jim Crow South, but they never forgot the culture, the land, and the family they left behind. Nothing Special celebrates the enduring connection between the generations who stayed in the South, and the millions of emigrants for whom it will always be home.
Listen to Desiree's full interview.

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This episode features our latest livestream from Saturday, June 10, 2023 with our guest, Kimberly Mack to discuss her latest book, Time’s Up, which is on the band, Living Colour’s sophomore album.

Kimberly Mack will begin her time as the Associate Professor of  English at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign this coming fall. Her book, Living Colour’s Time’s Up, part of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 book series, was published in May 2023. She is also the author of Fictional Blues: Narrative Self Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), which won the 2021 College English Association of Ohio’s Nancy Dasher Award. Kimberly is writing another book, tentatively titled The Untold History of American Rock Criticism, about the BIPoC and White women writers who helped develop American rock criticism and journalism during the 1960s and 1970s. 

Kimberly holds a Ph.D. in English from UCLA and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she has received fellowships and scholarships to attend writing residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Kimberly is a memoirist and music writer, and her scholarly and public-facing articles and essays have appeared in African American Review, Popular Music and Society, Journal of Popular Music Studies, AMP: American Music Perspectives, Longreads, No Depression, and elsewhere.

The iconic Black rock band Living Colour's Time's Up, released in 1990, was recorded in the aftermath of the spectacular critical and commercial success of their debut record Vivid. Time's Up is a musical and lyrical triumph, incorporating distinct forms and styles of music and featuring inspired collaborations with artists as varied as Little Richard, Queen Latifah, Maceo Parker, and Mick Jagger. The clash of sounds and styles don't immediately fit. The confrontational hardcore-thrash metal - complete with Glover's apocalyptic wail - in the title track is not a natural companion with Doug E. Fresh's human beat box on “Tag Team Partners,” but it's precisely this bold and brilliant collision that creates the barely-controlled chaos. And isn't rock & roll about chaos?

Living Colour's sophomore effort holds great relevance in light of its forward-thinking politics and lyrical engagement with racism, classism, police brutality, and other social and political issues of great importance. Through interviews with members of Living Colour, and others involved in the making of Time's Up, Kimberly Mack explores the creation and reception of this artistically challenging album, while examining the legacy of this culturally important and groundbreaking American rock band.

To learn more about Kim and her work, please visit her website at kimberlymack.com.

Find Kim on Instagram:  @dr._kimberly_mack

Find Kim on Twitter:  @drkimberlymack

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