Reckon True Stories

Minda Honey On Being ‘Shameless’ in Telling Your Story

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Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon sit down with Minda Honey to discuss her recently published memoir, The Heartbreak Years, and the role that Honey’s own experiences, and the stories told to her by family, have had on shaping her work. 

With her debut, Honey — who also edits Black Joy at Reckon — was praised for her ability to linger in the body and the desires of a Black woman while also seamlessly moving through not just place, but time. As Kiese Laymon says, “I actually thought what Minda was doing was like a new kind of travel writing. And so I was just so excited when everybody got to read it.”

Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

  • The Heartbreak Years (Minda Honey)
  • “The Reality of Dating All Men When You’re Black” (Minda Honey, Gawker 2014)
  • “Woman of Color in Wide Open Spaces” (Minda Honey, Longreads 2017)
  • Black Joy at Reckon
  • Cheryl Strayed's Dear Sugar
  • Sari Botton
  • Sweet Valley High Series (Francine Pascal)
  • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor)
  • Milk Blood Heat (Dantiel Moniz)
  • “On Being Black in Kentucky and Charles Booker’s Historic Run for Senate” (Minda Honey, Salon 2020)
  • Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghost (Crystal Wilkinson)
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
  • “Writing for the Bad Faith Reader” (Susie Dumond, Melissa Febos, BookRiot 2023)
  • Danielle Buckingham 
  • “A Farewell to Fuckboys in the Age of Consent Culture” (Minda Honey, Longreads 2018)


    • Listening List:

    “Doo Wop (That Thing)” (Lauryn Hill)


    More from Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon: 

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw)
    • Heavy (Kiese Laymon)
    • Long Division (Kiese Laymon)
    • How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: Essays (Kiese Laymon)
    • Ursa Short Fiction podcast (Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton)


      Produced by Ursa Story Company in partnership with Reckon. 

      Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Kiese Laymon

      Show Producers: Dawnie Walton & Mark Armstrong

      Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

      Episode Editor: Kelly Araja


      Reckon Editor In Chief: R.L. Nave

      Reckon Deputy Editor: Michelle Zenarosa

      Audience Director: Katie Johnston

      Creative Strategist: Abbey Crain

      Sr. Social Producer: Sid Espinosa

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