The Root Presents: It's Lit!

This week we're joined by the one and only Stacey Abrams. As if fighting for voting rights and defending American democracy weren't enough, Stacey also happens to be a New York Times bestselling author. In addition to two bestselling non-fiction books, including 2020's Our Time is Now, Stacey's also published eight romance novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery. Stacey's latest novel, While Justice Sleeps, is a riveting political thriller under her own name, and we had the honor of talking to her about the inspiration for the book, how her literary career got started, and what drives her to write.

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This week we have the super talented Jasmine Mans on the show to talk about her latest collection of poems, Black Girl, Call Home. Listen to hear Jasmine talk about how she came to love poetry as a form of expression, the stunning response to her earlier work about queer Black girl love, and what she hopes readers will get out of her latest book. In addition to being an accomplished poet in print, Jasmine is also a visual artist, a performance poet, and is the resident poet at the Newark Public Library.

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This week we're talking with two incredible women, Tarana Burke and Tanya Fields. Tarana is the founder of the Me Too movement and a former Root 100 honoree, and Tanya is the founder of the Black Feminist Project. Both have come together recently in a new collection of essays called You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience (which Tarana edited along with Brené Brown), and they join us this week to talk about the many reasons why it is necessary for us to move past our shame.

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This week we have the brilliant and beautiful writer Robert Jones, Jr.—creator of the blog Son of Baldwin, and author of New York Times bestseller The Prophets. Listen to hear Robert discuss the backstory behind his stunning debut novel, how the perception of queerness varies greatly across cultures and why it's so important to continue telling slave narratives.

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This week we're talking with the brilliant Tiffany Aliche—personal finance educator, and author of the new book Get Good With Money: 10 Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole. Listen to hear how Tiffany moved from self-publishing to working with one of the biggest publishing houses in the world, why she felt the urgency to write this particular book, and her own personal journey of going from crushing debt to financial security and success.

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This week we're sitting down with Zerlina Maxwell—political analyst, Director of Progressive Programming for SiriusXM, and co-host of Sirius XM’s award-winning show Signal Boost. Zerlina is also the host of her own news show on Peacock, Zerlina., as well as an author. Her new book is called The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide, and she joined us recently to talk about it.

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This week we're talking with the brilliant Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist whose research focuses on understanding the origin of spacetime and the particles that populate it. Her new popular science book is called The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, which takes a holistic look at the doing of particle physics and cosmology. Listen to hear Chanda talk about her experience being a Black woman in the physical sciences, why it's so incredibly important to have better representation in the sciences, and how we as humans are such unique and magnificent phenomena in the physical world. Chanda is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Core Faculty Member in Women’s Studies at the University of New Hampshire.

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This week we're joined by the one and only Bevy Smith, Gracie Award-winner and host of the Sirius XM show Bevelations on Radio Andy. Listen to hear Bevy talk about why she made a career pivot after climbing the ranks at Vibe and Rolling Stone, the philosophies she lives by, and what she hopes readers get out of her new book, Bevelations: Lessons from a Mutha, Auntie, Bestie.

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This week we're joined by actress/author Karyn Parsons. Karyn is perhaps best known for playing the hilarious Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but she also happens to be the founder and president of Sweet Blackberry—a creative nonprofit that produces animated films for children about unsung Black heroes from history. Last year, Karyn published two books for children and young adults—Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman's Dreams Took Flight, and How High the Moon. Listen to hear Karyn discuss how she went from acting to writing, and why she's so excited to be bringing these lesser-known Black heroes to life for kids.

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This week we're joined by award-winning historian, activist, and author Michelle Duster, to talk about her new book, Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells. Listen to hear Michelle—who happens to be the great-granddaughter of the legendary journalist—talk about her approach to writing her great grandmother's story for a young adult audience, and the many ways in which we're still fighting Ida's fight today.

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