Black & Published

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Minda Honey, author of the memoir, The Heartbreak Years. A retrospective for  the twenty-somethings who are ready to stop leaping into the lives of the men they like and instead choose themselves and a life they love. The book is born out of Minda's series of essays for Longreads on dating politics. Her writing has also been featured in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American and Teen Vogue. 

In our conversation, Minda discusses, her life and loves including her high school sweetheart to maintaining a platonic relationship with a magnetic man. How she gained the confidence and arrogance to bet on herself and what some called her “raunchy” work. And the reason she says she hasn’t given up on love despite the inherent risk and sometimes violence against women. 

This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with jarrett hill and Tre'vell Anderson, the authors of, Historically Black Phrases: From "I Ain't One of Your Little Friends" to "Who All Gon Be There?" Tre'vell and jarrett both have backgrounds in journalism and they are the hosts of the award-winning podcast FANTI. Their book chronicles the living language of Black people and how we bend a phrase to entertain, uplift, or sometimes to hurt and harm. 

In our conversation, they discuss how they've found validation in their careers even when being written off as diversity hires. Plus, what they say job security looks like as a Black creative. And giving credit where credit is due to the marginalized community they say is often exploited and stolen from that they worked to honor through the pages of their book. 

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Honorée Fannone Jeffers, author of the epic novel, The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois. Honorée is also the author of five critically acclaimed books of poetry, including the award-winning collection, The Age of Phillis, based on the life and times of Phillis Wheatley Peters.

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with author, Deesha Philyaw, her short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, which was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award.