This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Mahogany L. Browne, the author of the new YA novel A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe. The story is a real time exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York told through a chorus of young voices and borne out of Mahogany’s on battle with the virus.

In our conversation, Mahogany explains how poetry saved her when journalism became unsafe. Plus, what she wished she’d known sooner as she was circling the globe doing poetry in places like Poland and Australia. And the critique she got from a high school English Teacher that actually became an asset for the New York Times.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Kiese Laymon and Alexis Franklin about their new picture book, City Summer, Country Summer. It's a story about an up north city kid who goes down south to visit his country cousins for the summer.

In our conversation, Kiese & Alexis discuss how they were able to explore in their own ways what intimacy looks like between young Black boys. Plus, how this story puts the harmful narrative of pause no homo” on notice. And what they’ve been able to give school children across the country by honoring the child in all of us.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Dwight Thompson, author of the novel, My Own Dear People. It’s a story about a young man reflecting on the harm he and his friends caused a young teacher while they were in high school and why even as a spectator the protagonist was still a perpetrator.

In our conversation, Dwight explains how his own reflection of his boyhood informed the creation of his character. Plus, how telling the truth got his first novel labeled as "too lewd." And, the measurement Dwight uses when writing that lets him know he’s on the right track.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Denne Michele Norris author of the novel, When the Harvest Comes. The story is one Denne has been working on for 14 years but couldn’t unlock until she freed herself first.

In our conversation, Denne discusses how she worked through her issues of gender, race, and sexuality using her characters and craft. Plus, the reason she believes it’s her duty to walk readers through trauma hand in hand. And as a classically trained violist, why Denne ultimately chose the page over an orchestra stage for her artistic expression.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with W.J. Lofton, author of the poetry collection, boy, maybe. The collection explores William’s difficult and at times traumatic childhood, how he survived, and how he’s living now as young, Black queer man in America.

In our conversation, Williams explains the reason he says that even though he crosses many identity intersections it’s not his life that is fractured. Plus, how writing boy, maybe was a gentle escape, despite the subject matter, when he was supposed to be writing an entirely different book. And, how he feels about being on the front lines facing attacks from the current administration.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with, Arriel Vinson, author of the YA romance novel, Under the Neon Lights. It’s a story that sets the budding love between Jaelyn and Trey against a backdrop of their shifting community landscape and Jaelyn’s fight to maintain her safe place.

In our conversation, Arriel explains the reason she grounded this book in her own good memories as a way to explore the harm of encroaching whiteness. Plus, how she believes the oral storytelling tradition can save us in this time of book bans and attacks on libraries, archives, universities, and museums. And, the reason she says she wasn’t really a big fan of poetry even though she wrote her debut novel in verse.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Cher Terais, author of the wanderlust romance novel, Tempest in Tulum. In crafting her novels, Cher says while her settings may be exotic and lush for love, what the characters go through will always be grounded in reality.

In our conversation she explains why she was never a fan of Prince Charming, the reason it took her twenty years to return to the page after she first tried to pen a novel, and how she makes her work as polished as possible as an indie author.

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This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Hana Baba the storyteller on the new podcast Folk Tales from Sudan. The first season will feature 10 stories Hana grew up hearing from her uncle, but was uncertain if she should or could step into his role behind the mic.

A radio journalist by trade, Hana fell in love with voice, how it could emote, and its expressiveness at an early age though she grapples with what it means to take ownership of oral traditions. Why she’s resisting the urge to profit from her heritage. Plus, the reason she believes her stories are a gift to the next generation of Sudanese children on the continent and across the diaspora. And how the current national and geopolitical climate influenced her decision to curate, produce, and distribute these stories, but now also endanger their future existence and proliferation.

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