Bernice L. McFadden
BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels including Praise Song for the Butterflies (Long listed for the 2019 Women's Prize in Fiction ) The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction) Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012) and Glorious . She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of four awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA).
McFadden has also penned five novels under the pseudonym: Geneva Holliday
She is a visiting assistant professor of creative
If you like author Bernice L. McFadden here is the list of authors you may also like
Buy books on AmazonTotal similar authors (74)
-
Denene Millner
Denene Millner is a six-time New York Times best-selling author, Emmy Award-nominated TV show host and award-winning journalist and book publisher who has written more than 30 books, among them: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, co-written with Steve Harvey; Around the Way Girl, a memoir with actress Taraji P. Henson; the Fresh Princess picture books, with Will Smith; and, The Vow, the novel on which the hit Lifetime movie, “With This Ring,” was based. The writer and editor is also the editorial director and publisher of Denene Millner Books, an award-winning imprint that publishes stories featuring Black children and families, by Black authors and illustrators. The DMB list includes two Caldecott Honor books, a Kirkus Prize for Children’s
Buy books on Amazon -
Patrick McGilligan
Patrick McGilligan is the author of Clint one of America’s pre-eminent film biographers. He has written the life stories of directors George Cukor and Fritz Lang — both New York Times “Notable Books” — and the Edgar-nominated Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. His books have been translated into ten languages. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Buy books on Amazon -
Mikal Gilmore
Mikal Gilmore was born "Michael Gilmore," but later changed the spelling of his name. He was born February 9, 1951 to Frank and Bessie Gilmore.
Buy books on Amazon
In 1977, Gilmore's brother Gary, a convicted murderer, was the first person executed after the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Gary Gilmore was executed for shooting two young Mormons, Max Jensen and Ben Bushnell, in cold blood. He was executed by firing squad in Utah. Mikal Gilmore's 1995 memoir, Shot in the Heart , details his relationship with Gary and their often troubled family, starting with the original Mormon settlers and continuing through to Gary's execution and its aftermath. Shot in the Heart received positive reviews, including a USA Today comment that states the book is "on -
Daniel Black
Daniel Black is a native of Kansas City, Kansas, yet spent the majority of his childhood years in Blackwell, Arkansas. He is an associate professor at his alma mater, Clark Atlanta University, where he now aims to provide an example to young Americans of the importance of self-knowledge and communal commitment. He is the author of "They Tell Me of a Home" and "The Sacred Place".
Buy books on Amazon -
Noliwe Rooks
Noliwe Rooks is the director of American studies at Cornell University and was for ten years the associate director of African American studies at Princeton University. She is the author of Cutting School (The New Press) as well as White Money/Black Power and Hair Raising . She lives in Ithaca, New York.
Buy books on Amazon -
Delores Phillips
Delores Phillips was born in Georgia. She is a graduate of Cleveland State University and works as a nurse in a facility for abused women and children in Cleveland. This is her first novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Monica West
Monica West is the author of REVIVAL SEASON, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, a Barnes and Noble Discover selection, and short listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Monica received her B.A. from Duke University, her M.A. from New York University, and her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow. She has received fellowships and awards from Hedgebrook, Kimbilio Fiction, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She teaches in the MFA in Writing program at the University of San Francisco.
Buy books on Amazon -
Asha Bandele
An award-winning author and journalist, asha bandele first attained recognition when she penned her 1999 debut book, The Prisoner’s Wife, a powerful, lyrical memoir about a young Black woman’s romance and marriage with a man who was serving a twenty-to-life sentence in prison. With the hope that they would live as a couple in the outside world, she became pregnant with a daughter. A former features editor for Essence Magazine, she returns with her latest memoir, Something Like Beautiful, the continuation of her love with Rashid and its ultimate loss, with another emotional disappointment and a serious bout of depression. She is also the author of two collections of poems and the novel, Daughter. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter, Nisa
Buy books on Amazon -
Pearl Cleage
Pearl Cleage is an African-American playwright, essayist, novelist, poet and political activist. She is currently the Playwright in Residence at the Alliance Theatre and at the Just Us Theater Company. Cleage is a political activist. She tackles issues at the crux of racism and sexism, and is known for her feminist views, particularly regarding her identity as an African-American woman. Her works are highly anthologized and have been the subject of many scholarly analyses. Many of her works across several genres have earned both popular and critical acclaim. Her novel What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day (1997) was a 1998 Oprah's Book Club selection.
Buy books on Amazon -
Tanisha C. Ford
Tanisha C. Ford is a foremost voice, speaking at the intersection of politics and culture. She is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and Associate Professor of Africana Studies & History at the University of Delaware. Tanisha is also a co-founder of TEXTURES, a pop-up material culture lab creating and curating content on bodies and the built environment. Her commitment to social justice and communities of color is evident in everything she produces.
Buy books on Amazon
A native of a mid-sized Midwestern city most people have never heard of, Tanisha enjoys researching the histories of often-overlooked people and places. Her work centers on social movement history, feminism(s), material culture, the built environment, black life in the Rust Belt, girlhood -
Sarai Johnson
I’m Sarai (pronounced Sara).
Buy books on Amazon
I’m a writing educator in the DC-Metropolitan Area with more than 10 years of experience. My career started in lifestyle journalism; I worked for The Indianapolis Star, The Alexandria Gazette, and DC Modern Luxury. I’ve worked with writing nonprofits Shout Mouse Press and Writopia Lab. I’ve also taught writing at Howard University and American University where I earned degrees in Journalism and Literature, respectively. I’m currently teaching full-time at Howard University while working on a second novel.
I grew up in the South (mostly Nashville, Tennessee) where I spent a lot of time hanging out by creeks and eating catfish (some of my favorite hobbies to this day).
I live in Alexandria, Virginia with my husband -
Kimberla Lawson Roby
New York Times Bestselling Author, Speaker, Encourager of Women & Podcast Host, Kimberla Lawson Roby, has published 30 books which include her faith-based, nonfiction titles, THE WOMAN GOD CREATED YOU TO BE: Finding Success Through Faith—Spiritually, Personally, and Professionally and THE WOMAN GOD CREATED YOU TO BE: Companion Workbook & Discussion Guide, as well as some of her novels, such as CASTING THE FIRST STONE, SIN OF A WOMAN, A SINFUL CALLING, SISTER FRIENDS FOREVER, A CHRISTMAS PRAYER, THE PRODIGAL SON, THE PERFECT MARRIAGE, THE REVEREND’S WIFE, IT'S AS THIN LINE, and her debut title, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, which was originally self-published through her own company, Lenox Press. She has sold more than 3 million copies of her books,
Buy books on Amazon -
April Sinclair
April Sinclair was born in 1954 and grew up in Chicago during the times of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. As a young black woman during and after these times, she began to take advantage of her experiences along with her artistic talents to become an active member in her community. She has worked for over 15 years in community service programs, has directed a countywide hunger coalition, and has taught reading and writing to inner-city children and youth.
Buy books on Amazon
(from http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages...) -
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author most recently TAKE MY HAND (2022). Take My Hand was awarded the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Literary Work-Fiction and the BCALA Fiction Award. It was named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 in Newsweek, San Francisco Chronicle, Essence, NBC News, and elsewhere, and it was an IndieNext and LibraryReads pick for April 2022. The Washington Post called it "a jewel of a book." Her other novels include Wench (2010) and Balm (2015).
Buy books on Amazon
Dolen has established herself as a pre-eminent chronicler of American historical life. In 2017, HarperCollins released her first novel Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, a -
George Dawson
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Buy books on Amazon
George Dawson was called "America's favorite poster child for literacy" after learning to read at the age of 98. Dawson was a grandson and great-grandson of African-American slaves. After turning 21, he traveled extensively throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico; in 1928, after nine years of travel and work, he returned to find his family had moved away, leaving no clue as to their new home: "I wondered why they hadn’t let me know. Then again, how would they have found me? Even if they’d known where I was, I wouldn’t have been able to read their letter."
He married Elzenia, a literate woman, and they moved to Dallas, where Dawson began to work for the city -
Charles B. Fancher
Charles B. Fancher is the author of Red Clay, the forthcoming historical novel from Blackstone Publishing. The novel, which covers the final months of the Civil War, Reconstruction and the early years of Jim Crow in the American South, is the latest turn in a wide-ranging career that spans journalism, public relations, and academia.
Buy books on Amazon
As a journalist, Fancher worked for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was an editor on the Foreign and News desks, and, as a reporter, he wrote features and covered higher education. He also worked for the Detroit Free Press, where he held a variety of positions, including Editor of Detroit Free Press Magazine, the newspaper’s Sunday magazine. His time at the Free Press, also included stints as a member of the -
Chris Bruno
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Buy books on Amazon -
Alexandria House
About the author
Buy books on Amazon
A true southern girl, Alexandria House has an affinity for a good banana pudding, Neo Soul music, and tall black men in suits. When this music-loving fashionista is not shopping, she's writing steamy stories about real black love.
Verve Romance: @msalexhouse
Instagram: @msalexhouse
TikTok: @msalexhouse
Facebook: Alexandria House -
Morgan Jerkins
Morgan Jerkins is the author of the New York Times bestseller, This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America and the forthcoming Wandering In Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots.
Buy books on Amazon
A graduate of Princeton University and the Bennington Writing Seminars, Jerkins is the current Senior Editor at ZORA of Medium and former Associate Editor at Catapult. She teaches at Columbia University's School of the Arts and most recently was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University in Germany.
She's based in Harlem. -
Kennedy Ryan
NEWSLETTER:
Buy books on Amazon
bit.ly/KRList
BOOKBUB: bookbub.com/authors/kennedy-ryan
AMAZON:
http://amzn.to/2EX7pgg
FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/KennedyRyanAuthor/
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/kennedyryan1/
KENNEDY RYAN BOOKS - https://www.facebook.com/groups/68160...
I write contemporary romance and women's fiction. I always give my characters their happily ever after, but I love to make them work for it! It's a long road to love, so sit back and enjoy the ride.
I am wife to the love of my life, mom to a special, beautiful son, and a friend to those living with autism through my charitable foundation. -
-
Tracy Brown
I am a storyteller, a painter of words, a writer who genuinely loves my craft.
Buy books on Amazon -
Rhonda McKnight
Even as she pursued degrees in Textile Technology, Organizational Leadership and finally, Adult Education, Rhonda McKnight’s love for books and desire to write stories was always in the back of her mind and in the forefront of her heart. Rhonda loves reading and writing stories that touch the heart of women through complex plots and interesting characters in crisis. She writes from the comfort of her South Carolina home with black tea, potato chips and chocolate on hand. At her feet sits a snappy mixed breed dog. She can be reached at her website at www.rhondamcknight.com and on social media at www.facebook.com/booksbyrhonda www.twitter.com/rhondamcknight www.instagram.com/authorrhondamcknight
Buy books on Amazon
-
Dwayne Alexander Smith
Working professional screenwriter represented by Resolution and Circle of Confusion. I have sold or optioned six spec screenplays and I have been hired by studios for numerous rewrites. Currently I have two movies in post-production, STUCK and THE CLOSET. Both are due to be released in 2014.
Buy books on Amazon
My first novel, a thriller titled FORTY ACRES, is scheduled for release by Simon & Schuster July 1st, 2014. -
Daniel Black
Daniel Black is a native of Kansas City, Kansas, yet spent the majority of his childhood years in Blackwell, Arkansas. He is an associate professor at his alma mater, Clark Atlanta University, where he now aims to provide an example to young Americans of the importance of self-knowledge and communal commitment. He is the author of "They Tell Me of a Home" and "The Sacred Place".
Buy books on Amazon -
Michelle Stimpson
Hello, Goodreads community! I'm Michelle Stimpson, and storytelling is my heartbeat. I've found my calling in penning heartwarming women's fiction that offers a seat at the table of family, humor, and hope. As an author, my greatest joy comes from crafting narratives that resonate with anyone seeking to find laughter and light in the pages of a good book. My tagline, 'Read. Love. Repeat.', is a promise of the emotional journey I aim to provide—engaging stories you’ll love and yearn to revisit.
Buy books on Amazon
Happy Reading
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stimpson.mi...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichelleStim...
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@michellestimp... -
Anissa Gray
Anissa Gray was born and raised in western Michigan, where her father pastored a Pentecostal church and her mother was a homemaker. She graduated from Western Michigan University and received her Masters in English from New York University. After graduate school, Anissa went on to work as a print reporter at Reuters in Manhattan, covering global financial news. That was followed by a move to Atlanta and the initiation of her career in broadcast journalism at CNN, where she has held roles as writer, editor, and producer, receiving Emmy and duPont awards for contributions to the network’s coverage of major stories.
Buy books on Amazon
After more than 20 years as a journalist, Anissa, a lifelong book lover and voracious reader, pursued fiction writing, applying he -
Vanessa Miller
Vanessa Miller is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, playwright, and motivational speaker. She started writing as a child, spending countless hours either reading or writing poetry, short stories, stage plays and novels. Vanessa’s creative endeavors took on new meaning in1994 when she became a Christian. Since then, her writing has been centered on themes of redemption, often focusing on characters facing multi-dimensional struggles.
Buy books on Amazon
Vanessa’s novels have received rave reviews, with several appearing on Essence Magazine’s Bestseller’s List. Miller’s work has receiving numerous awards, including “Best Christian Fiction Mahogany Award” and the “Red Rose Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction.” Miller graduated from Capital University with -
Delores Phillips
Delores Phillips was born in Georgia. She is a graduate of Cleveland State University and works as a nurse in a facility for abused women and children in Cleveland. This is her first novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
ReShonda Tate Billingsley
ReShonda Tate Billingsley is a general assignment reporter for KRIV-TV, the Fox affiliate in Houston, Texas. She is the author of the nonfiction book Help! I've Turned Into My Mother! and three previous adult novels: My Brother's Keeper, for which she received the prestigious Gold Pen Award for Best New Author from the Black Writer's Alliance and the Nova Lee Nation Award from the Greater Dallas Writing Association; the national bestseller Let the Church Say Amen, chosen for Library Journal's Best of 2004 list for Christian fiction; and I Know I've Been Changed, a Main Selection of the Black Expressions Book Club.
Buy books on Amazon
Her previous Christian teen novels are Nothing But Drama and Blessings in Disguise, both available from Pocket Books.
She is als -
Mary Monroe
I am the third child of Alabama sharecroppers and the first and only member of my family to finish high school. I never attended college or any writing classes. I taught myself how to write and started writing short stories around age four. I spent the first part of my life in Alabama and Ohio and moved to Richmond, California in 1973. I have lived in Oakland since 1984.
Buy books on Amazon
My first novel THE UPPER ROOM was published by St. Martin's Press in 1985 and was widely reviewed throughout the U.S. and in Great Britain. An excerpt is included in Terry McMillan's anthology BREAKING ICE. I endured fifteen years and hundreds of more rejection letters before I landed a contract for my second novel, GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. It was published in October 2000 by Ke -
Victoria Christopher Murray
Victoria Christopher Murray is the author of nine Essence bestselling novels, including The Ex Files; Too Little, Too Late; and Lady Jasmine. Winner of the African American Literary Award for Fiction and Author of the Year (Female).
Buy books on Amazon
She has received numerous awards including the Golden Pen Award for Best Inspirational Fiction and the Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award for being a pioneer in African American Fiction. Since 2007, Victoria has won nine African American Literary Awards for best novel, best Christian fiction and Author of the Year — Female. After four nominations, Victoria finally won an NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Literary Work for her social commentary novel, Stand Your Ground.
Victoria splits her time between Los Angeles a -
John Lanchester
John Lanchester is the author of four novels and three books of non-fiction. He was born in Germany and moved to Hong Kong. He studied in UK. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was awarded the 2008 E.M. Forster Award. He lives in London.
Buy books on Amazon -
J. California Cooper
J. California Cooper first found acclaim as a playwright. The author of seventeen plays, she was named Black Playwright of the Year in 1978. It was through her work in the theater that she caught the attention of acclaimed poet and novelist Alice Walker. Encouraged by Walker to turn her popular storytelling skills to fiction, Cooper wrote her first collection of short stories, A Piece of Mine, in 1984. Called "rich in wisdom and insight" and "a book that's worth reading," A Piece of Mine introduced Cooper's trademark style: her intimate and energetic narration, sympathetic yet sometimes troubled characters, and the profound moral messages that underlie seemingly simple stories. Two more story collections followed on the heels of A Piece of
Buy books on Amazon -
Lisa Gungor
Lisa Gungor has been scribbling down songs since she was seven years old. A maker at heart, Lisa studied art in college, and in 2005 she began recording and traveling with the band that eventually turned into the two-time Grammy-nominated musical collective with her husband known as Gungor. Lisa lives in Los Angeles with her husband Michael and their two beautiful girls, Amelie and Lucie. She writes for Gungor, the Storyline blog, The Liturgists, and The Huffington Post.
Buy books on Amazon -
Tananarive Due
TANANARIVE DUE (tah-nah-nah-REEVE doo) is the award-winning author of The Wishing Pool & Other Stories and the upcoming The Reformatory ("A masterpiece"--Library Journal). She and her husband, Steven Barnes, co-wrote the Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, "Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!"
Buy books on Amazon
A leading voice in Black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freed -
Elon Green
Elon Green has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker, and appears in Unspeakable Acts, Sarah Weinman’s anthology of true crime. "Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York" was his first book and won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Green was an executive producer on the HBO series adapted from Last Call.
Buy books on Amazon -
Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Karachi, where she grew up. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. While at the University of Massachusetts she wrote In The City By The Sea , published by Granta Books UK in 1998. This first novel was shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys Award in the UK, and Shamsie received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literature in Pakistan in 1999. Her 2000 novel Salt and Saffron led to Shamsie’s selection as one of Orange’s “21 Writers of the 21st Century.” With her third novel, Kartography , Shamsie was again shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys award in the UK. Both Kartography and her next novel, Broken Verse
Buy books on Amazon -
A'Lelia Perry Bundles
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance (June 2025 Scribner), about her great-grandmother whose parties and arts patronage helped define the era.
Buy books on Amazon
She has written four nonfiction books about her entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother, including On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book, a BCALA Honor Book and a Hurston/Wright Finalist and recipient of the Association of Black Women Historians' 2001 Letitia Woods Brown Prize for the best book on Black women's history. This biography also inspired “Self Made,” the four-part Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer. A former network television news executive and producer at ABC News and NBC News, she -
Cole Arthur Riley
Cole Arthur Riley is a writer and poet. She is the author of the NYT bestseller, THIS HERE FLESH. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, and The Washington Post. Cole is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body.
Buy books on Amazon
IG: @colearthurriley
Twitter: @blackliturgist -
Virginia DeBerry
Buy books on Amazon
We are best friends who’ve been co-writing women’s fiction since 1990. For more information about who we are, what we do and...what we did, please visit deberryandgrant.com. We can also be found online at: Facebook.com/deberryandgrant
Instagram @deberryandgrant -
Selena Montgomery
Selena Montgomery is the nom de plume of Stacey Abrams, an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017. She founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018.
Buy books on Amazon -
Morgan Jerkins
Morgan Jerkins is the author of the New York Times bestseller, This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America and the forthcoming Wandering In Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots.
Buy books on Amazon
A graduate of Princeton University and the Bennington Writing Seminars, Jerkins is the current Senior Editor at ZORA of Medium and former Associate Editor at Catapult. She teaches at Columbia University's School of the Arts and most recently was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University in Germany.
She's based in Harlem. -
Danielle Arceneaux
Danielle Arceneaux is a public relations veteran that lives in Brooklyn, NY with her border terrier, Birdie, and an ungovernable cat. When not writing, she enjoys traveling around the world to fly fish.
Buy books on Amazon
source: Amazon -
Glory Edim
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based book club and digital platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. In fall 2017 she organized the first-ever Well-Read Black Girl Festival. She has worked as a creative strategist for over ten years at startups and cultural institutions, including The Webby Awards and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Most recently, she was the Publishing Outreach Specialist at Kickstarter. She serves on the board of New York City's Housing Works Bookstore. --Penguin Random House
Buy books on Amazon -
Michelle Duster
Michelle Duster is a writer, speaker, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity. In the last dozen years, she has written, edited, or contributed to eleven books. She cowrote the popular children’s history book, Tate and His Historic Dream; coedited Shifts and Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls; and edited two books that include the writings of her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for Essence, Refinery29, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, and The North Star.
Buy books on Amazon -
Josephine Baker
American-French entertainer Josephine Baker, originally Freda Josephine McDonald, a popular jazz dancer and singer in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s, worked for the Resistance during World War II.
Buy books on Amazon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephi... -
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was born Raiford Chatman Davis, a son of Kince Charles Davis, a railway construction engineer, and his wife Laura Cooper. The name Ossie came from a county clerk who misheard his mother's pronunciation of his initials "R.C." when he was born. Following the wishes of his parents, he attended Howard University but dropped out in 1939 to fulfill his acting career in New York; he later attended Columbia University School of General Studies. His acting career, which spanned seven decades, began in 1939 with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem. He made his film debut in 1950 in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. He voiced Anansi the spider on the PBS children's television series Sesame Street in its animation segments.
Buy books on Amazon
Davis experien -
ReShonda Tate
As the national bestselling author of more than 53 books, ReShonda Tate has the credentials, and the passion, to bring stories to life.
Buy books on Amazon
ReShonda writes both adult and teen fiction, as well as nonfiction. Her sophomore novel, Let the Church Say Amen, was made into a film directed by actress Regina King, and produced by TD Jakes and Queen Latifah.
ReShonda made her on-screen movie debut in the film, which was one of BET’s highest-rated programs. Her book, The Secret She Kept, was also made into a movie and aired on TV One. ReShonda made a cameo in that movie as well.
A highly sought-after motivational speaker and award-winning poet, ReShonda is the recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature for her book Say Amen, Again and w -
Edward Kelsey Moore
Edward Kelsey Moore is a professional cellist and author from Chicago. During his high school years, and onward into college, Edward Kelsey Moore experimented with writing short stories. As he finished his education he set writing aside and focused on building a career in music. Many years later, as a member of a string quartet, Edward was hired to perform at a reception for the winners of a local writing contest. As he played background music Edward considered: "I could have sent in a story..." It was an inspiring event and within a few weeks Edward Kelsey Moore began writing again. His short fiction has been published in many literary magazines including: Indiana Review, African American Review, and Inkwell. His short story Grandma and th
Buy books on Amazon -
Connie Briscoe
CONNIE BRISCOE has been a full-time published author for more than ten years. Born with a hearing impairment, Connie never allowed that to stop her from pursuing her dreams…writing. Since she left the world of editing to become a writer, Connie has hit the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.
Buy books on Amazon -
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. She is a product of the Puerto Rican communities on the island and in the South Bronx. She attended the New York City public school system and received her academic degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Queens College-City University of New York. As a child she was sent to live with her grandparents in Puerto Rico where she was introduced to the culture of rural Puerto Rico, including the storytelling that came naturally to the women in her family, especially the older women. Much of her work is based on her experiences during this time. Dahlma taught creative writing and language and literature in the New York City public school system before
Buy books on Amazon -
Shomari Wills
My name is Shomari "Sho" Wills. I was born in Washington D.C. and grew up on 16th street aka the "Gold Coast", an enclave of black professionals, artists, and politicians. I attended Morehouse College and Columbia Journalism School, where I studied writing and broadcast journalism and won the Lynton Bookwriting fellowship in 2013. As a journalist, I worked at CNN where I was a producer on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon and at Good Morning America, where I won an Emmy as part of the production team in 2017.
Buy books on Amazon
My first book Black Fortunes is the untold story of America's first black millionaires. It was in part inspired by my great-great Uncle John Drew a gilded age industrialist, Negro League baseball team owner, and one of the first Black million -
Vanessa Miller
Vanessa Miller is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, playwright, and motivational speaker. She started writing as a child, spending countless hours either reading or writing poetry, short stories, stage plays and novels. Vanessa’s creative endeavors took on new meaning in1994 when she became a Christian. Since then, her writing has been centered on themes of redemption, often focusing on characters facing multi-dimensional struggles.
Buy books on Amazon
Vanessa’s novels have received rave reviews, with several appearing on Essence Magazine’s Bestseller’s List. Miller’s work has receiving numerous awards, including “Best Christian Fiction Mahogany Award” and the “Red Rose Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction.” Miller graduated from Capital University with -
Natashia Deón
Natashia Deón is a 2017 NAACP Image Award Nominee and author of the critically-acclaimed novel, Grace (Counterpoint Press), which was awarded the 2017 First Novel Prize by the American Library Association's Black Caucus (BCALA), was named Kirkus Review Best Book of 2016, a New York Times Top Book 2016, a Book Riot Favorite Book of 2016, The Root Best Book of 2016, and an Entropy Magazine Best Book of 2016.
Buy books on Amazon
In 2017, she served as a U.S. delegate to Armenia in partnership with the University of Iowa's International Writing Workshop (IWP) and the U.S. State Department for Between the Lines, a program bringing international writers together.
Her writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, Buzzfeed, LA Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Femini -
Lauren Francis-Sharma
Lauren Francis-Sharma is the author of "'Til the Well Runs Dry" and "Book of the Little Axe," which will debut May 2020. She is the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, the proprietor of D.C. Writers Room, and a MacDowell Fellow. Lauren, a former corporate lawyer, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan Law School.
Buy books on Amazon -
Cebo Campbell
CEBO CAMPBELL is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate creative based in New York and London. He is a winner of the Stories Award for Poetry, and his writings are featured in numerous publications. As co-founder and CCO of the renowned NYC creative agency Spherical, Cebo leads teams of creatives in shaping the best hotel brands in the world. His range of talents as a creative director have sent him all over the globe infusing creativity, from working with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in the UK, to concepting the Million Miracles humanitarian campaign throughout Africa and India, to writing and directing the VR short film Refuge: Triumph in Tulsa, based on the famed Black Wall Street in Oklahoma. Cebo’s expansive work as a writer, designer,
Buy books on Amazon -
Zinzi Clemmons
Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. A graduate of Brown and Columbia, her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, The Paris Review Daily, Transition, and The Common.
Buy books on Amazon
She is a co-founder and former publisher of Apogee Journal, a contributing editor to Literary Hub, and deputy editor for Phoneme Media.
She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction.
Clemmons lives in Los Angeles with her husband. -
Margaret Walker
Dr. Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander was an African-American poet and author. She wrote as Margaret Walker. One of her most known poems is "For My People".
Buy books on Amazon
Her father Sigismund C. Walker was a Methodist minister and her mother was Marion Dozier Walker. They helped get her started in literature by teaching a lot of philosophy and poetry to her as a child.
In 1935, Walker received her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Northwestern University and in 1936 she began work with the Federal Writers' Project under the Works Progress Administration. In 1942 she received her master's degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa. In 1965 she returned to that school to earn her Ph.D. She also for a time served as a professor at what is today Jackso -
LaToya Watkins
LaToya Watkins’s writing has appeared in A Public Space, The Sun, McSweeney’s, Kenyon Review, The Pushcart Prize Anthology (2015), and elsewhere. She has received grants, scholarships, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and A Public Space (she was one of their 2018 Emerging Writers Fellows). She holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas. Perish is her debut novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Viola Canales
Viola Canales (b. April 21, 1957)) is an American writer originally from McAllen, Texas. She has published a short story collection, Orange Candy Slices and Other Secret Tales (2001), and a novel, The Tequila Worm (2005), for which she won the Pura Belpré Award in 2006.
Buy books on Amazon
Canales attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School. She has been a captain in the US Army, a litigator, and an official in the Clinton Administration. -
Nanda Reddy
Nanda Reddy is a Guyanese-American writer and former fourth-grade teacher. In her teaching days, she co-wrote 180 DAYS TO SUCCESSFUL WRITERS, a day-to-day writing curriculum best suited for elementary classrooms. A GIRL WITHIN A GIRL WITHIN A GIRL is her first novel. An avid reader, she consumes about 100 books a year. The ones rated here are among her favorites!
Buy books on Amazon -
Gail Milissa Grant
Gail Milissa Grant is a writer and public speaker based in Rome. She was a foreign service officer with the U.S. Information Agency for more than 20 years, managing international cultural and educational exchange programs overseas. In addition, she is a former assistant professor of art and architectural history at Howard University in Washington D.C. "
Buy books on Amazon -
Nancy Johnson
Nancy Johnson is the author of the debut novel THE KINDEST LIE, which is available now everywhere books are sold! This is the story of an unlikely connection between an Ivy League-educated Black engineer searching for the son she walked away from and a poor, young white boy who finds himself adrift in a dying Indiana factory town. The novel explores race, class, identity, and the pursuit of the American dream.
Buy books on Amazon
The Kindest Lie is a Book of the Month selection, an Amazon Editors' pick, as well as an IndieNext and LibraryReads pick. This novel was reviewed by the LA Times and The Washington Post. It has been named a most anticipated book of 2021 by O, the Oprah Magazine, Shondaland, Marie Claire, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, Good Hou -
A'Lelia Bundles
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance (June 2025 Scribner), about her great-grandmother whose parties and arts patronage helped define the era.
Buy books on Amazon
She has written four nonfiction books about her entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother, including On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book, a BCALA Honor Book and a Hurston/Wright Finalist and recipient of the Association of Black Women Historians' 2001 Letitia Woods Brown Prize for the best book on Black women's history. This biography also inspired “Self Made,” the four-part Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer. A former network television news executive and producer at ABC News and NBC News, she -
Robyn Lucas
survivor. sur·vi·vor/sərˈvīvər/noun. a person who survives, especially a person remaining alive after a tragic event.
Buy books on Amazon
Robyn Lucas has always been a storyteller.
Being the middle child will do that.
After finding her way to Atlanta, GA by way of Hawaii, USVI, Miami, and South Carolina, Robyn Lucas developed a successful career in communications and marketing. Her background came in handy when her teenagers developed an award-winning mental health app which boasts over 100,000 downloads.
When Robyn is not writing, she enjoys spending time with her teens, Neflixing everything, reading, and snuggling with her dog, Trooper. -
Elaine Weiss
Elaine Weiss has served as the national coordinator for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (BBA) since 2011, in which capacity she works with three co-chairs, a high-level task force, and multiple coalition partners to promote a comprehensive, evidence-based set of policies to allow all children to thrive. Major publications for BBA include two 2013 reports, Market-Oriented Education Reforms’ Rhetoric Trumps Reality and Mismatches in Race to the Top Limit Educational Improvement. She has also authored over two dozen blogs for the Huffington Post, the Washington Post Answer Sheet, and other publications, and been interviewed for numerous radio shows. Elaine came to BBA from the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she served as project manage
Buy books on Amazon -
Bridgett M. Davis
Bridgett M. Davis (pronounced Brih-jet) is the author of the memoir, Love, Rita, published by Harper Books in spring 2025.
Buy books on Amazon
Her first memoir, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine, and featured as a clue on the quiz show Jeopardy! The upcoming film adaptation will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and released by Searchlight Pictures.
Davis is writer/director of the 1996 award-winning feature film Naked Acts, newly restored and released to critical acclaim, screening in theaters across the US and globally and now available on DVD, Blu Ray and select str -
Tamara Winfrey Harris
Tamara Winfrey-Harris is a writer who specializes in the ever-evolving space where current events, politics and pop culture intersect with race and gender.
Buy books on Amazon
She says, “I want to be a storyteller of the Black female experience and a truth-teller to all those folks who got us twisted—tangled up in racist and sexist lies. I want my writing to advocate for my sisters. We are better than alright. We are amazing.”
Well-versed on a range of topics, including Beyoncé’s feminism; Rachel Dolezal’s white privilege; and the Black church and female sexuality, Tamara has been published in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine and The Los Angeles Times. And she has been called to share her analysis on medi -
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett is an American singer, actor, and television personality. He worked as a child actor then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol.
Buy books on Amazon -
Bobby Love
Bobby Love, born Walter Miller, escaped from prison at a young age and lived under an assumed name for decades with his wife Cheryl and four children before being apprehended and then released a year later. His story was popularized on the photo blog Humans of New York.
Buy books on Amazon -
Ladee Hubbard
Ladee Hubbard was born in Massachusetts, raised in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands and currently lives in New Orleans with her husband and three children. She received a B.A. from Princeton University, a Ph.D. from the University of California-Los Angeles, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has published short fiction in the Beloit Fiction Journal and Crab Orchard Review among other publications and has received fellowships from the Hambidge Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. She is a recipient of a 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award.
Buy books on Amazon -
Shobhan Bantwal
Shobhan Bantwal is the Indian-American author of THE DOWRY BRIDE, her debut novel set in India and slated for release by Kensington Books in September 2007. It is the first of a two-book contract with Kensington.
Buy books on Amazon
Since 2002, Shobhan's articles and short stories have appeared in a variety of publications like India Abroad, Little India, U.S. 1, Desi Journal, India Currents, Overseas Indian, New Woman India, Kanara Saraswat and Sulekha. Her short stories have won honors and awards in fiction contests sponsored by Writer's Digest, New York Stories and New Woman magazines.
Her award winning stories are accessible through her web site: www.shobhanbantwal.com
" -
Lori Jones
Lori Jones personally experienced the effects of Huntington’s Disease (HD) in her family and was instrumental in starting Team Hope Fox Valley events to raise awareness and support for research and community programs through the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) – Wisconsin Chapter.
Buy books on Amazon
A storyteller at heart, she regularly writes and speaks about her experiences with HD and many other topics to groups of all ages.
Lori has three adult children and lives with her husband Chris in Wisconsin, when they aren’t escaping to their cottage in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to enjoy kayaking, hiking, and campfires.
This is her first book.