Black & Published

Black. Country. Love. with Regina Black 30.06.2026 57m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Regina Black, author of the country romance novel, August Lane. The book recontexutalizes the narrative around who can be a country star as well as expands the perspective of who lives a country, read: rural, life.In our conversation, Regina explains how fanfiction and live journal became her MFA workshop and Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter provided a launch pad for her to discuss her life and what it really means to be both Black and Country.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Black Women Deserve Beach Reads with Kristina Forest 23.06.2026 39m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Kristina Forest, author of the romance novel The Summer Girlfriend.In our conversation, Kristina discusses an enraging trip to the bookstore that sparked the idea for the novel, the plotting tools she uses to create meaningful stakes, and why she wanted to put her heroine definitively in her "soft girl era."Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

People Over Place with Toni Ann Johnson 19.05.2026 44m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Toni Ann Johnson author of the new short story collection, But Where's Home. The collection dives even further into the world she’s built with previous publications of a middle class Black family, in a majority white enclave in upstate New York.In our conversation, Toni Ann explains why she keeps returning to auto fiction as her chosen form instead of memoir or an autobiography. Plus, how she learned to decolonize her own mind and why she says it’s difficult to set a boundary with abusive parents.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Living Cheek by Jowl with Lisa Smith 12.05.2026 51m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lisa Smith, author of the novel, Jamaica Road. It’s a coming of age story that spans 12 years in the lives of Connie and Daphne, who wrestle with their identity as British and Jamaican at a time of great racial unrest in the UK.In our conversation, Lisa explains why she decided to write a novel during maternity leave and how she finished it after chemo. Plus, the real life do over that she gave herself through the characters in her novel.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

The Psychology of Romance with Ashley Jordan 05.05.2026 48m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Ashley Jordan, the author of the romance novel, Once Upon a Time in Dollywood.In our conversation, Ashley explains how going to grad school helped her finish her novel, plus the zombie apocalypse television show that sparked Ashley’s writing career.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Water's at the Root with Gwendolyn Wallace and Tonya Engel 28.04.2026 38m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Gwendolyn Wallace and Tonya Engel, the author and illustrator of the new picture book, Dancing with Water. It's a story about a young queer child and their love for their grandfather who is a water diviner.In our conversation, Gwendolyn explains why she believes stories are truly born at the intersection of science and the humanities. Plus, how Tonya and Gwen see children’s literature as a way to preserve Black traditions.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Every Which Way But Loose with Rickey Fayne 21.04.2026 49m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Rickey Fayne, author of the novel The Devil Three Times. A multi-generational story about one family, their spiritual gifts, and how they see they’re calling in life as either from God or Satan.In our conversation, Rickey reveals who gave him the push he needed to take his work seriously. Plus, in making the devil a central figure in his novel, what Rickey believes that says about the toll men face for being spiritually sensitive and what’s at stake for Black liberation with the devil at the helm of the fight.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

A Character Study with Christina Dotson 14.04.2026 47m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Christina Dotson, author of the novel Love You to Death. The story is billed as a Black Thelma and Louise who go on a murderous romp throughout the south.In our conversation, Christina explains how the complex characters she works with in real life help as a social worker, help her craft the imperfect personalities of the people in her novels. Plus, the real life news story Christina saw that embedded itself in her brain and took her on the wildest writing ride of her lifeMahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Not for Your Entertainment with Helena Haywoode Henry 07.04.2026 52m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Helena Haywoode Henry, author of the YA novel, Last Chance Live!The book looks at the price of eternity through the eyes of an 18-year-old girl on death row, who decides to try to win her freedom on a reality show.In our conversation, Helena discusses the legal papers she read during her time as a lawyer that inspired the premise of her novel. Plus, the reason Helena believes reimagining the current state of capital punishment is one small way to reimagine the current state of America.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

You Gotta Win Joy with Reginald Dwayne Betts 01.04.2026 53m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Reginald Dwayne Betts, author of the poetry collection, Doggerel, which he says is his most joyous to date.In our conversation, Dwayne explains how he became intentional about singing a different song after realizing he’d become a long suffering Black man. Plus, why he believes identity is always in flux and why he said he’s never had a problem reading his work in prisons until he started writing about love.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Take a Second Chance with Lizzie Damilola Blackburn 24.03.2026 31m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lizzie Damilola Blackburn about her second novel, The Re-Write. A second chance romance between a full-figured woman and a reality TV star who’s struggling to decide exactly what kind of man he wants to be.In our conversation, Lizzie explains why she wanted to tackle toxic masculinity and fat phobia.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Where There is Grief, There is Love with Ashley M. Jones 17.03.2026 54m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Ashley M. Jones, author of the poetry collection, Lullaby for the Grieving. A deeply personal look at what it means to find and lose love at the same time of unprecedented political turmoil.At 31-years-old, Ashley became the poet Laureate of Alabama, becoming both the youngest and the first person of color ever to hold that title.In our conversation, she discusses the amplified pressure she faced during her four-year term, what she’s learned about creating a sustainable writing practice, and the reason she says writing love poems feels unnatural.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Stepping into the Spotlight with Lauren Morrow 10.03.2026 52m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Lauren Morrow. Author of the novel, Little Movements. A book that explores what it means to leave behind the life you know and take a risk on what you love without the guarantee of reward.In our conversation, Lauren explains why she's not turned off by her book being characterized as auto-fiction. Plus, what she’s learned about her own artistic voice and where it fits in the Black literary canon And how she views starting over as an artist on the verge of breakout.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

The Power in Poetics with Camonghne Felix 05.03.2026 48m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Camonghne Felix, author of Let The Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom.It’s a treatise on the inherent harm of political power and an entreaty for people to seek collective and communal good from a praxis of poetics.In our conversation, Camonghne explains why the erasure poems she included in the text are the best option to show people a new narrative of democracy. Plus, the reason she advocates for anarchy.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Unruly with Jodi-Ann Burey 03.03.2026 51m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Jodi-Ann Burey, author of the book Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work.Part memoir, part sociological study of how women, queer, disabled, and minoritized people are discriminated against in the workplace, the book is an outgrowth of Jodi-Ann’s 2020 Ted Talk on the same subject that’s been viewed nearly two million times.In our conversation, Jodi-Ann shares the life-threatening health diagnosis that shifted her relationship with work, the predatory publishing offers she received after internet virality, and why she says the future of work depends on other people.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

BONUS: Surrendering to the Story with Tayari Jones 26.02.2026 51m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Tayari Jones, author of the novel Kin.Kin, is Tayari’s fifth novel and her second Oprah’s book club pick after 2018’s An American marriage.In our conversation, she explains why she’s grateful for her “slow burn career" and how she surrendered to the story that wanted to be written … even though it was not the novel she planned.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Love and Reverence with Donika Kelly 24.02.2026 49m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Donika Kelly, author of the poetry collection, The Natural Order of Things.It’s a collection of poems paying homage to Donika’s wife, her friends, and especially her family. In our conversation, we discuss how she uses poetry to imagine a future that doesn’t feel possible, the comfort she finds in the natural world, and why she says she’s never writing toward a book. Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Mahogany BooksRate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

The Limitlessness of Black Humor with Damon Young 17.02.2026 51m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Damon Young, author and editor of That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor.The anthology features essays and stories from 24 acclaimed Black writers whose words do work on the page but are also funny AF.In our conversation, we discuss how humor is a vehicle to explore human vulnerabilities, the reason Damon believes Black American humor is the best humor, and the reason he’s got sex on his mind for his future projects.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Mahogany BooksRate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platform

Black in Love with Ebony LaDelle 10.02.2026 48m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Ebony LaDelle, editor of the YA Romance Collection: You’ve Got a Place Here too: An Anthology of Black Love Storie set at HBCUs.The collection provides a gathering place for 11 authors to share stories of all representations of love within the HBCU ecosystem.In our conversation, we discuss why it’s necessary to give teens the tools we all need to navigate healthy love relationships, what a platonic soul mate taught her about romantic love, and how the death of her best friend propelled her into her purpose.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platformMahogany Books

Free Puerto Rico with Dorsía Smith Silva 03.02.2026 49m

Order Your Copy of The Seven Daughters of Dupree!This week on Black and Published, Nikesha speaks with Dorsía Smith Silva, author of the poetry collection, In Inheritance of Drowning.The collection was born out of Dorsía’s experience of living through Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017, becoming a mother, and witnessing the racial reckoning of 2020.In our conversation, we discuss the reason she shays she cannot write light verse, how long she had to put her creative dreams aside to secure her career, and why she believes poetry is the form that offers the most freedom.Mahogany BooksMentioned in this episode:Rate & ReviewThanks for listening, family! Please do us a solid and take a quick moment to rate and/or leave a review for this podcast. It will go a long way to making sure content featuring our stories and perspectives are seen on this platformMahogany Books