This episode features our conversation with David Jackson Ambrose, which was live-streamed on May 11, 2024 in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month.

David Jackson Ambrose writes on the intersections of race, sexuality and generational trauma. Through fiction, his work explores various genres, topics, and themes including African American life, Black history, LGBTQ issues and life, prison industrial complex, mental health, and generational trauma. David has an MFA in Creative Writing from Temple University, an MA in Writing Studies from Saint Joseph’s University, and a BA in Africana Studies from The University of Pennsylvania. He has over twenty years of experience working in social services. During our conversation, we had a chance to talk about David’s three books, State of the Nation, A Blind Eye, and Unlawful DISorder.

State of the Nation (The TMG Firm, 2018) is a Lambda Award finalist. State of the Nation looks at the impact of the Atlanta Child Murders and Tuskegee experiment on three friends living in Philadelphia. Each struggles to survive and create an identity in a world that ignores them at best, and preys upon them at worst, much like the children in Atlanta.

A Blind Eye (NineStar Press, 2021) is a winner of the Rainbow Book Award, looks at homelessness, male to male (m2m) domestic violence, and the ways American school systems treat Black children with special needs compared to their white counterparts.

David's most recent work, Unlawful DISorder (Jaded Ibis Press, 2022), looks at racial disparities in diagnoses & treatment for Black men with mental health disorders when treatment is imposed by the judicial system instead of the behavioral health system.

To learn more about David and his work, please visit https://davidjacksonambrose.com.

Find David on Instagram: @davidjacksonambrose

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This episode features our conversation with Lynne Thompson, which was live-streamed on April 14, 2024 closing out National Poetry Month.

Lynne Thompson served as the 4th Poet Laureate of the City of Los Angeles. She's the author of four collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon (Perugia Press, 2007), Start With A Small Guitar (What Books Press, 2013), Fretwork (Marsh Hawk Press, 2019) and, most recently, Blue On A Blue Palette (BOA Editions, 2024). In 2022, Thompson was awarded a Laureate Fellowship by the Academy of American Poets and in 2023, she received the George Drury Smith Award for Achievement in Poetry from Beyond Baroque. Thompson has also received fellowships from the City of Los Angeles, the Summer Literary Series in Kenya, and Vermont Studio Center. Recent work has been published or is forthcoming in Kenyon Review, Colorado Review, Pleiades, and Gulf Coast. Thompson sits on the Boards of the Poetry Foundation, Cave Canem, Los Angeles Review of Books, and her alma mater, Scripps College.

Lynne Thompson’s Blue on a Blue Palette (which is featured on this episode) reflects on the condition of women—their joys despite their histories, and their insistence on survival as issues of race, culture, pandemic, and climate threaten their livelihoods. The documentation of these personal odysseys—which vary stylistically from abecedarians to free verse to centos—replicate the many ways women travel through the stages of their lives, all negotiated on a palette encompassing various shades of blue. These poems demand your attention, your voice: “Say history. Claim. Say wild.”

This episode is presented in collaboration with Perugia Press. Founded in 1997, Perugia Press is a nonprofit feminist press that publishes one beautifully designed book each year: the winner of the Perugia Press Prize, their annual national contest for first or second books of poetry by women-identified authors. To learn more about Perugia Press and the Perugia Press Prize, please visit perugiapress.org.

Find Lynne on Instagram: @letpms
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To support getting our authors' books on Black Writers Read bookshelves, please visit our GoFundMe page.

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This episode features our conversation with M. Nzadi Keita, which was live-streamed on April 14, 2024 during National Poetry Month.

M. Nzadi Keita's new poetry collection, Migration Letters (Beacon Press, April 2, 2024), reflects on Black working-class identity and culture in Philadelphia. Her second book, Brief Evidence of Heaven (Whirlwind Press, 2014), shed light on Anna Murray Douglass, Frederick Douglass’ first wife and was cited in David Blight ‘s prize-winning biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, Her writing appears in anthologies and journals such as A Face to Meet the Faces: A Persona Poetry Anthology, Killens Review of Arts and Letters, and About Place. Keita won a Pew Fellow in Poetry, a Leeway Foundation Transformation Award, and served as an adviser to the documentary, BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez. For many years, she taught creative writing, American literature, and Africana Studies at Ursinus College.

Her latest book, Migration Letters, is a poetry collection that takes a closer look at what it means to be Black in America just after the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. This new addition to Beacon Press’s “Raised Voices Poetry Series” centers on Black working-class Philadelphia from the 1960s to the present day. Migration Letters shares a story about Black people that resonates across generations—Black people innovating, learning by doing, teaching by witnessing, and evolving in spite of themselves.

To learn more about Nzadi and her work, please visit www.zeekeita.com.

Find Nzadi on Instagram: @nzadikeita

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Happy National Poetry Month! Launched in April of 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month celebrates the literary traditions sustained by this mode of storytelling. Thank you so very much to every single poet who has joined me on this platform.

This episode features our conversation with Nandi Comer (poetry.), which was live-streamed on April 7, 2024.

Nandi Comer is the Poet Laureate of Michigan. She is the author of American Family: A Syndrome (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and Tapping Out (Triquarterly, 2020), which was awarded the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk Award. She is a Cave Canem Fellow, a Callaloo Fellow, and a 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow. She is the co-director of Detroit Lit, a project that provides reading and professional development opportunities for narrative makers of color in Detroit.

To learn more about Nandi and her work, please visit nandicomer.com.

Find Nandi on Instagram: @nandicomer

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This episode features our conversation with Chana Shinegba, which was live-streamed on March 30, 2024.

Chana Shinegba, a gifted storyteller, embodies the spirit of resilience and creativity that defines her generation. Coming of age as a young Black girl in the vibrant but complex landscape of the 1980s and 1990s, Chana grappled with acknowledging her innate talents amidst the backdrop of societal expectations and personal fears.

From a tender age, Chana’s artistic prowess manifested in various forms. While her first haiku, penned at age five, hinted at her literary inclinations, her enchanting dance moves initially stole the spotlight. Yet, beneath the graceful exterior, her passion for storytelling simmered, finding expression within the pages of her childhood diary, where poems and short stories danced with vivid imagination.

Chana’s literary journey took flight through her academic years, where her adept writing skills shone brightly. Her knack for words also made her the go- to person for leading literary endeavors among family and friends. However, it wasn't until a transformative experience at a summer journalism program at American University that Chana realized she didn’t want to be confined to traditional news reporting.


Embarking on a career in the hospitality industry, Chana immersed herself in the world of good food and even better company. Yet, her creative spirit remained undeterred, forging a bond with the pen that eventually blossomed into her debut novel, Dancer in the Bullpen, which blends elements of autobiographical fiction with magical realism. The novel speaks to those who, like Chana, have grappled with their sense of uniqueness and emerged empowered to embrace their true selves. Dancer in the Bullpen is scheduled for release this summer in June, published by Jaded Ibis Press.

This episode of Black Writers Read is presented in collaboration with Levee Break Lit.


To pre-order copies of Dancer in the Bullpen, please visit Barnes and Noble online.


Find Chana on Instagram: @chanalucky7

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This episode features our conversation with Angie Chatman, which was live-streamed on March 16, 2024. For long-time Black Writers Read supporters you may remember Angie from our Black History Month Virtual Event in 2021.

Angie Chatman is a writer and storyteller. She's written for Insider Personal Finance, MIT Tech Review, the National Science Foundation, Yahoo News and elsewhere. Her literary work has appeared in Brevity, TaintTaintTaint Magazine, Literary Landscapes, Pangyrus, The Rumpus, Blood Orange Review, Hippocampus Magazine. She was a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee. Chatman has appeared on The Moth Radio Hour, GBH/World Channel’s Stories from the Stage, and Story Collider. An engineer by degree, Chatman also earned an MBA from MIT-Sloan and an MFA from Queens University in Charlotte. Born and raised on Chicago's southside, Angie now lives in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston with her family.

To learn more about Angie and her expansive body of work, please visit angiecwriter.com.


During the episode, I mention a commentary piece that I wrote for New England Public Media a while back. Please check out my very first Commentary piece!

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This episode features our conversation with Janine Fondon, which was recorded during our live event held in person on March 4, 2024 at Holyoke Media.

Janine Fondon, MFA, is an award-winning writer, digital media producer, and educator/historian who uses the art and science of communication and inclusion to elevate voices, engage audiences, and inspire creative thinking in a world of change. As Assistant Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Communications at Bay Path University for ten years, she founded the college's inaugural multimedia digital newsroom for students and continues to work on communication projects to connect communities.

Fondon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology from Colgate University, a Master of Arts in Communications and Business from New York University, and her MFA (Creative Nonfiction Writing) from Bay Path University.

As a media ecologist, artist-curator, and narrative historian, Fondon created a popular museum exhibit on women's history, "Voices of Resilience," highlighting inclusive narratives bearing untold stories.

Amongst her many awards, she has received the Pynchon Medal, the Western Massachusetts region's 100+-year-old public-service award from the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts as well as several creative awards. She also has a 20-year legacy of content creation, diverse outreach, and public relations. Fondon and her husband created a legacy communication project, UnityFirst.com, which is now one of the longest-running, Black-owned e-news sites founded in Massachusetts that serves an inclusive audience nationwide. She has also published numerous editorials in the local newspaper, 'The Springfield Republican,' and created a range of narrative history video stories on UnityFirst.com.

Fondon is inspired and honored to tell the stories of many generations.

To learn more about Janine and her work, please visit janinefondon.com.

During the interview, we mention Natalia Muñoz's oral history project, Our Grandmothers. To learn more or to inquire about participating, please visit ourgrandmothers.org.

Special thanks to the On the Move Forum and Holyoke Media for supporting this event.


This episode of Black Writers Read is dedicated in memory of interdisciplinary scholar Dr. Demetria “Dee” Shabazz who assumed her role as ancestor last fall. Both Janine and Nicole had the honor of working with her, Nicole as a former student and mentee and Janine as a colleague and fellow professor. Please take a moment to read about Dr. Shabazz's beautiful life: Obituary.

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This episode features our conversation with Donna Hemans, which was live streamed on Saturday, February 17, 2024. We chatted about her recently released novel, The House of Plain Truth, and her writing career.

Donna Hemans is the author of three novels, River Woman, Tea by the Sea, and The House of Plain Truth. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Slice, Electric Literature, Ms. Magazine, The Rumpus, Crab Orchard Review, among others. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Media Studies from Fordham University and an MFA from American University. She lives in Maryland, and is also the owner of DC Writers Room, a co-working studio for writers based in Washington, D.C.

Central to our conversation was Donna’s recently released novel, The House of Plain Truth (Zibby Books, 2024). The House of Plain Truth is a lyrical, lush, evocative story about a fractured Jamaican family and a daughter determined to reclaim her home.

When Pearline receives grave news about her ailing father, she abruptly leaves Brooklyn for her childhood home in Jamaica. But Pearline isn’t prepared for a tense reunion with her sisters or for her father’s startling deathbed wish that she repair their long-broken family legacy and find the sister and two brothers no one has seen in more than 50 years.

Moving through time and place, from modern-day Brooklyn and Montego Bay to 1930s Havana and back again, The House of Plain Truth is a journey through generational secrets and a family coming to terms with its past.

Inspired by the author's own history, this soulful novel explores a fascinating story of immigration, divided loyalties, and what one woman must sacrifice in her attempt to find home.

To learn more about Donna and her expansive body of work, please visit donnahemans.com.

Find Donna on Instagram: @donna_hemans

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Learn more about Black Writers Read by visiting our website: www.blackwritersread.com

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