Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads: Recent Episodes
The Givens Foundation for African American Literature
Black Market Reads is a menu for Black literary consumption and all of its spin-offs. Featuring Black artists who love to read and write and engage in arts and culture.
PRODUCER: The Givens Foundation for African American Literature PRODUCTION SERVICES: iDream.tv MUSIC: Sarah White - Through People [M¥K Remix]
BMR is made possible through the generous support of our individual donors, Target Foundation, and the voters of Minnesota, through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
In this special episode of Black Market Reads, Lissa Jones turns the conversation from the authors who write our stories to the young readers who will carry them forward. Recorded at Benjamin E. Mays Afrocentric Magnet School in St. Paul, the episode begins with Freedom School scholars sharing the books they love and reflecting on reading, history, and community. Lissa then sits down with Principal Danielle Hughes and Vice Principal Pierre Ali to explore literacy as liberation, the importance of children seeing themselves in literature, and their vision for an Afrocentric school that centers the brilliance of Black children.
Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Funding for this series, focusing on literature and the humanities, is provided by the Minnesota Humanities Center.
Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.
For GO DEEPER Content,VISIT www.BlackMarketReads.com
In this powerful hometown conversation, journalist Justin Ellis returns to Minneapolis to discuss his debut book, The Cruelty of Nice Folks: Why Minneapolis Is the Story of America. Joined by host Lissa Jones, Ellis unpacks the contradiction at the heart of Minnesota's reputation: how a place celebrated for progressivism, politeness, and quality of life can also produce some of the nation's deepest racial disparities.
Drawing from history, personal family stories, and the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, Ellis examines the hidden costs of "Minnesota Nice," the legacy of housing segregation, the concentration of power and wealth, and the ways white politeness can prevent meaningful reckoning with injustice. Through a deeply personal exploration of Black life in Minneapolis, Ellis challenges listeners to move beyond comfort, confront difficult truths, and imagine a more honest future.
This conversation is a meditation on memory, power, belonging, and the enduring resilience of Black families who built lives and communities despite systems designed to exclude them.
Black Market Reads is a product of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, produced in partnership with iDream.TV. Find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and on www.BlackMarketReads.com with Go Deeper bonus content.
To mark the 100th Anniversary of Carter G. Woodson's Black History Month (previously known as Negro History Week) and the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence the community came together to join The Givens Foundation for African American Literature and The Givens Collection of Literature and Life in celebration.
In this episode Lissa welcomes esteemed guests, and leads a tour with curator Davu Seru of the traveling exhibit "The African American Freedom Tradition" which begins with the oldest book by an African American poet and moves through the autobiographies of formerly enslaved people, and into a modern renaissance in African American arts and scholarship that led to the formal celebration of African American history.
The celebration concludes with a special appearance of Phillis Wheatley, as performed by Neah Logan. (Coached by Danielle Daniel, costuming by the Guthrie Theater).
For GO DEEPER content visit www.BlackMarketRead.com
Black Market Reads is a product of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, produced in partnership with iDream.tv.
Welcome to a very special edition of Black Market Reads, brought to you by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, in proud partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center.
In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson introduced Negro History Week to build a durable, year-round engagement with Black history and cultural memory. One hundred years later, we are honoring that exact vision by activating a public humanities initiative that proves Black history lives all year long, not just in February.
This season, we are charting a unique course at the exact intersection where African American literature and the public humanities meet—exploring how our stories serve as an archive, evidence, and an active tool for social liberation. Today, to launch this centennial initiative, we are diving into the core of what the humanities mean for our collective future.
To kick off this vital conversation, we're joined today by Kevin Lindsey, CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center.
Recorded live at Franconia Sculpture Park, this episode of Black Market Reads brings listeners into a powerful, place-based conversation about the life, work, and legacy of artist Michael Richards. Host Lissa Jones is joined by curator Esther Callahan and book editors Alex Fialho and Melissa Levin to explore Are You Down?, Richards' monumental sculpture created during his 2000 residency at Franconia. Grounded in the physical presence of the work and shaped by reflections from Richards' own artist statement—read by his cousin and steward Dawn Dale—the conversation weaves together art, history, race, and responsibility, asking what it means to engage with and carry forward the voice of an artist whose story continues through his work.
GO DEEPER visit our website at www.BlackMarketReads.com
Black Market Reads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, camera/YouTube editor Angelo Gbeve, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.
In this powerful episode of Black Market Reads, host Lissa Jones sits down with award-winning poet Michael Kleber-Diggs to explore the depth and intention behind his collection Worldly Things. Their conversation moves fluidly between poetry, fatherhood, community, and the responsibility of bearing witness, as Diggs reflects on writing as an act of care—rooted in intimacy, empathy, and presence. From reimagining masculinity in his poem "Coniferous Fathers" to interrogating media narratives and honoring lived experience, Diggs invites listeners to slow down and engage more fully with the world and each other. Grounded in the traditions of Black literature and shaped by his work as a mentor and prison writing instructor, this episode is a thoughtful meditation on how small, intentional acts—on and off the page—can ripple outward with profound impact.
GO DEEPER https://blackmarketreads.com/
Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.
In this episode, recorded during Women's History Month, Lissa talks with author Vanessa Riley about her latest historical novel. Riley—whose works have received high praise from New York Times, NPR, Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly, among others—pushes historical fiction into bold new territory. She reveals the often-erased stories of Black, Indigenous, and women pirates, weaving in diverse communities of gender expression, sexuality, class, and race too often silenced in traditional narratives.
In addition to being a novelist, Vanessa Riley holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and both a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State.
GO DEEPER https://blackmarketreads.com/
Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.
Antonio Michael Downing is an author, speaker, and musical artist. His memoir Saga Boy was called "singularly dazzling" by Kiese Laymon and "the triumph of Blackness everywhere" by Scotiabank Giller Prize–winner Ian Williams. He is also the author of the children's picture book Stars in My Crown and his debut novel, Black Cherokee. He writes and performs music as John Orpheus.
In this Episode Lissa and Antonio travel the world in their far reaching conversation from Trinidad, to Canada, to Brooklyn, to the Cherokee Nation- discussing his memoir Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming, his debut novel Black Cherokee, and a broader conversation about lineage and inherited systems.
For GO DEEPER content visit www.BlackMarketReads.com
Black Market Reads is produced by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.
The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram by Ethelene Whitmire tells the true story of Reed Peggram, a brilliant Black, queer Harvard scholar who went to Paris in 1937 and stayed through World War II for love, eventually escaping Nazi-occupied Italy with his partner, Arne Gerdahn Hauptmann, with the help of an all-Black American regiment.
This episode was recorded before a live audience at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis. Lissa talks with author Whitmire about her research, her quest for untold stories, and the remarkable life of Reed Peggram.
For GO DEEPER information about this episode, and to learn more visit www.BlackMarketReads.com
Black Market Reads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in cooperation with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.
Kicking off Season 11 and Black History Month- This conversation could not be more timely.
Part social thriller, part modern love story, Who Knows You by Heart by CJ Farley is a sly, witty, and endlessly discussable tale of Big Tech, new money, relationships, race, and discovering what's real in an age of artificial intelligence.
C.J. (Christopher John) Farley is a Jamaican-born author, journalist, and editor known for works spanning fiction, YA, and biography, including Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley and Aaliyah: More Than a Woman. A Harvard graduate and former Time and Wall Street Journal editor, his novels often explore race, technology, and culture, such as Game World and Who Knows You By Heart. Key Details and Accomplishments: * Background: Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Brockport, New York. He is a Harvard University graduate and former editor of the Harvard Lampoon. * Literary Work: + Novels: Game World (fantasy adventure), Around Harvard Square (NAACP Image Award winner), Zero O'Clock (pandemic-themed YA), Kingston By Starlight, and My Favorite War. + Non-Fiction/Biographies: Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley (Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist) and Aaliyah: More Than a Woman. + Latest Work: Who Knows You By Heart (2025/2026), a novel exploring AI, race, and relationships. * Journalism & Editorial Career: Worked as a music critic for Time magazine, senior editor for The Wall Street Journal, and executive editor at Audible. He has interviewed artists like Beyoncé, Prince, and Taylor Swift. * Other Roles: Currently serves in leadership for arts programming and development at PBS and was a consulting producer on the HBO documentary Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown.
Hosted by Lissa Jones, the 100th episode is an expansive, deeply moving celebration that honors the elders, the artists, the activists, and the community that built—and continues to fuel—the Black literary tradition.
Highlights include:
• A newly released archival segment featuring J. California Cooper Recorded before the podcast officially launched, this rare conversation hosted by elder storyteller Beverly Cottman with renowned author J. California Cooper offers timeless reflections on writing, wisdom, and the purpose of storytelling.
• A segment honoring the legacy of George Floyd through poetry Two Minneapolis poets, Mary Moore Easter and Bernard James, contributors to the anthology Can't Stop, Won't Stop, (Rain Taxi 2021) share excerpts and reflections created in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. Their words capture the grief, urgency, and creative power that shaped Minneapolis and the world in 2020.
• Appearances from celebrated past guests The episode revisits powerful moments with Ross Gay, Frank B. Wilderson III, Pearl Cleage, Lynn Nottage, Gail Christopher, Claudia Rankine, Rickey Fayne, and others who helped define the voice of the show.
• A guided audio tour of the Givens Collection Curator Davu Seru leads listeners through the 40th anniversary exhibit "The Circle Unbroken," offering a rare look at the artifacts, history, and cultural heritage preserved in the Givens Collection of African American Literature.
Full Conversations and Bonus videos — including the Sounds of Blackness performance, the full Givens Collection tour, and Can't Stop, Won't Stop— can be found at www.BlackMarketReads.com.
About Black Market Reads Black Market Reads is a podcast of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Black Market Reads is dedicated to celebrating Black writers and cultural heritage through in-depth conversations, live events, and archival preservation.
In Episode #99 Lissa talks with Author Debra J Stone about her new middle grade novel, The House on Rondo (University of Minnesota Press).
Rooted in the lived histories of Minnesota’s Black communities, The House on Rondo offers a deeply personal window into the destruction of a thriving neighborhood through the eyes of a young Black girl coming of age during an era of national civil rights protests. As Zenobia joins forces with her neighbor, the unforgettable former cowgirl Mrs. Ruby Pearl, to fight against the demolition of her grandparents' home to make way for the new interstate highway, readers witness not just the heartbreak of displacement but also the power of community, protest, and memory.
Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken. Black Market Reads is produced by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv.
For more information and context visit https://blackmarketreads.com/
Adela Woods is sixteen years old and pregnant. Her parents banish her from her comfortable upbringing in Indiana to her grandmother’s home in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida. When she arrives, Adela meets Emory, who brings her newborn to high school, determined to graduate despite the odds; Simone, mother of four-year-old twins, who weighs an abortion in the heart of the South; and the rest of the Girls, a group of outcast young moms who raise their growing brood in the back of Simone’s red truck.
In this episode Lissa talks with author Leila Mottley about her latest novel The Girls Who Grew Big (Alfred Knopf 2025).
Leila Mottley is the author of the novel Nightcrawling, an Oprah’s Book Club pick and New York Times best seller, and the poetry collection woke up no light. Her sophomore novel, The Girls Who Grew Big, is forthcoming in June 2025. She was also the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She was born and raised in Oakland, where she continues to live.
For GO DEEPER information about Leila and other topics visit www.BlackMarketReads.com
Looking forward to an intriguing summer read, Lissa talks with author Valerie Burns about her latest work.
Packed with a delicious mix of cake, chaos, and crime, Icing on the Murder is a page-turner that’s sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats and leave them craving more!
In this fourth installment of the Baker Street Mystery series, influencer-turned-bakery-owner Maddy Montgomery is preparing for her dream wedding, but before she can say "I do" to her fiancé, veterinarian Michael Portman, she must first solve a murder that threatens to ruin her big day.
When world-renowned wedding planner Serafina is found impaled by one of Baby Cakes Bakery’s wedding cake skewers, Maddy and her trusted crew—along with a little help from her 250-pound Mastiff, Baby—take on the case. But can they unmask the killer in time for wedding bells to ring?
Learn more: www.BlackMarketReads.com
Ink, Identity, and Imagination: Literature as a Catalyst for Black Determination was the plenary discussion for From Resistance to Resilience: The Evolution of African American Reading, The Givens Foundation's Annual Conference held June 3, 2025 at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
Moderator: Gevonee Ford, founder of the Network for the Development of Children of African Descent
Panelists: Dr. Duchess Harris, scholar, author and curator of The Duchess Harris Collection, Dr. Ebony Aya, founder of the Aya Collective, and Tish Jones, poet and Executive Director of TruArtSpeaks
Enjoy additional conference recordings and highlights:
Duchess Harris, professor and author, was a presenter at From Resistance to Resilience: The Evolution of African American Reading, The Givens Foundation for African American Literature's annual conference, held on June 3, 2025 at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
In this engaging workshop, Dr. Harris addresses The Unwritten Curriculum: How Erasure in Literature Fuels Inequity, as she talks about her trajectory as an author, and the banning of her books.
Visit BlackMarketReads.com to hear from conference Keynote Dr. Luke Wood, President of Sacramento State University and creator of the first Black Honors College.
Dr. Luke Woods was the Keynote speaker at the Givens Foundation's annual conference conference,
Dr. Luke Wood returned to his alma mater, Sacramento State to become its ninth president on July 16th, 2023. A nationally renowned scholar on racial equity with a specific focus on early childhood education and community colleges.
Dr. Wood has authored or co-authored 16 books and published nearly 200 articles, focusing on racial inequity in education. Dr. Woods' bold vision for the university includes 23 strategic action items, including the creation of the Nation's First Black Honors College, which welcomed its inaugural class of scholars in the fall of 2024.
President Wood holds a bachelor's degree in Black history and Politics and a Master's degree in higher education leadership from Sacramento State and a master of Education in Early Childhood Education, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a higher education concentration from Arizona State University.
“From Resistance to Resilience: The Evolution of African American Reading,” was an extraordinary opportunity to champion literacy, cultural equity, and social justice. Held on June 3, 2025, this event was made possible through the generous support of the Minnesota Humanities Center.
In this episode Lissa talks with author Rickey Fayne about deep philosophical questions inspired by his latest novel The Devil Three Times (Hachette Book Group, May 2025). Rickey Fayne is a fiction writer from rural West Tennessee whose work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Guernica, The Sewanee Review, and The Kenyon Review, among other magazines. He holds an MA in English from Northwestern University and an MFA in Fiction from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. His writing embodies his Black, Southern upbringing in order to reimagine and honor his ancestors’ experiences. This episode was recorded at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, MN.
Visit www.BlackMarketReads.com
Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken. We thank Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for supporting this series focusing on the intersection of health, race, and culture.
In this episode, Lissa Jones welcomes playright Pearl Cleage back to Black Market Reads as they talk about her play The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First 100 Years, playing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis April 19-May 29, 2025.
SYNOPSIS Grande dames Grace Dunbar and Catherine Green prepare for the Nacirema Society’s 1964 centennial cotillion — the event of the season in Montgomery, Alabama. The elegant African American debutantes include Grace’s granddaughter Gracie, escorted by Catherine’s grandson Bobby, and the two grandmothers hope the young couple will soon be engaged. But Gracie and Bobby have other ideas. As the young ladies prepare for their debuts, a blackmail scheme brews behind the scenes and subterfuges unfold, all under the nose of a skeptical reporter covering the ball. Featuring clever storytelling and scandalous plots, this lighthearted comedy winds its way to an ending as charming as its characters.
Our production team for this episode includes co producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken. We thank Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for supporting this series focusing on the intersection of health, race, and culture. This is Black Market Reads.
In this episode Lissa talks with Dr. Gail C. Christopher —a nationally recognized leader in health equity, a pioneer in integrative medicine, and the visionary architect behind the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation initiative (TRHT). Dr. Christopher has spent decades designing and leading national programs that advance racial healing, community well-being, and policy change—including her role as Senior Advisor and Vice President at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She is also the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity. She joins us today to discuss her new book, Rx Racial Healing: A Guide to Embracing Our Humanity—a guidebook, a meditation, and a call to action all in one.
For GO DEEPER information, Visit: www.BlackMarketReads.com
Our production team for this episode includes co producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken. Black Market Reads is a production of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in cooperation with iDream.tv. We thank Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for supporting this series, focusing on the intersection of health, race, and culture. This is Black Market Reads. The struggle continues.
Join Lissa and Lisa as they delve into subjects psycological and literary.
Lisa Williamson Rosenberg is the author of Embers on the Wind and Mirror Me (Little A Publishing 2024). She is a former ballet dancer and psychotherapist specializing in depression, developmental trauma, and multiracial identity. Her essays have appeared in Literary Hub, Longreads, Narratively, Mamalode, and The Common. Her fiction has been published in the Piltdown Review and in Literary Mama, where Lisa received a Pushcart nomination. A born-and-raised New Yorker and mother of two college students, Lisa now lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband and dog.
Mirror Me is her second novel.
Synopsis: Eddie Asher arrives at Hudson Valley Psychiatric Hospital panicked that he may have murdered his brother’s fiancée, Lucy, with whom he shared a profound kinship. He can’t imagine doing such a terrible thing, but Eddie hasn’t been himself lately.
Eddie’s anxiety is nothing new to Pär, the one Eddie calls his Other, who protects Eddie from truths he’s too sensitive to face. Or so Pär says. Troubled by Pär’s increasing sway over his life, Eddie seeks out Dr. Richard Montgomery, a specialist in dissociative identities. The psychiatrist is Eddie’s best chance for piecing together the puzzle of what really happened to Lucy and to understanding his inexplicable memories of another man’s life.
But Montgomery’s methods trigger a kaleidoscope of memories that Pär can’t contain, bringing Eddie closer to an unimaginable truth about his identity.
Sarah LaBrie was in her early thirties when her mother was found on a highway outside Houston, screaming at passing cars and paranoid that she would be murdered by invisible assailants. She was ultimately diagnosed with schizophrenia—and in an instant, the entirety of LaBrie’s childhood came into sharp focus. In her harrowing, clear-sighted, and painfully honest debut memoir, NO ONE GETS TO FALL APART (Publication Date: October 22, 2024; $27.99), LaBrie traces a year spent grappling with the enormity of her mother’s diagnosis. With compassion and vulnerability, she reflects on the consequences of being raised by someone with mental illness, processes her own obsessive behavior and unhealthy ambition, and examines her fear of inheriting the disorder or passing it along to her own future children.
In childhood, LaBrie’s relationship with her mother is marked at turns by violence and all-consuming closeness. She’s erratic, easily angered and cruel, but also loving and protective, committed to LaBrie’s education and artistry and to making huge sacrifices as a single mom so her daughter could lead a stable life. Digging into the events that led to her psychotic break, LaBrie traces the line from the dysphoria that plagued her great-grandmother, a granddaughter of slaves, to her own experience with depression as a scholarship student at Brown. At the same time, she navigates a decades-long fixation on a novel she can’t finish but can’t abandon, her complicated feelings about her white partner, and a fraught friendship colored by betrayal. Spanning the globe from Houston’s Third Ward to Paris to New York to Los Angeles, and touching on work by James Baldwin, Franz Kafka and Walter Benjamin, NO ONE GETS TO FALL APARTis an unflinching chronicle of one woman’s attempt to forge a new future by making sense of history.
A writer from Houston, Sarah LaBrie’s libretti have been performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and her fiction appears in Guernica, The Literary Review, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She now lives in Los Angeles where she has written for television shows including Minx, Blindspotting, Made for Love, and Love, Victor. “In 2017, I learned from my grandmother that my mother had been experiencing schizophrenic delusions for months,” she explains. “We were estranged and no one told me, because no one thought it was a big deal. That same year, my best friend shared private information with the world that I wasn’t ready to reveal, then ‘broke up with me’ when I found myself unable to talk about it with her. I was working a job I hated while my friends all seemed to be coming into their own, and my partner, the son of prominent psychology professors from Boston, had grown up with a life so different from mine I didn’t think he would ever understand. I started writing the book out of loneliness. I wanted to reconstruct all these broken parts into layers as opposed to puzzle pieces. I wanted to convey that there are many different ways to understand the past and how it makes us who we are.”
In this episode of Black Market Reads: On Health Lissa and Bukata talk with poet Danez Smith about his latest work, BLUFF.
Written after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith's powerful reckoning with their role and responsibility as a poet and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. This is a book of awakening out of violence, guilt, shame, and critical pessimism to wonder and imagine how we can strive toward a new existence in a world that seems to be dissolving into desolate futures.
Smith brings a startling urgency to these poems, their questions demanding a new language, a deep self-scrutiny, and virtuosic textual shapes. A series of ars poetica gives way to "anti poetica" and "ars america" to implicate poetry's collusions with unchecked capitalism. A photographic collage accrues across a sequence to make clear the consequences of America's acceptance of mass shootings. A brilliant long poem--part map, part annotation, part visual argument--offers the history of Saint Paul's vibrant Rondo neighborhood before and after officials decided to run an interstate directly through it.
Bluff is a kind of manifesto about artistic resilience, even when time and will can seem fleeting, when the places we most love--those given and made--are burning. In this soaring collection, Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage, and imagination to envision futures that seem possible.
Danez Smith is the author of three previous poetry collections, including Homie, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Don't Call Us Dead, winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection and a finalist for the National Book Award.
Our production team for this episode includes co producers/ Lissa Jones and Edie French, co-host/Bukata Hayes, technical director/Paul Auguston, The Voice/Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration/Ta-coumba T. Aiken. We thank Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for supporting On Health focusing on the intersection of health, race, and culture.
Black Market Reads: On Health is a collaboration with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, as part of Blue Cross’ long-term commitment to improving the health of Minnesota communities and ensuring that all people have opportunities to live the healthiest lives possible.
In this episode of Black Market Reads: On Health Lissa and Bukata talk with author Sarai Johnson about her debut novel, Grown Women (Harper Collins 2024). Join us in this lively and thoughtful conversation about what it means to move on—or not move on—from trauma. What it means to ask for forgiveness, what true forgiveness means, how anger can manipulate our relationships, and what happens after the trauma and how it travels through bloodlines.
Tracing four generations of remarkable black women, Johnson follows the family across the decades as they grapple with motherhood and daughterhood, inherited trauma, and the deeply ingrained wounds that divide them while they attempt to redefine happiness and healing for themselves. Exploring how race, gender, and class can influence familial relationships, and how pain—and hope—can be handed down from mother to daughter.
Black Market Reads is produced by The Givens Foundation for African-American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv.
Funding for Black Market Reads: On Health is provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, as part of Blue Cross’ long-term commitment to improving the health of Minnesota communities and ensuring that all people have opportunities to live the healthiest lives possible.
For Go Deeper information and more episodes visit BlackMarketReads.com
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In this episode of Black Market Reads: On Health, Lissa and Bukata talk with Dr. Rachel Hardeman. Dr. Rachel Hardeman is a Tenured Professor & Researcher, Speaker & Thought Leader, Educator & Author on all things health equity. As the Blue Cross Endowed Professor of Health & Racial Equity, Dr. Hardeman’s goal is to manifest racial justice so that all people, especially Black women and girls, can live their full greatness and glory. As Founding Director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE, pronounced "care") at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Hardeman’s work is centered on the notion that the work of antiracism is fueled by love. She was named as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2024.
Learn more in the GO DEEPER section of our website: https://blackmarketreads.com/
This episode of Black Market Reads was recorded before a live audience at the historic Capri Theater in North Minneapolis.
Lissa talks with author Karen Felicia Nance about her latest book Ethel Ray: Living in the White, Gray and Black, the story of her grandmother's contributions to Civil Rights.
Ethel Ray’s world was a white world. She was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, where her family lived a life filled with marginalization, prejudice, and racism. She experienced constant comparison to whiteness—a place that held no space for her Black Southern father, William Henry Ray, or her white Swedish mother, Inga Ray.
Ethel Ray: Living in the White, Gray, and Black is a biography and coming-of-age story of Ethel and of her family’s life before, during, and after the horrific lynching of three young Black circus workers—Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie—on June 15, 1920.
Learn more, visit: www.BlackMarketReads.com for GO DEEPER content
Black Market Reads is produced by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with iDream.TV. Black Market Reads is made possible through the generous support of our individual donors and the voters of Minnesota, through the Minnesota State Arts Board with support from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
In this episode Lissa and Bukata talk with Author Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her latest book Take My Hand. As a pre-eminent chronicler of American historical life, Dolen talks about her research, her passion for uplifting the authentic voice and the responsibility we have for the fallout of our good deeds.
Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.
Black Market Reads is produced by The Givens Foundation for African-American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv.
Funding for Black Market Reads: On Health is provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, as part of Blue Cross’ long-term commitment to improving the health of Minnesota communities and ensuring that all people have opportunities to live the healthiest lives possible.
In this inaugural episode of Black Market Reads: On Health, Lissa Jones introduces her series co-host Bukata Hayes, Vice President and Chief Equity Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. Together they welcome their guest Linda Villarosa, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and contributor to the NYT 1619 Project.
There’s an alarming saying in medical circles that Black people in the US “live sicker and die quicker.” Linda Villarosa, explores this phenomenon in her book UNDER THE SKIN: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America. Villarosa finds that erroneous beliefs about Black bodies, dating from the time of enslavement, continue to influence medical practices today. Coping with the daily stress of racism ages Black people prematurely. And racist beliefs held by doctors and other medical professionals often keep Black people from getting the care they need.
Black Market Reads is produced by the Givens Foundation for African-American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv. Funding for this series is provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, as part of Blue Cross’ long-term commitment to improving the health of Minnesota communities and ensuring that all people have opportunities to live the healthiest lives possible.
Series artwork created by Ta-coumba T. Aiken
In this episode Lissa welcomes co-host Bukata Hayes as they explore the power of storytelling and the nourishment of soulful food with author Rose McGee.
ROSE MCGEE, founder of Sweet Potato Comfort Pie, travels across the United States to deliver pies and nurture relationships. She was featured in the 2015 PBS documentary A Few Good Pie Places. After George Floyd’s murder in 2020, her caring community pie baking and delivery gained recognition from NBC Nightly News, Ms McGee resides in Golden Valley, MiN, where she was named “Citizen of the Year”.
How special education used disability labels to marginalize Black students in public schools
The Unteachables examines the overrepresentation of Black students in special education over the course of the twentieth century. Excavating the deep-seated racism embedded in both the public school system and public policy, it explores the discriminatory labeling of Black students, and how it indelibly contributed to special education disproportionality, to student discipline and push-out practices, and to the school-to-prison pipeline effect.
Keith A. Mayes is associate professor of African American & African Studies and faculty affiliate in sociocultural studies in education at the University of Minnesota. He is author of Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African American Holiday Tradition.
GO DEEPER www..BlackMarketReads.com
More About Seph Rodney Seph Rodney, PhD was born in Jamaica, and came of age in the Bronx, New York. He has an English degree from Long Island University, Brooklyn; a studio art MFA from the University of California, Irvine; and a PhD in museum studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. While in London, he created, produced, and hosted a radio show called The Thread.
Seph Rodney, PhD, is a former senior critic and opinion editor for Hyperallergic. He has written for the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, and other publications. He is featured on the podcast The American Age.
His book, The Personalization of the Museum Visit, was published by Routledge in 2019. In 2020 he won the Rabkin Arts Journalism Prize. In 2022 he won the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
THANKS TO: Walker Art Center
iDream.TV
Platform Arts
From cell phone footage of police killing unarmed Black people to leaked racist messages and even comments from friends and family on social media, online communication exposes how racism operates in a world that pretends to be colorblind. In When the Hood Comes Off, Rob Eschmann blends rigorous research and engaging personal narrative to examine the effects of online racism on communities of color and society, and the unexpected ways that digital technologies enable innovative everyday tools of antiracist resistance.
In this episode Lissa talks with Dr. Rob Eschmann about When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Age (University of California Press, 2023), his book exploring racism in the digital age. Rob Eschmann is a writer, scholar, filmmaker, and educator from Chicago. He is Associate Professor of Social Work and a member of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, as well as Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
Two-time Sue Grafton Memorial Award-winner Tracy Clark introduces readers to FALL (Thomas & Mercer), a hard-boiled, page-turning thriller featuring Chicago Police Detective Harriet Foster, a Black woman in a male-dominated department who, with a new female partner, must stop a killer targeting Chicago aldermen.
Rising to accept a prestigious award, Jody Lulich wondered what to say. Explain how he’d been attracted to veterinary medicine? Describe how caring for helpless, voiceless animals in his own shame and pain provided a lifeline, a chance to heal himself as well? Lulich tells his story in In the Company of Grace, a memoir about finding courage in compassion and strength in healing—and power in finally confronting the darkness of his youth.
In this episode, presented with a live audience in partnership with Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Lissa talks with Minnesota Attorney General and author, Keith Ellison, about his latest book detailing the trial of Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd exploring why this book is a vital contribution not just to the literature of the Floyd trial, but to that of police reform generally.
In this episode, Lissa talks with author Sherrie Fernandez-Williams about her latest book, Goddess of the Whole Self, inspirations and origin stories. Go Deeper at www.BlackMarketReads.com
In this episode Lissa sits down with Davu Seru, the newly appointed Curator of the Archie Givens Sr. Collection of African American Literature and Life at the University of Minnesota. This Collection includes novels, poetry, plays, short stories, essays, literary criticism, periodicals, and biographies that span nearly 250 years of American culture -with particular strength in the areas of the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement.
With tens of thousands of archival and manuscript materials that document the history of black literature and culture, the Givens Collection is an invaluable community and scholarly resource. In this episode we explore the collection and meet Davu Seru, musician, composer, author and recently named Curator of the Givens Collection.
In this previously unpublished episode, Lissa talks with author Rachel Howzell Hall during her visit to the Loft's inaugural Wordplay Festival, exploring issues of crime and passion in her 2019 novel They All Fall Down (Forge Books).
Rachel Howzell Hall is a noteworthy author from Los Angeles, The United States, who is famous for writing thriller, mystery, literature & fiction, and crime fiction novels. She has written 7 critically acclaimed novels in her career, which include the books of the Detective Elouise Norton novel series. The 3rd book of this series was the receiver of the coveted Kirkus Star. One more book from the same series was included in the list of the Los Angeles Times’ top books to read in the summer. The New York Times has praised the chief protagonist of the series, Elousie Norton, by describing her as a formidable fighter and a person that everyone would want to have by their side. In addition to writing this popular book series, author Hall has collaborated with James Patterson for writing the novel, The Good Sister. Hall is known to be a featured writer on the acclaimed series of the NPR. Author Hall has also served in AWP’s Writers’ Program in the role of a mentor. Currently, she is serving on the panel of the board of directors of the MWA. Author Hall was born in Los Angeles, California. During her childhood days, she used to always keep a pen with her and used to write everywhere, especially the places she felt like writing on. Hall used to fill her notebooks, loose leaf papers, her brother’s yearbook, and in church bulletins. She never used to write on freeway overpasses, buildings, or walls as she used to consider it as graffiti. For a period of 4 years, author Hall has lived in Santa Cruz.
The episode also includes a brief conversation with founding director Steph Opitz, about the origins of the 1st Wordplay Festival.
In this episode Lissa talks with Santi Elijah Holley about his book An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created.
An enlightening history of the rise and lasting impact of Black liberation groups in America, as seen through the Shakurs, one of the movement’s most prominent and fiercely creative families, home to Tupac and Assata, and a powerful incubator for today’s activism, scholarship, and artistry.
They have been celebrated, glorified, and mythologized. They have been hailed as heroes, liberators, and freedom fighters. They have been condemned, pursued, imprisoned, exiled, and killed. But the true and complete story of the Shakur family—one of the most famous names in contemporary Black American history—has never been told.
SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY has reported for more than a decade on the intersection of culture, music, race, religion, and politics. His work has appeared in numerous national and international outlets, including The Atlantic, The New Republic, the Economist, the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. Holley is the recipient of grants from PEN America and the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, and he was awarded an Oregon Literary Fellowship for nonfiction. He lives in Los Angeles.
Learn more www.BlackMarketReads.com
Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an American civil rights activist, journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, CNN, and the Public Broadcasting Service. Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the first African-American students to attend the University of Georgia. In this episode she and Lissa discuss her life's work, her philosophy, and her latest book -My People.
In this episode Lissa talks with Dr. Shaun M. Anderson, about his debut publication The Black Athlete Revolt: The Sport Justice Movement in the Age of #Black Lives Matter (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023).
The Black Athlete Revolt is the first book to take a historical and contemporary look at how Black athletes have used their influence to move beyond protests and create substantial change for Black Americans. Spanning from the civil rights movement to today, this book reveals the ever evolving and important role of Black athlete activism. Specifically, The Black Athlete Revolt explores the influence of black athletes since the late 19th century, through the Civil Rights Movement, and into today’s #BlackLivesMatter movement. As society fights to go from protest to policy reform, the revitalization of athlete activism in recent years has sparked a new platform: The Sport Justice Movement. This book details the ascension of this movement, where it is presently, and what’s next.
Go Deeper - visit www.BlackMarketReads.com
In this episode Lissa talks with playwright and author Pearl Cleage about Blues for an Alabama Sky, her current work and references to inspirations and influencers including Langston Hughes, Stacey Abrams, Ntozake Shange, Viola Davis, audience development and more.
Blues for an Alabama Sky is playing on the Wurtele Thrust stage at the Guthrie through March 12, 2023 Tickets: https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/performance-calendar/
Go Deeper www.BlackMarketReads.com
In celebration of Black History Month, Lissa was invited by Books and Books to interview Dr. Clarence Lusane about his recent work. Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy, (City Lights 2023). Join us for this in depth conversation.
Link to purchase the book: https://shop.booksandbooks.com/book/9780872868854
Dripping with Southern atmosphere and blistering suspense, Wanda M. Morris’ sophomore outing proves she is a “writer to watch” (Publishers Weekly).
**About ANYWHERE YOU RUN:**
It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-two year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.
Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?
Two sisters on the run—one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him . . .
In Twenty Dollars and Change, Lusane offers a searing examination of what the fight to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill reveals about race, class, and social justice in America today. Lusane gives voice to the millions of Americans who mobilized for the “Tubman twenty,” becoming a part of the long legacy of people of color and women challenging symbols of patriarchy, racism, and white supremacy. He also discusses the movement that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, who was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill.
Lusane argues that while Andrew Jackson’s image represents a flawed vision of democracy that tolerates white supremacy, Harriet Tubman’s represents the demand for gender equity, racial justice, and the struggle of people working for social inclusion and economic fairness. With insight and urgency, Lusane explains how national symbols in support of social justice serve to unify and strengthen us as a people.
Clarence Lusane is a Professor and former Chairman of Howard University’s Department of Political Science. For more than forty years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, Diaspora engagements, U.S. foreign policy, democracy building, and social justice issues such as education, criminal justice, and drug policy. He has served as a political consultant to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and many elected officials. He is also a former Commissioner on the DC Commission on African American Affairs. His most recent book, The Black History of the White House, received praise from The Washington Post, NPR’s Morning Edition, USA Todayand The Boston Globe, among others. Dr. Lusane was also recently interviewed on The Scholars.
In Twenty Dollars and Change, Lusane offers a searing examination of what the fight to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill reveals about race, class, and social justice in America today. Lusane gives voice to the millions of Americans who mobilized for the “Tubman twenty,” becoming a part of the long legacy of people of color and women challenging symbols of patriarchy, racism, and white supremacy. He also discusses the movement that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, who was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill.
Lusane argues that while Andrew Jackson’s image represents a flawed vision of democracy that tolerates white supremacy, Harriet Tubman’s represents the demand for gender equity, racial justice, and the struggle of people working for social inclusion and economic fairness. With insight and urgency, Lusane explains how national symbols in support of social justice serve to unify and strengthen us as a people.
Clarence Lusane is a Professor and former Chairman of Howard University’s Department of Political Science. For more than forty years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, Diaspora engagements, U.S. foreign policy, democracy building, and social justice issues such as education, criminal justice, and drug policy. He has served as a political consultant to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and many elected officials. He is also a former Commissioner on the DC Commission on African American Affairs. His most recent book, The Black History of the White House, received praise from The Washington Post, NPR’s Morning Edition, USA Todayand The Boston Globe, among others. Dr. Lusane was also recently interviewed on The Scholars.
Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, and Octavia Butler, a biting social commentary from the acclaimed author of Lakewood that speaks to our times—a piercing dystopian novel about the unbreakable bond between a young woman and her mysterious mother, set in a world in which witches are real and single women are closely monitored.
Megan Giddings has degrees from University of Michigan and Indiana University. In 2018, she was a recipient of a Barbara Deming Memorial fund grant for feminist fiction. Her novel, Lakewood, was published by Amistad in 2020. It was one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, was a nominee for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 LA Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction category. In 2021, she was named one of Indiana University’s 20 under 40. In 2022, Megan has an essay in The Lonely Stories edited by Natalie Eve Garrett (Catapult) and her second novel, The Women Could Fly (Amistad), was published on August 9th, 2022. She lives in the Midwest.
This episode was recorded before a live audience at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, on August 9, 2022, celebrating the launch of The Women Could Fly.
In this episode Lynn Nottage speaks with BMR Host, Lissa Jones during the run of her play Sweat, performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter. She is the first, and remains the only, woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world.
Most recently, Nottage premiered MJ the Musical, directed by Christopher Wheeldon and featuring the music of Michael Jackson, more … http://www.lynnnottage.com/about.html
In this episode Lynn Nottage speaks with BMR Host, Lissa Jones during the run of her play Sweat, performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter. She is the first, and remains the only, woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world.
Most recently, Nottage premiered MJ the Musical, directed by Christopher Wheeldon and featuring the music of Michael Jackson, more … http://www.lynnnottage.com/about.html
Kristin Henning is a nationally recognized legal scholar and activist in juvenile justice reform. As the Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown, she advocates for reform in the juvenile and criminal legal systems to fight the criminalization of Black adolescence. Henning explores the devastating long-term consequences of racial bias and over-policing youth within communities of color and addresses how to change racial disparities within the legal system.
Andrea Jenkins is the first Black transgender woman to be elected to public office in the United States. She was elected to the Minneapolis City Council with 73% of the vote. She is a poet, and an artist as well as a public official.
Andrea is the author of the poetry collection The T is Not Silent, New and Selected Poems, and contributor to the acclaimed anthologies, Queer Voices, Poetry, Prose, and Pride. A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, and Blues Vision: African American writing from Minnesota. Jenkins is also an oral historian for the Transgender Oral History Project at the University of Minnesota Libraries documenting the lived experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming people in the upper Midwest and in the United States.
In this episode, the tables turn and Lissa Jones is in the spotlight. Lissa joins Dr. Vanessa Weaver, host of Workin' It Out Podcast to discuss the role of Black authors and literature in the current racial reckoning in her hometown of Minneapolis and across the country.
In this Episode
- The impact of poet Amanda Gorman
- The origin of “Black Market Reads”
- The role of literature in the Black experience
- How Black authors and literature have influenced Lissa’s approach to diversity and inclusion.
- How the racial reckoning in Minneapolis has shaped “Black Market Reads”
- How “Black Market Reads” has shaped the national conversation about race
- Links to show resources
Gain fresh insights and learn actionable steps you can take to address the diversity, equity and inclusion challenges in your life. Each week on the Workin’ It Out Podcast, Alignment Strategies’ founder and CEO Dr. Vanessa Weaver interviews thought leaders about DE&I issues in society and the workplace and uncovers solutions that can move us forward. Workin’ It Out is underwritten by Alignment Strategies, LLC and DITV Media.
“Every lie you tell, every secret you keep, is a fragile little thing that must be protected and accounted for…” In this episode Lissa talks with author Wanda M. Morris about her crime thriller, debut novel, All Her Little Secrets
Morris is a corporate attorney who has worked in the legal departments for several Fortune 100 companies. An accomplished presenter and leader, Morris has previously served as the President of the Georgia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and is the founder of its Women's Initiative, an empowerment program for female in-house lawyers. An alumna of the Yale Writer's Workshop and Robert McKee's Story Seminar, she is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America and Crime Writers of Color.
In this Special Edition of Black Market Reads, in a live production at the Capri Theater, Lissa Jones sits down with Bukata Hayes to talk about the book he co-authored with Stacy Wells, and then hear from a panel of representatives Nneka Sederstrom/Chief Health Equity Officer Hennepin Health Care, Chaz Sandifer/CEO theNEWmpls, and R.T. Rybak/President and CEO The Minneapolis Foundation. Including a reading by Danez Smith from his book Don't Call Us Dead, Summer Somewhere (18:45)
This episode brought to you by Stamp-Connect with additional support provided by Hennepin Healthcare, BlueCross Blue Shield Minnesota, s/bes, theNEWmpls, Minneapolis Foundation, Alliant Consulting inc, Minnesota Vikings, JeDunn Construction, Revolution Catering and iDream.tv.
Proceeds to benefit The Givens Foundation for African American Literature.
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted
Like the lead character featured in her new novel Black Girls Must Die Exhausted, our guest today knows all about living life as a successful African American woman and self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur."
This Harvard Law grad is a popular speaker, thought leader, seasoned business executive, and noted author who writes fiction under her chosen nom de plume, Jayne Allen. The Detroit native and L.A.-based writer began her career as an attorney in the music industry as an executive at Universal Music Group. She later served as a senior digital strategist and business development executive for Lady Gaga and as an attorney and strategist for Prince, whom she credits for teaching her how to truly be an artist.
Tune in for an exciting conversation with Lissa Jones ...
Lissa speaks with Queen of Black Horror Tananarive Due on the re-release of her 1995 debut novel The Between. Due is a leading voice in Black speculative fiction, and teaches about Black horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. She is also the award-winning author of numerous books and executive produced Shudder's groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror.
For more episodes visit www.blackmarketreads.com and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
In this episode, we hear from LaTanya McQueen about her debut novel, When the Reckoning Comes which tells the story of Mira, a young Black woman, who travel's home to attend the plantation wedding of a childhood friend and is forced to contend with the traumas of her own childhood - and the historical horrors tied to the place.
LaTanya McQueen is also the author of And it Begins Like This, a collection of essays exploring the legacy of slavery and its relationship to contemporary Black female identity. She is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Coe College in Iowa.
On this episode, Lissa sits down with Resmaa Menakem, the New York Times bestselling author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies.
Resmaa is a therapist, trauma specialist, and the founder of Justice Leadership Solutions a leadership consultancy where he works training business, community, and government leaders in the philosophy and practice of Somatic Abolitionism.
Learn more about Resmaa's work at www.resmaa.com
On this episode we’re excited to present a conversation with author, historian, and educator Carol Anderson on her recent work The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. This conversation was recorded as part of a live virtual event in partnership with Magers & Quinn Booksellers and Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis.
Carol Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of several works including (but not limited to) White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation's Divide, a New York Times Bestseller, Washington Post Notable Book of 2016, and a National Book Critics Circle Award winner. and One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Award in non-fiction.
For more, visit www.BlackMarketReads.com
Essayist, memoirist, and, now, novelist Morgan Jerkins sits down with Lissa Jones. She discusses her inspirations for this story, both from her past (as a teenager she worked in her father's OB/GYN practice) and present (she tells us her character Amara was inspired by Vice President Kamala Harris). Though Caul Baby is a work of fiction with hints of magical realism, it is deeply rooted in the experiences of Black womanhood.
More information about her work can be found on her website.
In this episode, Lissa speaks with Javon Johnson, about his new poetry collection, Ain't Never Not Been Black (Button Poetry, 2020). Javon Johnson, Ph.D. is a poet, performer, professor and recipient of numerous awards. According to poet Rudy Francisco, Dr. Johnson is “is one of the most brilliant writers in the world”.
This conversation was recorded on April 19, 2021, the day of closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd as the case was sent to jury for deliberation in Minneapolis.
Listen to audio of poets reading their work from Can't Stop, Won't Stop: Poems in the wake of racial injustice from a chapbook published by Rain Taxi, recorded on the site of George Floyd Square in Minneapolis by iDream.tv
Apnea and Bruxism by Michael Kleber Diggs
a little glimpse by keno evol
Familiar Fruit by Sagirah Shahid
Homeland, Like the Girl who Sang Soweto by Sherrie Fernandez-Williams
When I think there aren’t enough buckets to hold this by Maya Washington
Block Party Say It by Douglas Kearney
Thembe by Philip S. Bryant
Justi cation/Witness by Mary Moore Easter
L’Etoile du Nord by Bernard James
(copies can be found on Rain Taxi's website).
One of the defining events of the past year, in Minnesota and around the world, was the murder of George Floyd and the international protests demanding justice.
In this episode, Lissa speaks with Mary Moore Easter, editor and poet, and James Bernard Short, a poet who lives near the intersection now known as George Floyd Square. The collection is titled Can't Stop Won't Stop the Rain Taxi Chapbook : Poems in response to the murder of George Floyd (copies can be found on Rain Taxi's website).
For more, visit BlackMarketReads.com
Launching season six of Black Market Reads, Lissa interviews author Claudia Rankine about her latest work Just Us: An American Conversation (Graywolf Press, 2020). For highlights from the interview, and to listen to past episodes visit www.blackmarketreads.com.
If you like the show, leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about the show!
In this episode, author and scholar Dr. Frank B. Wilderson, III on his latest work, Afropessimism. From his youth in Minneapolis to Apartheid South Africa and beyond, Dr. Wilderson has been a committed activist for radical social change. His creative, scholarly, and critical work has been published internationally. He is the author of several books, including Incognegro: Memoir of Exile and Apartheid. And Red, White and Black. Dr. Wilderson is a professor of Drama and African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine.
Author Carolyn Holbrook discusses her latest work, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify, a collection of essays published by the University of Minnesota Press (2020). She is the author of several works including Ordinary People, Extraordinary Journeys, as well as co-author of Hope in the Struggle the memoir of Dr. Josie Johnson. She now leads More Than A Single Story, a series of community conversations for people of color and indigenous writers and arts activists, and teaches at Hamline University.
In this episode, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker discusses his new book From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth, in which he grapples with the paternalistic roots of American philanthropy and envisions a new approach that seeks to address the causes of inequity, rather than the consequences. He discusses the current state of extreme wealth inequality in America and how this inequality is both the result of systemic racism and a contributor to racial disparities.
We spoke with Mr. Walker via Zoom.
You can find more information about how to access the book for free on the Ford Foundation website.
For more on this episode and Black Market Reads, visit BlackMarketReads.com
In this episode, a conversation with poet and essayist Justin Phillip Reed about his new poetry collection, The Malevolent Volume (2020). His debut collection, Indecency (2018) won the National Book Award for poetry.
To learn more about Justin Phillip Reed, visit his website
Check out more interviews and bonus content at BlackMarketReads.com
In celebration of Black History Month, Black Market Reads participated in an exciting event hosted by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, featuring stunning performances from the Grammy Award-winning musical group Sounds of Blackness.
In part one, recorded in the museum galleries, Lissa speaks with Esther Callahan and Keisha Williams, members of the curatorial team responsible for the Mapping Black Identities exhibit now on display at MIA.
In part two, Lissa interviews the iconic Gary Hines, musical director and producer of Sounds of Blackness.
In this episode, Lissa speaks with historian Dr. William D. Green, whose works focus on the history of Black people in Minnesota, and specifically the ongoing struggle for civil rights.
Dr. Green is a professor of history at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, and serves as Vice President of the Minnesota Historical Society. He has previously served as Superintendent for the Minneapolis Public Schools. His works on race and civil rights in Minnesota include A Peculiar Imbalance in Early Minnesota: 1837-1869, Degrees of Freedom: The Origin of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1914, which won the 2015 Minnesota Book Award-Hognander Prize, and The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860–1876.
In this special episode, J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature, speaks with guest-host poet and essayist, Michael Kleber-Diggs. The interview was recorded at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis in 2017.
Lanham is an American author, poet and wildlife biologist. Raised in Edgefield, South Carolina, Lanham studied zoology and ecology at Clemson University, where he earned a PhD and where he currently holds an endowed chair as an Alumni Distinguished Professor. The Home Place is the Winner of the 2017 Southern Book Prize and Winner of the Reed Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Kleber-Diggs' work has appeared in numerous publications, including McSweeney's Humor Anthology. He is a past winner of the Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and a past Fellow with the Givens Foundation for African American Literature. He lives in Saint Paul and teaches Creative Writing in prisons.
In this episode, recorded live at the 2019 Twin Cities Book Festival, Lissa speaks with authors about the work, life, and legacy of Toni Morrison. The episode was recorded in partnership with Rain Taxi Review of Books.
Featured in the episode: A. Rafael Johnson, Bethany C. Morrow, Lora Hyler, Eric Lorberer, and Dr. Artika Tyner.
In this episode, Lissa sits down with the poet, performer, and librettist Douglas Kearney. Kearney has published six books, most recently, Buck Studies (Fence Books, 2016), winner of the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award, the CLMP Firecracker Award for Poetry and silver medalist for the California Book Award (Poetry).Kearney teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
https://blackmarketreads.com/
For more information visit Douglas Kearney's website: https://douglaskearney.com/
In the Season 5 premier, Lissa sits down with author Kalisha Buckhanon to discuss her new novel Speaking of Summer (COUNTERPOINT, 2019). This episode was recorded live at an event hosted by Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis.
Kalisha Buckhanon is the author of the novels Solemn, Conception, and Upstate, which was selected as an inaugural National Book Foundation Literature for Justice title. In Speaking of Summer, critically acclaimed author Kalisha Buckhanon has created a postmodern, fast-paced story of urban peril and victim invisibility, and the fight to discover truth at any cost.
Her other honors include an American Library Association Alex Award, an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship, Pushcart Prize and Hurston/Wright Awards nominations, and a Terry McMillan Young Author Award. She also appears on Investigation Discovery, BET, and TV One as a true crime expert in cases involving women. She lives in Chicago. More information can be found on her website.
On this episode, Lissa sits down with civil rights icon Dr. Josie R. Johnson and her co-authors Carolyn Holbrook and Arleta Little to discuss Johnson's memoir Hope in the Struggle.
Dr. Josie R. Johnson has been an educator, activist, and public servant for more than seven decades. Along with her work for the Urban League and the University of Minnesota, she has been office manager, campaign manager, and chief of staff for multiple political campaigns and public officials, including campaign manager for the first African American lieutenant governor of Colorado, and co-chair of the African American DFL Caucus in Minnesota. She holds degrees in sociology, education, and education administration. She lives in Minneapolis and continues to serve her community, advocating for equal rights and social justice.
Carolyn Holbrook is a writer, educator, and former program director of the Loft Literary Center. She teaches creative writing at Hamline University and is author of Ordinary People, Extraordinary Journeys, which profiles twenty community leaders and programs made possible by Leadership Initiatives in Neighborhoods. In 2010 she received the prestigious Kay Sexton Award presented by Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.
Arleta Little is director of Artist Fellowships for the McKnight Foundation. Prior to working in philanthropy, she was executive director of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature.
In this episode, Lissa speaks with Author and Professor Emily Bernard about her debut collection of personal essays Black is the Body: stories from my grandmother's time, my mother's time, and mine (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019). Emily was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a B. A. and Ph. D. in American Studies from Yale University. A contributing editor at The American Scholar, Emily is the Julian Lindsay Green and Gold Professor of English at the University of Vermont.
To learn more about Emily Bernard's work and purchase her book, visit her website
Minnesota-based writer Debra J. Stone sits down with Lissa Jones for a wide-ranging conversation about writing the stories she wants to read, her upbringing in the Rondo Neighborhood and the Northside, and what it means to be a black woman who loves to bike and camp.
Stone’s poetry, short-fiction and essays have appeared in many publications and literary journals including About Place, Wild Age Press, and Random Sample Review. Stone co-founded and co-facilitates the Northside Writers Group, and is currently a fellow at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She has received grants from Intermedia Arts, Beyond the Pure Fellowship, Jerome Foundation for Emerging Writers and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Currently, Debra serves as Board Member and Engagement Committee Chair for the non-profit independent publisher Graywolf Press.
On this episode, a reading and interview with poet, essayist, educator and avid gardener Ross Gay.
Ross Gay is the author of three books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which was awarded the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. The Book of Delights, released earlier this year, is his first collection of essays.
Ross has co-authored, two chapbooks "Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens," and "River." He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin', in addition to being an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press. Ross is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Ross teaches at Indiana University.
This podcast was recorded as part of an event at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis. We are very grateful for their support and partnership in amplifying the voices of black writers and artists. We encourage you to support independent bookstores in your area.
Visit blackmarketreads.com for more information on the podcast.
On this episode of Black Market Reads, the acclaimed poet Danez Smith. Smith is the author of two award-winning collections of poetry: 2014’s [insert] boy which was awarded the winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry; and their most recent collection, Don’t Call Us Dead, published by Graywolf Press in 2017, which was winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book Award. Smith is the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Montalvo Arts Center, Cave Canem, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Smith is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and is the co-host of VS, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness.
To learn more about Smith's work, visit their website: http://www.danezsmithpoet.com/
In this episode we honor the late Ntozake Shange -- poet, author, playwright, artist. Her seminal work, the choreo-poem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf inspired generations of black women to see themselves differently and to question structures of power that tried to limit their boundless potential.
The episode features excerpts of Shange's 2009 conversation with Alexs Pate as part of the NOMO series, a partnership between The Givens Foundation for African American Literature and the University of Minnesota Libraries. It also features Lissa's conversation with Penumbra Theatre Artistic Director Sarah Bellamy, who directedShange's Choreo-poem in the fall of 2018, about the legacy of Shange's work and the importance of creating space in theatre that celebrates the work of Black artists.
To listen to the full audio of Ntozake Shange's NOMO reading and conversation, visit blackmarketreads.com
On this episode, Lissa talks with poet Julian Randall about his impressive debut collection Refuse. Julian is a Living, Queer, Black poet from Chicago. He has received fellowships from Callaloo, BOAAT and the Watering Hole and was the 2015 National College Slam (CUPSI) Best Poet, as well as being the recipient a Pushcart Prize. Julian is the curator of Winter Tangerine Review’s Lineage of Mirrors. He is a candidate for his MFA in Poetry at Ole Miss. His first book, Refuse, is the winner of the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry prize and will be published by University of Pittsburgh Press in Fall 2018.
Education, justice, innocence, and public policy on this very special episode.
First, Lissa speaks with civil right activist, and now author, DeRay Mckesson about his new book On the Other Side of Freedom: the Case for Hope. Then we revisit our interviews with Dr. Artika Tyner and Alexs Pate discussing their work toward greater equity and justice in education.
(0:00) DeRay Mckesson became a leading voice in the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2014 protests in Ferguson, MO when he used social media to document and share with the world what was happening there. He is a civil rights activist and community organizer advocating for victims of police violence and an end to mass incarceration. Mckesson is the co-founder of Campaign Zero – a policy platform to end police violence – and is the host of the award-winning podcast Pod Save the People. He has been named one of Time magazine’s 30 most influential people on the Internet and was #11 on Fortune magazine’s world’s greatest leaders list. This episode was recorded at Shir Tikva Synagogue in Minneapolis.
(16:13) Dr. Artika Tyner is an educator, advocate and author of several books for adults and children, including The Leader's Journey and Justice Makes a Difference: The Story of Miss Freedom Fighter, Esquire. In this excerpt she discusses how her early career as a K-12 educator, and the deep disparities she encountered there, inspired her to become a civil rights attorney. She also reads from her children's book, Justice Makes a Difference, and teaches us about the great Paul Robeson.
(32:13) Alexs Pate is the author of many books, including Amistad and Losing Absalom, he also edited the 2015 anthology Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota. In this excerpt he reads a piece from his newest work for children, Being You, and describes his project Innocent Classroom which focuses on shifting the paradigm in K-12 education to one in which black children are seen as innocent.
On this bonus episode, we're sharing a series of interviews we recorded live from the 2018 Twin Cities Book Festival at the Minnesota State Fair grounds. Interviews with:
Archie Givens (The Givens Foundation), Mary Taris (Publisher, Strive Publishing), Donna Gingery (author), LaBelle Nambangi (author), Amber James (author), Lehman Riley (author), Jasmine Brett Stringer (author), A. Raphael Johnson (author), Eric Lorberer (Editor, Rain Taxi), Tiffany D. Jackson (author), Maasia Si-Asar, Rekhet Si-Asar (Publisher, In Black Ink), and Ricardo Peters (author)
In the Season Four Premier Lissa speaks with award-winning poet and spoken word artist Patricia Smith. Smith is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Incendiary Art which was awarded the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, NAACP image award, and was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. She is a professor of English at the College of Staten Island and in the MFA program at Sierra Nevada College, and serves as a Cave Canem Faculty member. Special thanks to the Department of English at the University of Minnesota.
Visit blackmarketreads.com for additional content related to the episode.
On this episode, Lissa Jones sits down with author A. Rafael Johnson. He was named a Kimbilio Fellow in African American Fiction in 2014. Last year he published his first novel, The Through, which was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in Fiction. Johnson co-owns TerraLuna Collaborative, a social justice-focused consulting firm based in Minneapolis. He has co-produced Writer’s Resist – Twin Cities and Banned Together. He currently teaches Magical Realism at The Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Dr. Artika Tyner, educator, author, speaker and advocate, speaks with host Lissa Jones about what led her to dedicate her career to fighting for justice and empowering others to be leaders in their communities. She shares with us why she decided to focus her efforts on children, writing the book Justice Makes a Difference: The Story of Miss Freedom Fighter, Esquire, and how traveling to Africa has impacted the way she understands racism in America.
Dr. Tyner serves as the associate vice president of diversity and inclusion at the University of St. Thomas and is the author of several books for adults including The Leader’s Journey. To learn more about Dr. Tyner's work, visit her website www.artikatyner.com
In this episode, recorded at a live event at Jefferson Community School in Minneapolis, MN, Lissa Jones hosts a fascinating conversation with Sonya Renee Tayor the activist and author at the center of the global movement The Body Is Not an Apology, which advocates radical self-love as tool for political resistance and social justice. Sonya is an activist, award-wining performance poet, radical executive officer of The Body is Not an Apology, and now author of a book by the same name. Her website, theBodyIsNotanApology.com reaches over a million readers each month in over 140 countries.
Special thanks to our friends at Magers & Quinn Booksellers, one of Minneapolis's great independent bookstores, for organizing the event.
Desiree Cooper, author of the award-winning short fiction collection Know the Mother talks with host Lissa Jones about the complexities of motherhood and the ways that motherhood interacts, and at times conflicts, with the many other roles that women take on.
Desiree Cooper is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, community activist, and a former attorney. She was also a founding board member of Cave Canem, the national residency for emerging black poets.
Copies of her book can be purchased from on Amazon or from her publisher: http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/know-mother
In this episode, Lissa Jones talks with writer Mary Moore Easter about history, family, poetry, and her newly published poetry collection titled The Body of the World (Mad Hat Press).
Copies of The Body of the World can be purchased here: https://madhat-press.com/collections/our-books/products/the-body-of-the-world-by-mary-moore-easter
On this episode, host Lissa Jones talks with author and educator Alexs Pate. Pate Is the author of five novels, including the New York Times Bestseller Amistad, as well as a collection of poetry, and the non-fiction work In the Heart of the Beat: The Poetry of Rap. He edited the 2015 anthology Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota which highlights Black Minnesota writers of the last century. Pate is also the founder and president of Innocent Classroom.
Michael Starburry is a screenwriter and actor known for the film The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, which starred Jennifer Hudson and Anthony Mackie, and the animated series Legends of Chamberlain Heights which has run for two seasons on Comedy Central and for which Michael voices one of the characters. In 2014, First Lady Michelle Obama screened The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete at the White House.
Host Lissa Jones sits down with Dr. Damani Phillips. Dr. Phillips is an active performer, educator and composer. He currently serves as associate professor of jazz Studies and African-American studies at the University of Iowa, where he teaches applied jazz saxophone, directs jazz combos and teaches courses in African-American music, African-American Culture, jazz education and improvisation. In 2009, Phillips completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in jazz studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder becoming one of the first African-Americans in the country to do so. Phillips recently published his first book titled “What is This Thing Called Soul: Conversations on Jazz and Black Culture.”
In this episode, Lissa Jones speaks with Twin Cites based actress, comedian, and educator Joy Dolo of Blackout Improv. Dolo is a founding member of Blackout, Minnesota’s first and only all-Black improv ensemble whose performances use sketch comedy, improv, and stand-up to tackle current events, race, and social justice issues.
This podcast is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board operating support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Black Market Reads is a production of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature. Production services provided by iDream.tv.
In the season three premier, host Lissa Jones sits down with retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page to discuss his children's books, advocacy work, and optimism.
Justice Alan Page is widely recognized for his groundbreaking legal career, as well as for his time in the NFL. Page played for the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears before his retirement to practice law full time; he was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame. In 1992 Page became the first African American elected to Minnesota’s supreme court, where he served as an Associate Justice until his retirement from the court in 2015. Along with his wife Diane Sims Page, he founded the Page Education Foundation which provides scholarships and mentoring for students of color to help them pursue post-secondary education. Now, Page has taken on another role: Children’s book author, releasing three books--most recently Grandpa Alan's Sugar Shack--co-authored with his daughter Kamie Page and illustrated by Minnesota artist Dave Geister.
For more information about the Page Education Foundation and to purchase copies of Justice Page's books visit their website (https://www.page-ed.org)
Author and Historian Duchess Harris returns to Black Market Reads, this time to speak with host Lissa Jones to discuss her newest book Race and Policing which will be published in September by Abdo Publishing. Duchess and Lissa discuss the complex history of race, policing, and force in america, and Duchess shares exciting news about her upcoming collection from Abdo. This episode also features 'Blank,' an original spoken word piece from local poet Ashley Oliver.
In this episode, host Lissa Jones speaks with Erica Armstrong Dunbar about her recent work, Never Caught: The Washington's Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge. Dunbar is an author and historian focusing on the experiences of African American women in the context of slavery, racial injustice, and gender inequality. Today, she is a professor of History at Rutgers University.
In this episode, host Lissa Jones talks with author/musician James McBride at Minneapolis' Ivy Hotel. McBride is the author of five books including Miracle at St. Anna, which McBride adapted for the Spike Lee-directed film of the same name released in 2008. His most recent novel, The Good Lord Bird, won the National Book Award in 2013 and inspired 'A talking music book,' combining pieces from the novel with music performed by McBride and an ensemble of other musicians called the Good Lord Bird Band.
Recordings of The Good Lord Bird: A Talking Music Book were provided by Riverhead Books, and clips were used with their permission.
A frequent contributor to the opinion pages of both Twin Cities dailies as well as the local Black press, Dr. Mahmoud El-Kati has published dozens of monographs and pamphlets, and has appeared on Minnesota Public Radio, and at a host of community-based conferences and events.
From 1970 to 2003, Professor El-Kati taught many generations of Macalester College students in courses such as “The Black Experience Since World War II,” and “Sports and the African American Community.”
In this episode, host Lissa Jones talks with Dr. Mahmoud El-Kati at Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe in St. Paul, MN.
In this episode, Host Lissa Jones sits down with Minnesota writers Carolyn Holbrook and David Lawrence Grant to discuss the creative process and how the past informs their work and activism.
Holbrook and Grant each contributed an essay to the collection A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota which was published by Minnesota Historical Society Press in 2016. For more information, and to purchase the collection, visit www.agoodtimeforthetruth.com .
In this episode, host Lissa Jones explores what it means to love the skin you're in. First, she speaks with author Sharon G. Flake, whose 1998 novel, The Skin I'm In,influenced and inspired a generation of young women. Then, Lissa talks with Twin Cities artist Robin Hickman, who created a curriculum inspired by Flake's novel, and curator Hawona Sullivan Janzen about "Doll Power: Black Dolls and the Power of Play", an exhibit of Hickman's work that appeared at North Minneapolis's UROC Gallery earlier this year.
Duchess Harris's grandmother was one of a small group of black women who worked as human computers for NASA in the 1950s, and who have largely been left out space-race narratives--until now. In this episode, Harris sits down with host Lissa Jones to discuss her research on the subject, as well as her personal connection to it, and the importance of exposing these hidden narratives to mainstream historical consciousness.
Duchess Harris, JD PHD is the Chair of American Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. She is the author of four books including, most recently, Black Lives Matter and Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA which inspired the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.
In this episode we honor the work of playwright and author J. California Cooper with a selection of recordings from her appearance at the 2011 Givens Literary Luncheon sponsored by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Our host for this episode is Beverly Cottman, storyteller and teaching artist, who was at the event.
Ms. Cooper was born in Berkeley, California in 1931. She was the author of 17 plays and more than 10 works of fiction. Over the course of her career she came to be known as an important voice in the American literary community of the late 20th century, with her work being compared to that of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. She died in Seattle, Washington at the age of 82, but her voice and the characters she shared live on.
Author, playwright, and essayist Zetta Elliott talks with Shannon Gibney about her experiences with the publishing industry that eventually led to the creation of her own independent imprint Rosetta Press. She has published over 20 books for children and young adults, and her plays have been staged across the country. For more information, visit her website www.zettaelliott.com
Special guests Irna Landrum and LaCora Bradford join Erin and Junauda in this week's episode as we gather in a Book Club edition of Black Market Reads to discuss The Sellout by Paul Beatty. Listen up, the read the book, and the NY Times review. Then Like us and Share us and let us know what you think.
On this episode, Erin and Junauda are joined by Namir Fearce and Case Wilson, two youth readers, who got to interview author Shannon Gibney about her debut young adult novel, See No Color. Readers then discuss the novel's themes, which include transracial adoption, sports, gender, parenting and mixed race identity. We had to talk about Macklemore's education on white privilege and Chelsea Handler's exploration of racism, so that happened, too.
Read See No Color and let us know what you think.
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In this episode, Erin and Junauda discuss Jada Pinkett Smith's dignified response to another all-white Oscar nominations and the "Black Aunt Viv's" less dignified one. Stacey Dash gets her first and only mention on this show. They discuss their experiences in the public school system, the highs and lows, and talk with Nothando Zulu and Beverly Cottman about their work as storytellers in the schools as part of Givens K12 program. Erin's bestie Michael Kleber-Diggs also reads from an essay about Central High School and his role as a parent of a high school student. #BlackMarketReads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in cooperation with www.iDream.tv Thanks for listening. Please subscribe, share and comment. Your reviews and feedback make our show stronger.
In this episode Erin and Junauda chat with entrepreneurs Felicia Perry and Mychal Fisher, banter about cultural context of beloved 80's icons and celebrate the poetic gifts of J. Otis Powell‽ and Namir Fearce. Thank you for listening to Black Market Reads. Let us know that stories matter. Please give us your comments and reviews, subscribe, share, and like. We love our listeners and we want to hear from you!
The Givens Emerging Writers' Mentor Program engages Black writers from diverse genres in a six-month program. Each year 10 emerging Minnesota-based writers work intensively with nationally acclaimed writers and Minnesota based mentors. Black Market Reads went on location to listen to the voices of Romelle Adkins, Maya Beck, Michael Kleber-Digs, Irna Landrum, Erin Sharkey, Bernard James, Stephanie Christen, Cherish Gibson, and Joi Lewis in the culminating showcase.
This edition of BMR features a book club style exploration of Blues Vision with special guests Lisa Brimmer and Valérie Déus. Blues Vision is a stunning anthology of essays co-edited by Alex Pate, Pam Fletcher, and J. Otis Powell ?!, with cover art by Ta-coumba Aiken, and co-published by Minnesota Humanities Center and Minnesota Historical Society Press. Blues Vision features writing by Minnesota luminaries Tish Jones, Rohan Preston, Mary Moore Easter, E.G Bailey, Frank B. Wilderson III, Sha Cage, Andrea Jenkins, Shannon Gibney, Kim Hines, Carolyn Holbrook, Arleta Little, Clarence White, Angela Shannon and more.
Cultural producers Erin Sharkey and Junauda Petrus. Brought to you by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv
Erin and Junauda enlighten in a wide-ranging conversation about Erykah Badu, Abby Fisher and Affirmative Action, The Wiz and the Encampment at the 4th Precinct with special guests Jayanthi Kyle, Felicia Perry, and Irna Landrum. A poem and a song or two.
Listen to Black Market Reads on iTunes, sound Cloud and a variety of other sources. Check us out, leave a review, let us know what you think.
Join Keegan Xavi, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Erin Sharkey, and Junauda Petrus for an in-depth examination of topics, themes, characters and personal impacts suggested by Loving Day By Mat Johnson.
New York Times Book Review
On the occasion of his visit to Minneapolis as featured author for Givens Foundation Black Books Talk, Mat Johnson author of Loving Day, took time out to chat with Erin and Junauda.
Mat Johnson is the author of the novels Loving Day, Pym, Drop, and Hunting in Harlem, the nonfiction novella The Great Negro Plot, and the comic books Incognegro and Dark Rain. He is a recipient of the United States Artist James Baldwin Fellowship, The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature.
Mat Johnson is a Professor at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program.
If you’re nasty: A Janet Jackson inspired literary salon. With guests Danez Smith, Kamia Watson, Khary Jackson, Sha Cage and Tish Jones.
Recorded in a live performance environment.
Producer: Givens Foundation for African American Literature,
Production services: iDream.tv
BMR Hosts: Junauda Petrus and Erin Sharkey
Special thanks to Seven Steakhouse & Sushi in Minneapolis for hosting the inaugural salon.
Danez Smith – a Saint Paul native, Danez is a current mentor in the Givens Emerging Writers Program, a winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, a 2014 Ruth Lilly - Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow, a Cave Canem and VONA alum, and recipient of a McKnight Foundation Fellowship.
Sha Cage – Writer/Performer, Givens Writing Fellow, and IVEY AWARD winner for her tour de force performance in grounded last year and her solo work U/G/L/Y.
Khary Jackson – Poet, playwright, dancer, musician, and Cave Canem Fellow.
Kamia Watson – A native of Minneapolis, she writes under the name KamRynnKay
Tish Jones – Spoken Word artist and Founder & Executive Director of TruArtSpeaks.
DJ Sarah White will provide the sounds throughout the event.
With guests Bree Newsome, Andrea Jenkins and Dread Scott - Junauda and Erin return to The Convening: Resistance & Rebellion, sponsored by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature.
The inaugural Book Club meeting of Black Market Reads features a lively discussion of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction from Social Movements, an anthology of visionary science and speculative fiction written by organizers and activists. inspired by Octavia Butler, edited by Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha. Book Club participants Tish Jones, Senah Sampong, and Chastity Brown in a discussion led by BMR co-hosts Erin Sharkey and Junauda Petrus.
Junauda and Erin go on location to the Givens Convening: Resistance & Rebellion with Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha editors of Octavia's Brood, Cheyenne Sewell from Yarn Mission, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Eshay Brantley and Namir Fearce.
BLACK MARKET READS interviews the quixotic and brilliant multidisciplinary artist Dean Moss who is presented his work, johnbrown, at the Walker Art Center. He was also a speaker at Convening: Resistance and Rebellion, a day-long international convening exploring the role of art in revolution presented by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with Million Artist Movement.
Check out minute 13:04 to hear the interview from the beginning in its entirety.
johnbrown
“Mr. Moss layers national narratives and personal narratives, moving bodies and moving images, haunting songs and heated conversations in ways that leave us contemplating the future by way of the past.” —New York Times
In this dense and precisely executed work, Dean Moss creates a performative meditation on the complicated, controversial legacy of 19th-century abolitionist John Brown. Moss integrates transfixing choreography, visual design, video, theater, and community participation to question not only the turbulent past of a historical figure but also the racial, gender, and generational processes at play in the inquiry. This ambitious socio-historical critique offers a fascinating intersection of ideas, identities, and ideologies.
Junauda and Erin talk with the baddest feminist in the game, Roxane Gay, author of The Bad Feminist.
Roxane Gay’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, West Branch, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, and many others.
She is the co-editor of PANK and the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, Bad Feminist, and Hunger, forthcoming from Harper in 2016.