[Non-fiction, Essay, Memoir] Nicole Shawan Junior was bred in the bass-heavy beat and scratch of Brooklyn, where the cool of beautiful inner-city life barely survived cripplings caused by crack cocaine. She is a black, Queer and poverty-born counter-storyteller, felon, and former police prosecutor. Stephanie and Lauren chat with Nicole about her recent writing, non-fiction workshops, and forthcoming memoir.

Lez Talk Books Radio

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Nicole Shawan Junior

[Fiction, Horror, Short Stories] Kivel Carson is an emerging writer concerned with social justice, Black liberation, and representation through art and storytelling, particularly in the genres of literary fiction and Afrofuturism. In this episode, she chats about "Night Has No Eyes," a sharp zombie story in Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing.

Lez Talks Books Radio Presents: Kivel Carson

[Fiction, Steampunk, Short Stories] La Toya Hankins returns to Lez Talk Books Radio to dish about her new steampunk story, featured in Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing. You can find more of her short works in Lez Talk: A Collection of Black Lesbian Short Fiction and at JMS Books. LaToya also penned the novels SBF Seeking… and K-RHO: The Sweet Taste of Sisterhood.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: La Toya Hankins

[Short Stories, Creative Non-fiction, Journalism] Almah has been published in various anthologies, including the revised edition of does your mama know?: Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories. Her journalism has garnered a National Ethnic Media Award from New America Media and recognition on Utne Reader’s “Great Writing” blog. In this episode, Almah chats about her latest short story, found in Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Almah LaVon Rice

[Short Stories, Novel, Creative Writing] M Shelly Conner uses her experiences as a dapperqueer Black woman to produce multi-genre works that examine intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Her collection of writing spans multiple media and a range of publications, including "Black From the Future: A Collection of Speculative Fiction." As a whole, Shelly's writing makes queer interventions in a tradition of storytelling about Black life and families from Jim Crow South to south side Chicago.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: M Shelly Conner

[Short Stories] Penny Micklelbury is a pioneering newspaper, radio, and television journalist, and an award-winning writer of stage plays. She is the recipient of the Audre Lorde Estate Grant and was a resident writer at the Hedgebrook Women Writers Retreat. Her new collection of stories, God’s Will and Other Lies, joins her catalog of eleven published mystery novels in three successful series: The Mimi Patterson/Gianna Maglione Mysteries (two-time Lambda Literary Award finalists); the Carole Ann Gibson Mysteries (winner of a Gold Pen Award by the Black Writers Alliance); and the Phil Rodriquez Mysteries; and the novel of historical fiction, Belle City.  

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Penny Mickelbury

[Serendipity, Writing Retreat, Submissions, Writing Community] Lauren and Stephanie share updates about the 2nd annual writing retreat (Black Women Writing in the South), Serendipity, Sinister Wisdom, and more.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Spring 2019 Updates

[Poetry, Activism, Writing Community] JP co-edited issue #107 of Sinister Wisdom, titled “Black Lesbians—We Are the Revolution” to lift up the voices of African-American lesbians for all to hear, see, and know. Her debut poetry collection SAY/MIRROR was a 2016 Lambda Literary finalist. She is also the author of bury your love poems here (Belladonna*). JP was a 2017 Split this Rock Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism finalist and is featured in the 2017 Lesbian Poet Trading Card Series from Headmistress Press. She was the recipient of a 2016 Lambda Literary Judith A. Markowitz Emerging Writer Award and has received fellowships and grants from Cave Canem, VONA, Lambda, Astraea, and Brooklyn Arts Council. JP curates Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon, a NY-based forum offering women writers a monthly venue to collaborate. Her poetry and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Apogee Journal, The Feminist Wire, Split this Rock, Muzzle Magazine, and The Best American Poetry Blog. She holds a BA from Barnard College and an MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: JP Howard

[Art: Installation/Performance, Poetry] “Black Lesbians” contributor Indira Allegra dives into her art, process, and journey. Indira works with tension as creative material through sculpture and performance. She has been honored with the Jackson Literary Award, Lambda Literary Fellowship and Windgate Craft Fellowship. Her work has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and Surface Design Magazine. Allegra’s writing has been widely anthologized, and her commissions include works for SFMOMA, de Young Museum, The Wattis Institute, City of Oakland, SFJAZZ Poetry Festival and the National Queer Arts Festival. Indira is a KQED ‘Woman to Watch’ and 2018 Art + Process + Ideas Visiting Artist at Mills College.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Indira Allegra

[Poetry] Arisa continues the conversation with “Black Lesbians” contributors. Arisa is a Cave Canem fellow and MFA graduate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of the poetry chapbooks Disposition for Shininess, Post Pardon, Black Pearl, Perfect on Accident (forthcoming), and “Fish Walking” & Other Bedtime Stories for My Wife. Her debut full-length collection, Hurrah’s Nest, was a finalist for the 2013 Wheatley Book Awards, 82nd California Book Awards, and nominated for a 44th NAACP Image Awards. Her newest full-length collection, You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened, was nominated for the 29th Lambda Literary Awards. Arisa is currently co-authoring a middle-grade biography on the midwife and philanthropist Bridget “Biddy” Mason– slated for publication in 2019.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Arisa White

[Poetry, Feminist Studies] In January 2018, Sinister Wisdom released “Black Lesbians—We Are the Revolution” (Issue 107) to lift up the voices of African-American lesbians for all to hear, see, and know. This episode is the first in a series of conversations with the contributors. Alexis a queer black troublemaker, a black feminist love evangelist, independent scholar, and activist. She is the author of Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity and the forthcoming book, M Archive: After the End of the World;  co-editor of Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines; and the founder and director of Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind, an educational program based in Durham, North Carolina.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Alexis Pauline Gumbs

[Young Adult, Fiction] Leona writes about the eccentric, often queer and funny characters from her Southern youth. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she is a graduate of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia; Mills College in Oakland, California; and the New School University in New York City. Among the many things, she has taught art to the very young and to elders, wrote arts columns, been an educational consultant, and worked in children’s television. In this episode, we discuss her debut novel, Something Better Than Home.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Leona Beasley

[Creative Non-fiction, Journalism] Almah has been published in various anthologies, including the revised edition of does your mama know?: Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories. Her journalism has garnered a National Ethnic Media Award from New America Media and recognition on Utne Reader’s “Great Writing” blog.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Almah Lavon Rice

On June 21, 2016, we started a new series, Topics in Black Lesbian Publishing, that aims to address Black lesbian writing from a publisher’s perspective.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: The State of Black Lesbian Publishing

Renée Cronin [Fiction, Romance] Renée began writing in earnest in 2005, when the characters in her head became so loud she was forced to tell their stories or risk getting swept away into the abyss of her imagination. Renée describes herself as “a reader who loves to write. A romantic at heart who loves a good twist. A realist with extreme imagination.” In this episode, she chats about her most recent novel, Fistful of Love.

Lez Talk Books Radio Presents: Renée Cronin

Lez Talk Books Radio amplifies the work of Black lesbian and queer writers and highlights topics and trends in publishing

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Lez Talk Books Radio

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