Andrea Jenkins - The T is Not Silent
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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...
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Special Edition: Race to Write: Black Authors on America's Racial Reckoning
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In this episode, the tables turn and Lissa Jones is in the spotlight. Lissa joins Dr. Vanessa Weaver, host of 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...
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Episode 63 - Wanda M. Morris, All Her Little Secrets
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
“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, 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...
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Special Edition: Team Up for Health Equity with Bukata Hayes
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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 Healthcare, Chaz Sandifer/CEO theNEWmpls, and R.T. Rybak/President and CEO The Minneapolis Foundation.
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Episode 62 - Jayne Allen
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Jaunice Sealey 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.
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Episode 61 - Tananarive Due on Black Horror and The Between
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In our 60th episode, 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.
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Episode 60 - LaTanya McQueen
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In this episode: LaTanya McQueen on 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 personal and historical traumas of the place. She is also the author of the essay collection And it Begins Like This. She is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Coe College in Iowa.
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Episode 59 - Resmaa Menakem
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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."
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Episode 58 - Carol Anderson
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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.
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Episode 57 - Morgan Jerkins on her debut novel Caul Baby
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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.
info_outlineOn 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.