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.
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Episode 56 - Poet Javon Johnson
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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”. His new poetry collection, Ain't Never Not Been Black (Button Poetry, 2020).
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Bonus: Can't Stop, Won't Stop: Poems in the wake of racial injustice
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Listen to audio of poets reading their work from Can't Stop, Won't Stop: Poems in the wake of racial injustice.
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Episode 55 - Can't Stop, Won't Stop with Mary Moore Easter and Bernard James
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In this episode, Lissa speaks with Mary Moore Easter, editor and poet, and Bernard James, a poet who lives near the intersection now known as George Floyd Square. They discuss their poetry chapbook in response to the murder of George Floyd. 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).
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Episode 54 - Claudia Rankine
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
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.
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Episode 53 - Dr. Frank B. Wilderson, III
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Author and scholar Dr. Frank B. Wilderson, III on his latest work, Afropessimism. From his youth in Minneapolis to Apartheid South Africa, Dr. Wilderson is 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.
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.