Black & Published Nikesha Elise Williams

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speak with Ashton Lattimore, author of the historical novel, All We Were Promised. The novel that follows three young Black women in 19th century Philadelphia. One is born free. One is enslaved. And the third is free-ish: she self-emancipated with her father who’s maintaining their liberation by passing for white. Ashton is the Editor-in-Chief of the non-profit news outlet, Prism. A position she came to after realizing she did not enj...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Vanessa Riley, author of the historical fiction romance novel, Queen of Exiles. An engineer and self-proclaimed math nerd, Vanessa applies her inventive and analytical mindset to her creative writing. Her historical novels showcase the hidden histories of Black women and women of color, emphasizing strong sisterhoods and dazzling multicultural communities. In our conversation, Vanessa outlines the two engineering questions she...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Juliana Lamy, author of the short story collection, You Were Watching From the Sand. A Haitian writer, Juliana says her collection is preoccupied with what it means to be Haitian and the honesty of that lived experience. In our conversation, Juliana, who is a graduate of Harvard and the Iowa Writers Workshop, explains how she creates rhythm and lyricism that translates into English as well as Haitian Kreyol. Plus, the reason she say...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Shannon Sanders, author of the short story collection, Company. A lawyer by trade, Shannon came to crafting her award-winning collection after attending several writing workshops and having to produce on a deadline. In our conversation, Shannon explains why she thinks about what's enjoyable for her reader as she's creating new work. Plus, what she believes it means to leave an inheritance and legacy in the Black commu...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Rudy Francisco, author of the poetry collection, Excuse Me As I Kiss the Sky. Rudy is a renowned spoken word artist who has published two previous collections: Helium (2017) and I'll Fly Away (2020). As a spoken word artist, Rudy said taking his work from the stage to the page allowed him to grow and write about more than one topic. In our conversation, Rudy explains how he tries to show the accuracy of his humanity instead of...

This week on Black & Published, Nikesha speaks with Roberto Carlos Garcia, author of the poetry anthology, What Can I Tell You. Roberto is the author of three previous poetry collections Elegies, black / Maybe: An Afro Lyric, and Melancolía. In our conversation, Roberto discusses unlearning the ways in which colonialism have infected the mind. How anti-Blackness begins at home in some Afro-Latin communities, and the reason he believes spoken word is poetry in its...