For the smart and free-thinking, Black Market Reads is a podcast featuring conversations with today's most exciting Black literary voices. We are a podcast for any one who loves to read, write, and engage. Black Market Reads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature.
“To divorce the history of slavery from these narratives is a disservice to us, to our history, to our understanding of the world.”-Vanessa Riley Inspired by the true story of Jacquotte Delahaye—a 17th-century free woman of color who rose to become one of the most feared pirates in the Caribbean—FIRE SWORD AND SEA (HarperCollins 2026) follows …
“History, whether you know it or you don’t know it, will impact your life and shift your decisions and shape the world you live in.” - Antonio Michael Downing 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 …
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“It’s important for young Black people to see those who came before them — people who did extraordinary things and were not limited by what the world expected of them.” -Ethelene Whitmire The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram by Ethelene Whitmire tells the true story of Reed Peggram, a brilliant Black, queer Harvard scholar who went …
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“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” - Carter G. Woodson Part social thriller, part modern love story, Who Knows You By Heart (Harper Collins) is a sly, witty, and endlessly discussable tale of Big Tech, new money, relationships, race, and …
Black Market Reads, the podcast produced by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, proudly announces the release of its 100th episode, marking a decade of conversations with Black authors and artists whose work shapes the cultural landscape of Minnesota and beyond. Hosted by Lissa Jones, the 100th episode is an expansive, deeply moving celebration …
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There is nothing that is new in The house on Rondo because it's happening around us all the time. Black neighborhoods are being gentrified, they're being destroyed, in the name of progress again. And who loses out ...?Debra Stone When thirteen-year-old Zenobia has to leave her friends and spend the summer at Grandma’s while Mama …
"Reproductive justice is as much about our right to have children and to raise children with resources and support as it is about our right to not have children." - Leila Mottley, author “Raw, wild, and achingly beautiful, The Girls Who Grew Big is one of the most spiritually accurate and electric portrayals of motherhood …
"Every time I looked at the dress, a cold hand squeezed my heart and a tear dropped from my eye. Eventually, the flood of tears was too great to stop". Madison Montgomery(Valerie Burns, author) Valerie (V.M.) Burns is an acclaimed mystery writer. the author of the Baker Street Mystery, Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Bailey the Bloodhound Mysteries. …
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African American literature is more than stories, poems, and novels. It's a living testament of our ability to endure, to resist, and to thrive in environments that weren't designed for us. From the narratives of enslaved people to the bold voices of the Black Arts movement, our literature has been a mirror of pain, a map of how to navigate the challenges that we face. and a megaphone of our power."
”The devil said, I'm not evil. Not really. How could I be? Ain't nothing in me God ain't put there. Ain't a thing in my heart God didn't smile upon. All I want is to get back home.”Rickey Fayne -The Devil Three Times An audacious debut spanning eight generations of a Black family in West …
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