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.
"For me, the title of the book is about testifying on behalf of myself, my family, my children and adding to the conversation about the beauty of our people," says Carolyn Holbrook about her newly released collection of essays, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (University of Minnesota Press, 2020). In this episode, …
Continue reading "Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify: Author Carolyn Holbrook on her new book"
“As you read these pages, please consider these words to be an open invitation—an extended hand and an opportunity to learn, to grow, to get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” writes Ford Foundation President Darren Walker in his new book, From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth. According to Walker, embracing discomfort is a …
On May 21st Black Market Reads launched our first all virtual livestream event. In partnership with the Walker Art Center, The Givens Foundation for African American Literature, Platform Arts and iDream.tv, Lissa spoke with Dr. Seph Rodney about the changing role of museums. Together, they discuss Rodney’s 2019 book The Personalization of the Museum Visit, …
"Poetry is present in pretty much every culture," says Reed. "It is present across class boundaries." But, he notes, depending on those boundaries it looks and acts differently. "I think there is a way that certain kinds of poetry are rewarded as literature and therefore are given a kind of visibility that ends up reifying …
Continue reading "Poet, Essayist Justin Phillip Reed on The Malevolent Volume"
On February 7, Black Market Reads was honored to participate in a profound and uplifting celebration of Black identity, art, and music at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=13070933 In part one of this episode, which was recorded in the galleries of the MIA, Lissa speaks with Esther Callahan (Curatorial Affairs Fellow - contemporary …
In this episode of Black Market Reads, Lissa speaks with historian and educator Dr. William D. Green to discuss his works on the history of race and civil rights in Minnesota. Dr. Green is a professor of history at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, and serves as Vice President of the Minnesota Historical society. He is …
In this episode we are pleased to share an interview featuring J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature (Milkweed Editions, 2016), in conversation with guest host Michael Kleber-Diggs. The interview was recorded at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis in 2017. J. Drew Lanham is …
In October, we partnered with Rain Taxi Review of Books to record a special live episode of Black Market Reads at the 2019 Twin Cities Book Festival. In this episode, Lissa speaks with authors about the life and work of the author Toni Morrison who passed away earlier this year. http://givensbmr.libsyn.com/twin-cities-book-festival-2019 Toni Morrison is a …
Continue reading "Remembering Toni Morrison at the 2019 Twin Cities Book Festival"
In this episode, Lissa sits down with poet, performer, and librettist Douglas Kearney to discuss his work. Douglas Kearney has published six books. His most recent, Buck Studies (Fence Books, 2016), was awarded the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award, the CLMP Firecracker Award for Poetry and was a silver medalist for the California Book Award (Poetry). His other works …
Continue reading "Poet, performer, and librettist Douglas Kearney"
In the Season 5 premier, Lissa sits down with author Kalisha Buckhanon to discuss her new novel Speaking of Summer (COUNTERPOINT, 2019). This episode was recorded live at an event hosted by Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis. Kalisha Buckhanon is the author of the novels Solemn, Conception, and Upstate, which was selected as an inaugural National Book Foundation …
Continue reading "Author Kalisha Buckhanon on her new novel Speaking of Summer"