On this episode, Lissa sits down with DeRay Mckesson – civil rights activist, community organizer, and now author of the book On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope. In 2014 he left his job with the Minneapolis Public Schools to join and document the protests in Ferguson Missouri, and has since …
Bonus Episode: Live from Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival 2018
On October 13th authors, publishers, book sellers, and book lovers came together at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds for the annual Twin Cities Book Festival, organized by the Rain Taxi Review of Books. This meeting of the literary minds gave the Black Market Reads team the opportunity to ask some pressing questions of these creators …
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“With each poem I had to say: how is this going to be different than the story they’re running from?” – poet Patricia Smith on her award-winning collection, ‘Incendiary Art’
"We have to figure out, not only some way to write the story, but how to draw people to the story and keep them in it," says poet and spoken word artist Patricia Smith of the work of poets in the fourth season premier of Black Market Reads - her most recent poetry collection, Incendiary …
Minnesota Book Award Finalist A. Rafael Johnson on trauma, memory, and magical realism
*Originally released April 2018 On this episode, Lissa Jones sits down with author A. Rafael Johnson to discuss his debut novel, The Through (Jaded Ibis Press, 2017), which was a finalist for the 2018 Minnesota Book Award in Fiction. Johnson tells us about the process of writing The Through, how he came to magical realism as genre, and …
‘The fight for justice is ongoing.’ – Dr. Artika Tyner on leadership, social justice, and education
*Originally released April 2018 Dr. Artika Tyner, educator, author, speaker and advocate, speaks with host Lissa Jones about what led her to dedicate her career to fighting for justice and empowering others to be leaders in their communities. She shares with us why she decided to focus her efforts on children, writing the book Justice Makes …
Live Episode: Sonya Renee Taylor in Minneapolis
*Originally released March 2018 In this episode, recorded at a live event at Jefferson Community School in Minneapolis, MN, Lissa Jones hosts a fascinating conversation with Sonya Renee Taylor the activist and author at the center of the global movement The Body Is Not an Apology, which advocates radical self-love as tool for political resistance …
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‘It took me 20 years to write this book…because it took that long to live’ – Author Desiree Cooper on her award-winning flash-fiction collection
*Originally released March 2018 Desiree Cooper, author of the award-winning short fiction collection Know the Mother (Wayne State University Press, 2016) talks with host Lissa Jones about the complexities of motherhood and the ways that motherhood interacts, and at times conflicts, with the many other roles that women take on. We reached Desiree Cooper by phone at …
Cave Canem poet Mary Moore Easter on her new collection ‘The Body of the World’
*Originally released March 2018 What if the ancestors spoke to you and it came out as poetry? In this episode, Lissa Jones talks with writer and educator Mary Moore Easter about history, family, poetry, and her newly published poetry collection titled The Body of the World (Mad Hat Press). They also discuss the Cave Canem Foundation, an …
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Author Alexs D. Pate
Update: In October 2018, Alexs Pate released Being You, a children's book delivering a message of hope and self-discovery in a time of uncertainty in our world. *Originally released February 2018 On this episode, host Lissa Jones talks with author and educator Alexs Pate. Pate Is the author of five novels, including the New York Times …
Screenwriter Michael Starrbury
* Originally released February 2018 Michael Starrbury is a screenwriter and actor known for the film The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013), which starred Jennifer Hudson and Anthony Mackie, and the animated series Legends of Chamberlain Heights which has run for two seasons on Comedy Central and for which Michael voices one of the …