LaTanya McQueen on her debut novel When the Reckoning Comes

On this episode, we hear from LaTanya McQueen about her debut novel, When the Reckoning Comes (Harper Perennial, 2021). The novel follows Mira, a young woman who travels back to the southern town where she grew up to attend the wedding of a childhood friend -- a wedding being held at a former plantation-turned-event venue. …

Resmaa Menakem on Racialized Trauma and Somatic Abolitionism

Left: Cover of Resmaa's NYT Bestselling book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies; Right: Lissa and Resmaa in the studio. 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 …

Author Carol Anderson on her new book The Second: Race and Guns in A Fatally Unequal America

“How can I be unarmed when it is my blackness you fear," writes Carol Anderson in her latest work, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury, 2021). This episode was recorded as part of a live event in anticipation of the release of Carol Anderson’s latest Book The Second: hosted by …

Dr. William D. Green: “The easiest way to lose the soul of one’s achievements is to become complacent.”

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 …

DeRay Mckesson on ‘trying to tell a story about a world that we haven’t seen but that we know is possible’

  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 …

“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 …

‘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 …

‘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 …