Episode 14: "Write the Story You Want To Write"
with Zakiya Dalila Harris and Kellye Garrett
On this episode, we're excited to bring you Zakiya Dalila Harris in conversation with Kellye Garrett.
Zakiya Dalila Harris is the author of the debut novel The Other Black Girl, which she is adapting into a Netflix series produced by Rashida Jones. Zakiya received her MFA in creative writing from The New School then spent nearly three years in editorial at Knopf/Doubleday. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Cosmopolitan, Guernica, and The Rumpus.
Zakiya is joined by Kellye Garrett, author of the suspense novel Like A Sister which was featured on the TODAY show and was a Book of the Month April 2022 selection. She also wrote the Detective by Day lightweight mysteries, which have won the Anthony, Agatha, Lefty and IPPY awards and have been featured on the TODAY show as a Best Summer Read. Kellye also wrote for the hit TV series Cold Case and is a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color.
Speaking for the first time, Zakiya and Kellye share with each other the role TV writing has played in their book authorship, the courage it takes to write unapologetically about their experience, and how to make the current "golden age” of BIPOC mystery writing more than a trend.
Read Along!
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Good Morning America and Read with Marie Claire Book Club Pick and a People Best Book of Summer
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Time, The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Parade, Goodreads, Fortune, and BBC
Urgent, propulsive, and sharp as a knife, The Other Black Girl is an electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing.
Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.
Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.
It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.
A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.
In this "tense, twisting mystery" (Megan Miranda), no one bats an eye when a Black reality TV star is found dead—except her estranged half-sister, whose refusal to believe the official story leads her on a dangerous search for the truth.
“I found out my sister was back in New York from Instagram. I found out she’d died from the New York Daily News.”
When the body of disgraced reality TV star Desiree Pierce is found on a playground in the Bronx the morning after her 25th birthday party, the police and the media are quick to declare her death an overdose. It’s a tragedy, certainly, but not a crime.
But Desiree’s half-sister Lena Scott knows that can’t be the case. A graduate student at Columbia, Lena has spent the past decade forging her own path far from the spotlight, but some facts about Desiree just couldn’t have changed since their childhood. And Desiree would never travel above 125th Street. So why is no one listening to her?
Despite the bitter truth that the two haven’t spoken in two years, torn apart by Desiree’s partying and by their father, Mel, a wealthy and influential hip-hop mogul, Lena becomes determined to find justice for her sister, even if it means untangling her family’s darkest secrets—or ending up dead herself.
We are proudly supported by:
Desert Island Bookshelf
This episode's Independent Bookseller shout-out goes to:
The Book Club
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