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This episode features our conversation with Toni Ann Johnson, which was live-streamed on February 15, 2026.

Toni Ann Johnson won the Flannery O’Connor Award for her linked story collection, Light Skin Gone to Waste. Selected for the prize and edited by Roxane Gay, the collection was also shortlisted for the Saroyan Prize and nominated for a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Her novella, Homegoing, published in 2021 and linked to Light Skin Gone to Waste, was selected by Katerina Stoykova as the winner of Accents Publishing’s inaugural novella contest. Johnson’s newest linked collection, But Where’s Home?, the third book in the series about the Arrington family, was chosen by Crystal Wilkinson as the winner of the Screen Door Press Prize and published in February of 2026 (Screen Door Press is an imprint of University Press of Kentucky).

During this episode, we talked about Toni Ann’s latest book, But Where’s Home?.

But Where's Home?, Toni Ann Johnson's new collection of linked short stories, explores the sometimes painful and often humorous experiences of the Airringtons as an upper-middle-class Black family in a predominantly white, working-class community. This book follows Johnson's previous collection, Light Skin Gone to Waste. Through multiple perspectives and moments in time, from the 1960s to 2022, readers are invited into the lives of the eldest daughter, who longs for her father's affection while striving for independence; the youngest daughter, who seeks to overcome childhood pain through music and love; a father practicing psychology while engaging in affairs with the white women of the town; and a mother dealing with infidelity while raising her daughters in a place that rejects them.

Deeply emotional, funny, and unflinchingly honest, But Where's Home? lays bare the realities of Black life in America, challenging readers to confront racism, classism, colonized thinking, narcissism, abuse, and troubled parent-child relationships. Johnson's complex and interwoven characters create a kaleidoscope of truths about human nature and race relations in the United States.

Purchase your copy of But Where's Home?: https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781967165032/but-wheres-home/

Find Toni Ann Johnson online: https://www.toniannjohnson.com/

Listen to our first chat with Toni Ann Johnson from Season Three here.

Mentioned during the episode:
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals by Dr. Saidiya Hartman (2019): https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393357622

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray: https://bookshop.org/a/114101/9780593638484

Check out our interview with Victoria Christopher Murray about Harlem Rhapsody from Season Five: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-writers-read-victoria-christopher-murray/id1627999524?i=1000698295022

Find Toni Ann on Instagram: @treeladytoniann

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/blackwritersread

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This episode features our conversation with Theresa Okokon, which was hosted live and in-person on November 1, 2025 at The LAVA Center in Greenfield, MA. Special thanks to Straw Dog Writers Guild and The LAVA Center for co-hosting this event.

Theresa Okokon is an award-winning writer, storyteller, and teacher. A Wisconsinite living in New England, she is the co-host of Stories From The Stag, which has over 23,000 subscribers on YouTube. In addition to writing and performing her own stories, Theresa also teaches storytelling and writing, coaches other tellers, hosts storytelling events, and collaborates with nonprofits on narrative-driven special projects and events. An alum of both the Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator programs at GrubStreet, Theresa’s memoir of essays about memory, family stories, and the death of her father — titled WHO I ALWAYS WAS (Atria Books, 2025). Her essay Me Llamo Theresa, which is in WHO I ALWAYS WAS, was originally published in Hippocampus Magazine and was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize.

Purchase your copy of WHO I ALWAYS WAS via Black Writers Read's Bookshop link here.

Please visit Theresa’s website at theresaokokon.com to learn more about her and her body of work.

You can find The LAVA Center online at thelavacenter.org and Straw Dog Writers Guild online at strawdogwriters.org.

Find Theresa on Instagram: @ohh.jeezzz

Find The LAVA Center on Instagram: @thelavacenter

Find Straw Dog Writers Guild on Instagram: @strawdogwriters

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/blackwritersread

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This episode features our conversation with Charmaine Letitcia Wilcox, which was live-streamed on February 10, 2026.

Charmaine Leticia Wilcox is an author, independent publisher, and the creative engine behind Triangles Publishing. Based in Las Vegas, she specializes in multi-genre narratives that bridge the gap between gritty reality and vivid imagination. From the high-stakes emotional drama of the Triangles series to the world-building depths of her fantasy work, Charmaine’s stories are defined by complex characters who refuse to be defined by their pasts. When she isn’t crafting new worlds or navigating the rigors of nursing school, she is dedicated to empowering the next generation of storytellers.

During this episode, Charmaine shared an excerpt from her book, For the Sake of Love, which is the second book of the Triangles Series.

Learn more about Charmaine, her work, and Triangles Publishing here.

Mentioned during the episode:

Black Romance Book Fest, which is scheduled for this year from May 29 - May 31 in Atlanta, GA (it is an annual convening that usually takes place at the end of May)

Find Charmaine Leticia Wilcox on Instagram: @charmainetheauthor

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/blackwritersread

Support the show