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This episode features our conversation with Nzima Hutchings (poetry. prose.), the 2023-2025 Poet Laureate for Enfield, Connecticut, which was livestreamed on April 7, 2025 to kick-off National Poetry Month.

An award-winning author, editor, educator, and workshop facilitator, Nzima Hutchings has worked with various organizations including Trinity Health of New England, Saint Francis Hospital Family Advocacy Center, Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Asnuntuck Community College, Long Wharf Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Café, Our Piece of the Pie, Massachusetts Women of Color, and Mount Holyoke College. Nzima serves on several boards of directors including for the Enfield Cultural Art Commissions, Ujima African American, and A Queen’s Narrative. She is the curator and host of Nzima's Poetry Café Show. show on Cox Public Access Studios which airs in Connecticut and Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She is also a co-founder off Hartford's L.I.T. with T'challa Williams who was interviewed on the podcast back in February of 2025. Nzima is a contributor to Heavy is the Crown, an anthology published by A Queen's Narrative - I served as the editor and Nzima read an excerpt of her poem during the bonus episode announcing the book.

To purchase books written by Nzima, visit her Amazon link here.

To listen to the bonus episode on the Heavy is the Crown anthology: Apple Podcasts; Spotify

Find Nzima on Instagram: @follownzima

FInd Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

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

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This episode features our conversation with contemporary romance author, Reese Ryan, which was live-streamed on March 23, 2025.

Award-winning author Reese Ryan writes sexy, emotional, “grown folks” romantic fiction. Her characters find love while navigating career crises and family drama. The two-time recipient of the Donna Hill Breakout Author Award is an advocate for the romance genre and diversity in fiction. Reese’s books have been featured on Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, and BookRiot.

Our chat centered around The Love & Music Suite which includes Spin the Block, Never the Right Time, and More Than Friends. The fourth book of the series, When It Comes to You, is due for release this summer on June 20.

The Love & Music Series follows the music industry celebrity alumni of Peachtree School of the Arts in Atlanta as they reconnect to save their old school. Friendships are formed and love connections are re-ignited as they navigate the industry and take their careers to new heights.

To learn more about Reese and her work, please visit reeseryan.com.

During our conversation, we also talked about the Black Romance Book Fest. Learn more about this event by visiting https://blackromancebookfest.com/.

Find Reese on Instagram: @reeseryanwrites

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

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

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This episode features our conversation with nonfiction, business, and Christian Self-Help author, LaTanya Orr, which was live-streamed on March 15, 2025.

Brand strategist, certified life coach and visual storyteller, LaTanya Orr, strategically equips entrepreneurs, corporate executives and ministry leaders with award-winning concepts that showcase their brand brilliance with intention and maximum impact. With over two decades in marketing, public relations, and design, LaTanya shapes brand identities through creative strategies and impactful design. As the author of Strike A Pose: 7 Red Carpet Strategies Every Entrepreneurial Woman Must Have, she empowers career women to excel. Her upcoming book, FoundHER, Finding Me: How a Shift in Focus Reveals Your Extraordinary, guides women to thrive at the highest levels. Regarded as an “Entrepreneurial Midwife”, LaTanya fosters disruption in women's business through her Chicago-based, women's entrepreneurial network, The FoundHERS Suite. LaTanya holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Davenport University.

To learn more about LaTanya and her work, please visit www.thefoundherssuite.com.

During the introduction, I mentioned the name of Michelle May, the amazing creative professionals' coach that brought LaTanya and I together. Michelle has helped me to amplify my brand as a creative professional and to streamline my workflow. To learn more about her and her services, visit https://www.ammayassociates.com/coachingmichelle.

Find LaTanya on Instagram: @latanyaorr

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

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

Support the show