Author Talk with Nikesha Elise Williams & Jason Reynolds

MahoganyBooks is excited to host Emmy Award-winning producer, author and podcast host Nikesha Elise Williams as we celebrate her latest novel, The Seven Daughters of Dupree.

Through this tale, Nikesha delivers a feminist literary fiction that explores the ripple effects of actions, secrets, and love through seven generations of Black women.

Joining Nikesha in conversation will be NYT bestselling author Jason Reynolds! Grab ya aunties, sisters and girlfriends, cause you won't want to miss this one!

ABOUT THE BOOK: The Seven Daughters of Dupree

From the two-time Emmy Award-winning producer and host of the Black and Published podcast comes a sweeping multi-generational epic following seven generations of Dupree women as they navigate love, loss, and the unyielding ties of family in the tradition of Homegoing and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.

It's 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother Gladys remains silent about the family's past, including why she left Land's End, Alabama, in 1953. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers.

From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby's fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia's future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.

The Seven Daughters of Dupree masterfully weaves together themes of generational trauma, Black women's resilience, and unbreakable familial bonds. Echoing the literary power of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, Nikesha Elise Williamsdelivers a feminist literary fiction that explores the ripple effects of actions, secrets, and love through seven generations of Black women.

About the author: Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy Award–winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black and Published podcast. A narrative strategist by day and journalist always, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Essence, and Vox. Nikesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and a DeGroot Foundation Writer of Note grantee. A Chicago native, she lives in Florida with her family.

About the moderator: Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of many award-winning books, including Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), Long Way Down, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi), Stuntboy, in the Meantime (illustrated by Raúl the Third), and Ain’t Burned All the Bright (with artwork by Jason Griffin). The recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors, Reynolds is also the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC.

Event guidelines are subject to change.

• 6:30 PM - Doors Open | 7 PM Storytime begins | 9 PM event ends
• Photographs may be taken during the event WITHOUT FLASH.
• Please tag us and use #mahoganybooks, #blackbooksmatter #thesevendaughtersofdupree on social media.

Let's have an amazing evening,

-- Derrick, Ramunda, & the MahoganyBooks Team