Brit Bennett is the author of the dazzling coming of age novel The Mothers and the National Book Award nominated novel, The Vanishing Half, which was also longlisted for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Bennett was named a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation and the book was longlisted for the NBCC John Leonard First Novel Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. Her work has also been featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The Paris Review. While an undergraduate at Stanford, she won the Bocock/ Guerard and Robert M. Golden Thesis prizes for her fiction. Earning her MFA at University of Michigan, she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014 Hurston/ Wright Award in College Writing. Her conversations are as memorable as her writing and give audiences a window into her craft while exploring broader themes of race and systemic injustice.

Interviewer Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy award winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black & Published podcast. Her latest novel, Beyond Bourbon Street, was awarded Best Fiction by the Black Caucus of African-American Librarians in the 2021 Self-Published eBook Literary Awards. It also received the 2020 Outstanding Book Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Nikesha is a Chicago native and she attended The Florida State University. Nikesha writes full time with bylines in The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and VOX.

Sign Up for Library U to hear about the latest Lit Chats and catch them live! — https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/library-u-enrollment

Brit Bennett
Borrow Brit Bennett's books from our catalog: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=AUTHOR%3D%22brit+bennett%22&te=
Website: https://britbennett.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/britrbennett

Nikesha Elise Williams
Borrow Nikesha Elise Williams' books from our catalog: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=AUTHOR%3D%22nikesha+williams%22&te
Website: newwrites.com
Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise

Jacksonville Public Library
Website: jaxpubliclibrary.org
Twitter: twitter.com/jaxlibrary
Facebook: facebook.com/JaxLibrary
Instagram: instagram.com/jaxlibrary
YouTube: youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl
Contact Us: jplpromotions (at) coj.net

Twitter Mentions