Advertise on podcast: Black Art Is Lit | Black Literature, Culture and Iconic Stories

This week on Black Art Is Lit, we’re reading We Listen & We Don’t Judge by Tony Lamair Burks II. Chapter 1, “The Principal, the Pastor, and the Pep Rally,” places us in a real-time decision where leadership, community expectations, and student safety all collide. What seems like a straightforward moment quickly becomes a deeper question of power, responsibility, and who is actually being protected.In this episode, we move through the chapter and sit with what it asks of us. Not just what we think—but what we would do when there isn’t enough time, enough information, or an option that satisfies everyone. We explore: what it means to make decisions under pressure why there is no such thing as a neutral choice how power shows up in adult and student dynamics and who we choose to center when it matters most While rooted in education, this conversation extends far beyond the classroom. These are the same tensions that show up anywhere people are sharing space and making decisions that impact others. If you’ve ever had to make a call that affected someone else, this episode will sit with you. Black Art Is Lit is a podcast dedicated to reading, reflecting, and discussing Black literature—one chapter at a time.

This week on BlackArt Is Lit, we’re reading Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge, ahistorical fiction novel set in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn. A disciplined Black community. Dangerous medical work. Secrecy as survival. Libertie is growing up under a respected physician mother who can nearly pass. Libertie cannot. After the rescue of Mr. Ben, the stakes become clear and childhood quietly starts to close. This episode explores the novel’s opening pages, including themes of colorism, Black identity, generational pressure, Haitian lineage, organized resistance networks, and what it means to inherit a version of freedom that may not fit you. If you’re reading along:        Pay attention to who has access and who does not Notice how information is controlled Consider how skin tone shifts mobility insidethe community If you’ve already read Libertie:Did you read the mother as protection or controlWhen did you first see the fracture forming Follow the show, share the episode with someone who reads historical fiction or literature, and join the conversation.

In this episode of Black Art Is Lit, Nykieria Chaney introduces Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane. This historical novel takes place during American slavery and focuses on power, resistance, and the economic system that supported bondage. Within the plantation system, human life is measured by productivity and controlled through both force and narrative.  Early tensions around breeding, value, and misinformation surface quickly, revealing how deeply structured this world is. As the story starts, bigger questions emerge. Why do we remember systems of domination more than the organized movements that fought against them? How has misinformation shaped what is remembered and what is erased? Who controls the story?

This week on Black Art Is Lit, we begin Loving Donovan by Bernice L. McFadden. The opening chapter introduces us to admiration, alignment, and the quiet power of first impressions. Everything feels measured. Intentional. Almost seamless. But sometimes desire edits our perception, and first chapters are rarely innocent. As we read, consider what it means to want stability, to be drawn to polish, to trust what appears composed on the surface. What do we notice when we first meet someone? And what do we unconsciously excuse? Not everything announces itself loudly. Some stories move quietly. If you enjoy reading book club discussions, thoughtful literary analysis, and reading the first chapter before committing to the full novel, Black Art is Lit podcast invites you to slow down and pay attention to the details.

In this episode of Black Art is Lit, we're diving into the opening chapter of Deesha Philyaw's award-winning collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. This book resonated with women because it tells the truth about the collision between desire and respectability in church spaces. It's specific, the church mothers, the unspoken rules, the particular texture of shame and grace that shapes Black women's lives. Philyaw gives us permission to see these women as fully human: messy, sexual, faithful, complicated, and real. This isn't a story that eases you in. It names what we've always felt but never heard said out loud. The secrets. The double lives. The desires that don't fit the narrative we were given about who we're supposed to be. What does it mean when two women who identify as straight are having sex with each other? When labels matter more than actions? When the rules shaping how you see yourself aren't even your own? Did the honesty feel freeing or unsettling? Let's talk about it.

This week on Black Art Is Lit, we’re reading The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez.Originally published in the early 1990s, this book entered the literary world at a moment when Black women writers working in speculative and supernatural traditions were rarely centered, and even less often taken seriously. Gomez, an award-winning Black lesbian writer and cultural worker, built a story that has since become a steady presence in college and university classrooms.The Gilda Stories is taught across literature, Black Studies, gender studies, and queer studies courses for how it expands who gets to be at the center of a narrative and what kinds of stories are considered worthy of sustained attention.Subscribe to Black Art Is Lit for weekly readings that trust the listener to think, feel, and decide for themselves.

This week on Black Art is Lit,we’re reading Straight, No Chaser by Jill Nelson. Written in a moment when Black womenwere navigating media, work, relationships, and public life under intensescrutiny, this book speaks to pressures that still feel familiar today.Expectations around appearance. Respectability. Who is allowed authority. Whois expected to soften. Who is punished for clarity. Nelson writes from inside institutionsthat shaped public opinion while quietly limiting who could define it. Hervoice is direct, unsparing, and deeply aware of how power moves. Throughout thebook, personal history sits alongside cultural critique, gender politics,labor, media, and the cost of visibility.  She also places herself in conversationwith women like Angela Davis, invoking a lineage of Black women whose intellectwas never separate from how their bodies were read, regulated, and politicized.That connection feels especially relevant now, as conversations about voice,image, authority, and dissent continue to shape the political atmosphere in theUnited States.  Subscribe to Black Art is Lit forweekly readings that trust the listener to think, feel, and decide forthemselves.

In this episode ofBlack Art Is Lit, we open Mama Day by Gloria Naylor and step into the world ofWillow Springs, a Black community shaped by memory, tradition, and spiritualinheritance.   First published in1988, Mama Day explores traditions within the Black community that wereunderstood without needing to be spoken aloud. Naylor writes from a place ofcultural knowing, creating space for community, belief, and responsibilitywithout performance or apology. More importantly, the opening pages teach ushow to listen closely, not just to what is said, but to what is left unsaid.   Each week on Black ArtIs Lit, we read the first chapter of a book that shaped the culture and sharethe conversations it opens. Follow and subscribe for weekly episodes centeredon culture, literature, and the stories that continue to influence how we understandourselves.

In this episode of Black Art is Lit, we dive into Invisible Life, the groundbreaking debut novel by E. Lynn Harris that helped redefine Black literature in the 1990s and beyond. Invisible Life was self-published in 1991 after repeated industry rejection and went on to become a bestseller, launching an entire series and solidifying E. Lynn Harris as one of the most influential Black novelists of his generation. His work carved out space for Black queer storytelling in mainstream publishing and proved there was a large, loyal audience hungry for these stories long before the industry acknowledged it. In this episode, we reflect on Harris’s boldness, his cultural impact, and the doors his work opened for future Black and LGBTQ writers. This is a book podcast episode centered on Black authors, Black storytelling, and the power of literature to document the lives and truths that history often ignores. Black Art is Lit is a podcast dedicated to the stories that shape our culture. Follow the show for weekly readings, literary reflections, and conversations that honor art without watering it down.

This week on Black Art Is Lit, we open Bling by Erika Kennedy and step straight into the early 2000s music industry, a moment when fame, ambition, and access blurred together. Published in 2004, Bling follows Mimi, a young singer suddenly pulled from a group and positioned for solo stardom after a powerful industry decision shifts everything. In this opening chapter, we’re introduced to the gatekeepers, the would-be managers, and the quiet breakaways that often come before success. The story mirrors a familiar era in hip-hop history, where vision, control, and image shaped careers just as much as talent did. In this episode, we read the first chapter and reflect on selection versus agency, loyalty versus leverage, and what it meant to be “chosen” in the early days of hip-hop’s commercial rise. Without gossip, the cultural parallels are impossible to miss. 🎧 Black Art Is Lit is a culture podcast where each week we read the first chapter of a book that shaped the culture — and unpack the conversations it opens.

In this episode of Black Art Is Lit, Nykieria Chaney reads the first chapter of Pastor Mason "Ma$e" Betha explosive memoir, Revelations: There’s a Light After the Lime. This opening chapter is a rare look inside the mind of one of hip-hop’s most elusive figures—past the shiny suit era, past Bad Boy mythmaking, and straight into the spiritual awakening that changed everything. Ma$e pulls no punches as he reflects on fame, the Harlem World days, the pressure of the spotlight, and the crossroads that sent him searching for purpose beyond the industry. From Biggie and Diddy to moments of danger, intuition, and divine intervention, this chapter sets the tone for a memoir that blends hip-hop history, personal testimony, and raw honesty. In this episode you’ll hear: ​Why Ma$e walked away at the height of his career​How spiritual signs and warnings shaped his path​Early reflections on Biggie, Tupac, Diddy, and the industry machine​A vulnerable look at identity, calling, and the cost of fame Whether you’re a lifelong Ma$e fan or discovering this book for the first time, this chapter is a powerful entry into one of the most complicated journeys in hip-hop culture.

In this week’s episode of Black Art is Lit, host Nykieria Chaney reads the powerful first chapter of Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen, a deeply moving novel exploring the realities of modern Black womanhood. “Black girls must die exhausted” is something that 33-year-old Tabitha Walker has heard her grandmother say before. Of course, her grandmother (who happens to be white) was referring to the 1950’s and what she observed in the nascent times of civil rights. With a coveted position as a local news reporter, Marc-- a “paper-perfect” boyfriend, and a standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist, Tabitha never imagined how this phrase could apply to her as a black girl in contemporary times – until everything changed.An unexpected doctor’s diagnosis awakens Tabitha to an unperceived culprit, threatening the one thing that has always mattered most - having a family of her own. With the help of her best friends, the irreverent and headstrong Laila and Alexis, the former “Sexy Lexi," Tabitha must explore the reaches of modern medicine and test the limits of her relationships to beat the ticking clock on her dreams of becoming a wife and mother.She must leverage the power of laughter, love, and courageous self-care to bring a healing stronger than she ever imagined - before the phrase “black girls must die exhausted” takes on a new and unwanted meaning in her own life. Black Girls Must Die Exhausted, Jayne Allen, the 92%, Black literature, infertility podcast, book podcast, Black authors, contemporary Black fiction, strong Black woman, Nykieria Chaney, Black Art is Lit, Black Art is Lit Podcast

Octavia Butler didn’t just write fiction—she wrote the future. And in Parable of the Sower, that future looks a lot like our present. Economic collapse, climate disaster, political instability—it’s all here. In this episode of Black Art is Lit, host Nykieria Chaney reads the first three chapters of Butler’s groundbreaking novel and breaks down why this book is more relevant than ever. Whether you’re reading it for the first time or revisiting it, this story demands to be heard. Book Summary:In 2024, America is unraveling. Climate change has ravaged the land, the government is powerless, and communities live in fear behind walls that can barely protect them. Amidst this chaos, 15-year-old Lauren Olamina possesses a unique gift—hyper-empathy, the ability to feel the pain of others as if it were her own. But as her home becomes increasingly unsafe, she begins to form a new belief system called Earthseed, built on the idea that "God is Change." As she sets out on a dangerous journey north, Lauren must navigate violence, uncertainty, and the possibility of creating something better from the ashes of the old world. Nykieria Chaney is a playwright, photographer, and literary curator dedicated to amplifying voices that shape culture, history, and storytelling. As the host of Black Art is Lit, she brings powerful works to life, reading the first chapters and diving deep into their impact. New episodes drop every Tuesday! Subscribe, share, and join the conversation. #ParableoftheSower #OctaviaButler #BlackArtIsLit #BlackArtIsLitPodcast #NykieriaChaney #Nykieria #BookPodcast #Afrofuturism #LiteraryProphecy #PodcastForBookLovers

This week Nykieria covers Sinful by Victor McGlothin Everybody's got a weakness and Chandelle Hutchins' is a love of material possessions-a love that is causing serious trouble in her marriage. Chandelle's latest object of desire is an expensive new house. Her husband Marvin knows they can't afford it-and he also knows he can't talk Chandelle into giving it up. With their relationship crumbling under a mountain of debt, it may just be easier for Marvin to walk away. But with Chandelle's scheming cousin Dior in town, money may be the least of the couple's problems . . . Dior's weakness is her insatiable appetite for causing trouble-and her latest target is her cousin's marriage. When the time is right, Dior would like nothing more than to seduce Marvin on the rebound. But Dior is being trailed by her own troublemaker: a crazed female employer who refuses to release Dior from her twisted duties as nanny to her children and late night mistress to her kinky husband. Fortunately for everyone involved, the Lord works in mysterious ways. For despite a tangle of lies, manipulation, and mayhem, a series of unexpected events is about to bless everyone with a much needed second chance . . . #BlackArtisLit #NykieriaChaney #Nykieria

In this episode, Nykieria covers Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America by Joy-Ann Reid Myrlie Louise Beasley met Medgar Evers on her first day of college. They fell in love at first sight, married just one year later, and Myrlie left school to focus on their growing family. Medgar became the field secretary for the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, charged with beating back the most intractable and violent resistance to black voting rights in the country. Myrlie served as Medgar’s secretary and confidant, working hand in hand with him as they struggled against public accommodations and school segregation, lynching, violence, and sheer despair within their state’s “black belt.” They fought to desegregate the intractable University of Mississippi, organized picket lines and boycotts, despite repeated terroristic threats, including the 1962 firebombing of their home, where they lived with their three young children. On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers became the highest profile victim of Klan-related assassination of a black civil rights leader at that time; gunned down in the couple’s driveway in Jackson. In the wake of his tragic death, Myrlie carried on their civil rights legacy; writing a book about Medgar’s fight, trying to win a congressional seat, and becoming a leader of the NAACP in her own right. In this groundbreaking and thrilling account of two heroes of the civil rights movement, Joy-Ann Reid uses Medgar and Myrlie’s relationship as a lens through which to explore the on-the-ground work that went into winning basic rights for Black Americans, and the repercussions that still resonate today. #BlackArtisLit #Nykieria #JoyReid #Joy-AnnReid