By Levi Perrin
Black women have written themselves into history for centuries. Historical reviews. Biographies. Memoirs. Novels. Essays. Self-Help. Traversing genres and subjects, our contemporary scribes and storytellers join Zora, Maya, Toni, Alice and legions in the ever-unfolding tapestry of us.
She—that lives in all of us—wrote the books of our lives.
From this dream and affirmation, Unerased | Black Women Speak created She Wrote the Book—a campaign to showcase and collaborate with the Black literary community and passionate Black women readers through virtual events, cross-generational discussions and curated digital content.
Never trying to reinvent the wheel, our intention is to uplift existing stories, writers and readers in one place to share imagination, admiration and build community. Our quest is to bring our words the light and recognition they deserve.
Hosted and curated by Tracy Chiles McGhee, a multi-passionate activist and award-winning author of Melting the Blues, She Wrote the Book has grown into a bimonthly event series featuring authors, publishers, literary agents and others complemented by seasonal book recommendations of our favorite reads.
Inspired by Nina Simone’s words “It is an artist’s duty to reflect the times,” this month Tracy will take our audience on a journey across eras with authors Athena Dixon, Dr. Monique Couvson, Ethel Morgan Smith and Crystal Wilkinson; and we showcase ten authors in our PrimeTime 55+ community whose works encompass fiction, memoir, history and public policy. They include iconic word warrior and former Essence editor Susan Taylor and debut author Bernadine Watson who published her memoir at 70.
She Wrote the Book is simply giving a name and space to a community that has existed through time, kept alive by personal networks, word of mouth and independent Black booksellers and dedicated editors and publishing agents. As Toni Morrison once said, “If there is a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written, then you must write it.”
And with that, we write ourselves into a place that pulls all threads together into a piece that we share.
Join us on this journey by joining our She Wrote the Book community here.
