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If you are a BIPoC writer, Reed, Write, & Create, is the podcast you need to stay motivated and inspired to write. Award-winning author, educator, and creative writing coach, Lori L. Tharps ( ”Hair Story,” ”Kinky Gazpacho,” and ”Substitute Me”) knows how hard it is to stay committed to your writing projects - whether you’re working on that debut novel, a gut-wrenching memoir, or an essay about your trip around the world. Writing can be your passion, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Even if you’re a seasoned author. On the show, Lori is here to serve as your creative-writing coach and she wants to help you tap into your divine right to write. You’ll get inspiring pep talks and literary life lessons based on the lives of our BIPoC literary ancestors. Think Toni Morrison, Lorraine Hansberry, Phillis Wheatley e.t.c. You’ll also hear inspiring interviews with contemporary, best-selling, BIPoC authors who share actionable writing tips and techniques to help improve your craft and better understand the business of writing and the publishing industry. If the idea of having your very own creative writing coach sounds like just what you need to optimize your writing life, then this is the podcast for you. New episodes are released on Mondays. Subscribe to the show and find more writing resources for BIPOC writers and the readers who love them at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Episodes
3 days ago
3 days ago
On episode 57 we’re going Behind the Book with legendary literary agent, Regina Brooks.
Regina is the founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency in New York, the largest African American–owned agency in the US. She has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature.
Currently the president of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA), Brooks is also a founding member of Literary Agents of Change (LAOC) and the Black Book Accelerator.
Grab your notebooks because this episode is full of truth bombs and actionable advice for writers who want to find an agent, and stand out in a crowded field.
She breaks down the difference between being a good writer and a good author.
Regina also gives us a true behind-the-scenes look at how agents really run their business, and she answers the question whether BIPOC writers should only use BIPOC agents.
This is an episode you can’t afford to miss, so press play.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
About the Black Book Accelerator
The African American Literature Book Club (AALBC)
Books Regina Recommends
The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes (Middle Grade Fiction)
Who Better Than You by Will Packer (Adult Non Fiction)
MORE FROM REED, WRITE & CREATE
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Follow Reed, Write, & Create on Instagram at ReedWriteandCre8
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday Jun 23, 2025
Monday Jun 23, 2025
On episode 56 of the podcast, we’re going Behind the Book with Stephanie Lim. Stephanie is the co-founder of Third State Books, a new publishing house that amplifies the voices, stories, and issues of Asian America and the Pacific Islands. They publish fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children.
Stephanie Lim is a publisher and marketing executive who brings an abiding love of literary classics, guilty-pleasure genre fiction, fanfic, and children’s books to her work at Third State Books. She spent over 15 years in digital marketing and operations, first as a strategist for advertising clients at Google, then leading e-commerce teams and managing multi-million-dollar advertising budgets for retail brands such as ModCloth, Bebe, and Serena Williams’s eponymous fashion label. She co-founded Third State Books in 2023.
During this enlightening conversation with Stephanie we discuss:
- Why she left a career in e-commerce and fashion to run a publishing company.
- What are the unique challenges Asian-American authors face in the mainstream publishing industry.
- What new titles Third State Books is putting out next and why.
- Why she wants to see more Asian Americans getting to play the main character in books and in life.
- Why she wants to dispel the myth that Asian Americans only read and write literary fiction.
To Find out more about Third State Books, visit ThirdStateBooks.com
Follow Third State Books on Instagram.
Check out these recent and upcoming titles from Third State Books
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Follow Reed, Write, & Create on Instagram at ReedWriteandCre8
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday Jun 16, 2025
Monday Jun 16, 2025
We’re going Behind the Book with someone who plays a critical role in the literary ecosystem, you!
On episode 55 we’re replaying my short but important pep talk about why writers need a reading habit and not just a reading hobby.
Even if you heard this episode last year when it first aired, I encourage you to listen again to remind yourself why it’s so important for you as a writer, to develop a consistent reading habit in order to up-level your writing skills. And, of course, to contribute to the literary ecosystem. I mean if we writers aren’t consuming good books on a regular basis, then we can hardly expect the industry to survive, much less thrive.
You’ll learn:
- The difference between a reading habit and a reading hobby.
- How to cultivate a reading habit to up-level your writing skills.
- How to read like a writer.
- Why writers should avoid the basic book club.
Let’s get a good reading habit going for the summer!
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Follow Reed, Write, & Create on Instagram at ReedWriteandCre8
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday Jun 09, 2025
Monday Jun 09, 2025
On episode 54 we’re going Behind the Book with bookseller Jeannine A. Cook, founder of Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jeannine A. Cook is a self-described word worker. In 2020, she opened Harriett’s Bookshop in the Fishtown section of North Philadelphia with the mission to celebrate women authors, women artists, and women activists. In 2021, she opened Ida’s Bookshop in Collingswood, NJ, and Josephine’s Bookshop (a bookshop installation in Paris).
Jeannine’s work as a literary activist has been recognized by several national and international news outlets including The New York Times, Vogue Magazine, Google, and Forbes, Inc.
Jeannine is also a writer and author who writes about the complex intersections of motherhood, globalism, activism, and the arts. Her delicious debut novel, It’s Me They Follow will be released in September, 2025.
During our conversation, Jeannine shares:
- How magic, synchronicity, and obedience to spirit play a part in her success as a bookseller.
- The history of word working and miracles in her own family that inspire her own literary work.
- Why she doesn’t worship money.
- The challenges she faces as a bookseller who is also a writer.
- What she’s working on next in honor of the late Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathii.
This is a magical and motivating episode.
To learn more about the amazing Jeannine A. Cook and what she’s up to, visit her website.
To Follow all the fun at Harriett’s Bookstore and her sister shop, Ida’s Bookstore, visit their website and/or Follow on Instagram.
You can pre-order Jeanine’s debut novel, It’s Me The Follow at the Reed, Write & Create bookstore.
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Follow Reed, Write, & Create on Instagram at ReedWriteandCre8
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday Jun 02, 2025
Monday Jun 02, 2025
On episode 53 of the podcast, we’re going Behind the Book and back in time, to meet David Ruggles, the first Black American to own and operate a bookstore for Black people.
David Ruggles was a revolutionary thinker, a bibliophile, a healer, and a radical abolitionist who believed that reading and the written word would set his people free.
He opened the first Black-owned bookstore, D. Ruggles Books, in 1834 in New York City.
On this episode you’ll hear all about David Ruggles' incredible life, his revolutionary bookstore, and the extraordinary career pivot he was forced to make after losing his eyesight as a young man.
I promise, you will love this story. And you will feel even more motivated to get your stories out into the world after listening.
David Ruggles was living proof that a bookstore is a powerful weapon against oppression.
To learn more about David Ruggles, visit the David Ruggles Center for History and Education website.
If you want to read a complete biography of Ruggles, try this well regarded biography by Graham Russell Gao Hodges.
Grab a copy of Prose to the People, an excellent book about the history of Black bookstores in the United States.
***
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori and her global literary life on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday May 26, 2025
Monday May 26, 2025
On episode 52 we’re going Behind the Book with Sylvia Arthur, the founder of the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora in Accra, Ghana.
Remember, for Season Five of the podcast, we’re going behind the book to talk to people whose livelihood and careers depend on the free flowing circulation of books in society.
Sylvia Arthur is the Founder of the Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora (LOATAD), a library, archive, writing residency, and research institute in Accra, Ghana, dedicated to the work of African and Diaspora writers from the late 19th century to the present day.
Sylvia started LOATAD using 1,300 of her own books in 2017 and she has since curated six libraries in Ghana, including school, community, and corporate libraries. She is an advocate for the restitution of African literary archives to the continent, and she is a 2024 Ford Global Fellow.
On this episode, Sylvia shares:
- How and why she started the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora.
- What are the unique challenges of running a library in Ghana.
- Why she wanted to launch a residency for Diasporic writers.
- Why she thinks books are transformational in the lives of marginalized people.
- What keeps her motivated as a one-woman show to make sure LOATAD continues to thrive.
- Besides reading, what kinds of activities happen in the library.
I hope you enjoy this inspiring episode and you consider visiting or supporting The Library of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Follow LOATAD on Instagram to see what kind of events and offerings they have.
Sylvia’s last favorite read was The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Sylvia’s suggestion for a book by a Ghanaian author everyone should read, Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo, one of Ghana’s most famous female authors.
Check out Lori's video about her experience as a resident at LOATAD on her YouTube channel, Literary Lori.
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Follow Reed, Write, & Create on Instagram at ReedWriteandCre8
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday May 19, 2025
Monday May 19, 2025
For Season Five of the podcast, we’re going behind the book and talking to people and reviewing the lives of our literary ancestors whose livelihood and life missions require(d) the free circulation of books in society.
On episode 51, we’re going back in time to talk about literary ancestor, Arturo Schomburg. Schomburg was a bad-ass bibliophile who dedicated his life to collecting proof of global Black excellence. The majority of his collection was, of course, books.
“Schomburg is arguably the most iconic Black bibliophile in American and African diasporic history,” said author Laura Helton.
During the episode, you’ll hear what inspired Schomburg to start searching for “proof” of Black excellence, why he believed so strongly in the written word, and how he used books and writing to disseminate the knowledge he was collecting.
I hope that by listening to Schomburg’s incredible story, you are reminded of just how important books written by and about Black people really are. We have to write them, and keep them safe.
If you’d like to read more about the fascinating life and work of Arturo Schomburg, get your hands on a copy of Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg by Vanessa K. Valdés.
Also, you can see the fruits of Schomburg’s lifelong labor by visiting The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York.
FYI, March 2025 marked the 100th anniversary of Schomburg’s iconic essay, “The Negro Digs Up His Past.” Here is an article from the New York Public Library revisiting its importance and impact.
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Follow Lori and her global literary life on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday May 12, 2025
Monday May 12, 2025
For Season Five of the podcast, we’re going behind the book to talk to people whose livelihood and careers depend on the free flowing circulation of books in society.
On episode 50, our guest is Emely Rumble, LCSW. Emely is a distinguished licensed clinical social worker, school social worker, and a bibliotherapist. Committed to making mental health services more accessible, Emely specializes in the transformative practice of bibliotherapy. Emely is also the author of the exciting new book, Bibliotherapy in the Bronx.
During our conversation, Emely explains:
- What is bibliotherapy?
- Why bibliotherapy works for people struggling with mental health issues.
- Who is the African-American ‘Hidden Figure’ of bibliotherapy.
- Why she wants more BIPOC authors to be aware of this powerful modality.
- How her experience as an Afro-Puerto Rican child who spent time in the foster care system influenced her decision to become a bibliotherapist.
I hope listening to Emely’s story and her fascinating explanations about the intersections of racial identity, literature, and mental health, leave you lit.
Buy a copy of Emely’s book, Bibliotherapy in the Bronx at the Reed, Write, & Create Online bookstore. Support Emily and the Podcast at the same time!
Follow Emely on Instagram at Literapy_NYC
If you’re interested in getting credentialed as a bibliotherapist, visit the International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy.
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Join the Tell Me More email list to get your invite to join the Reed, Write, & Create Sanctuary at the end of May, 2025.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Monday May 05, 2025
Monday May 05, 2025
Welcome to Season 5 of the Podcast! On this brief episode, Loril will provide a quick recap about her time living in a library in Ghana, followed by a sneak peek into what we have planned for this special season of the podcast.
For Season 5, we’re going Behind the Book, bringing you interviews and stories about people who depend on the free circulation of books in the world. From librarians, to agents, to activists and entrepreneurs, this season we're pulling back the curtain on the people who keep the book business flowing and growing.
To learn more about the Library of African and the African Diaspora, visit their website.
If you want to read more about Lori’s experience in Ghana, read this blog post about her experience.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, and useful resources for your literary life, check out the Reed, Write, & Create website at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Sign up for the Reed, Write, & Create monthly newsletter.
Join the Tell Me More email list to find out when we start taking new applicants to the Reed, Write, & Create Sanctuary.
Follow Lori on YouTube at LiteraryLori
Please feel free to show your love and support for this podcast by making a small donation via Buy Me A Coffee.
Monday Feb 10, 2025
Monday Feb 10, 2025
Tune in to this brief episode for updates about the Reed, Write, and Create podcast, and some exciting news from host, Lori L. Tharps.
Links for more resources and information.
The Reed, Write, and Create Website
Find Out More about The Reed, Write, & Create Sanctuary for BIPOC women writers.
The Blog Post About Lori's Upcoming Trip to Ghana
The Literary Lori YouTube Channel. Don't forget to subscribe by February 13.