In honor of Juneteenth, we’re launching a new monthly series called BlackLit, a space where we invite Black writers to speak on the literature that helped shape them, the authors they long to be in conversation with, and the up-and-coming writers they want us to keep on our radar. Our intention with BlackLit is to shine a spotlight on the literary geniuses that aren’t always given the same attention as their white counterparts.

We’re happy to announce that our first installment features Tiya Miles, an award-winning culture warrior whose research on Black, Native American, and women’s histories have elevated the genre of nonfiction. Her carefully-crafted masterpiece, All That She Carried, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2021. Her 2015 novel, The Cherokee Rose, was a finalist for a Lambda award and was reissued just this month. And her forthcoming book Wild Girls explores how some of the country’s most influential women used the natural world to resist prejudices and make a lasting impact on the culture. Keep reading to see what Tiya’s biggest literary influences are!

1. What book do you find yourself returning to over and over?

Beloved by Toni Morrison

2. Who’s your author crush at the moment? Or a favorite author that you have been delving into recently? 

Alyssa Cole

3. If you could have a coffee date with any writer, dead or alive, who would it be?

Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (author of Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life, North and South, 1900)

4. What author, whether you met them casually or in a professional setting, has left you starstruck?

Alice Walker

5. What’s a book that made you want to write your own?

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley

6. What’s a book you’ve never read but always wanted to?

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

7. What’s your favorite place to go when you want to dive into a good book?

A big porch, partly shaded, with a view of lilac bushes, flower beds, or mountain peaks.