61: Lisa Braxton-Author of The Talking Drum

A long-time journalist, Lisa began writing her debut novel ten years ago, although her themes of gentrification, intra-racial tensions and the struggle of recent immigrants, told through the eyes of three residents of a Massachusetts community, seemed ripped from the headlines. As Lisa so aptly puts it: "These problems never seem to go away." She found her publisher, a feminist press based in Canada, the old-fashioned way: a face to face meeting at a writer's conference. Lisa Braxton is the recipient of a 2020 Outstanding Literary Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for this debut. The Talking Drum. Her stories and essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, WBUR's Cognoscenti, Vermont Literary Review, Black Lives Have Always Mattered, Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Book of Hope.   She is a fellow of Kimbilio, a fellowship for fiction writers of the African diaspora, and an Emmy-nominated former television journalist. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Media from Hampton University, her Master of Science degree in Journalism from Northwestern University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University and is a former newspaper and television journalist.  To learn more about Lisa, click here.