The Ink Is Black Podcast
by Tiffani Staten
Hey book lovers! I’m Tiffani Staten, and I want to invite you into a space where Black stories get the celebration they deserve. The Ink is Black is your monthly book club with a soulful twist – think of it as sitting with your friend who’s always got the perfect book recommendation and the insights to match. Every month, we dive deep into fiction and nonfiction by Black authors from across the diaspora, exploring everything from heart-stopping thrillers to powerful memoirs, literary debuts to books that made the leap to your screen. I’m a writer, reader, and forever fan of stories that speak from the soul. Whether you’re looking to fill your bookshelf with more Black voices, searching for your next book club pick, or just want to hear someone get genuinely excited about beautiful writing, you’ve found your home. Expect spoilers, expect deep dives, and expect to discover authors who’ll become your new favorites. Plus, don’t miss our Fresh Ink Spotlight where
Episodes
-
Secrets in the Rope: A Son’s Return and a Father’s Second Chance
This month, Tiffani Staten is digging into The Double Dutch Fuss, the memoir from Emmy award winning filmmaker Phill Branch, someone Tiffani actually went to school with. She traces his path from Newark to Hampton to LA and back again, the rigid expectations of masculinity he grew up under, and…
more -
The Fervent Whites: When Proximity Isn't Belonging
It's 1982 in Fervent, a small Black hamlet outside Saugerties, New York. James and Ella White just got out of prison, exonerated for a murder they didn't commit, and they're moving right back into the only home they know. Problem is, their adopted son Morgan didn't survive their time away, and…
more -
She Got the Title. Did She Get the Power? - "If I Ruled the World" by Amy DuBois Barnett
I picked this one for the nostalgia. Late nineties, early two thousands, hip hop magazine world, what could be more fun? Instead, I got pulled into something a lot heavier than a summer read, and we're talking through all of it today. SPOILER ALERT!: My episodes contain spoilers, so if you…
more -
The Cost of Compromise: Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani Akinola
In this episode of The Ink is Black, host Tiffani Staten digs into Tolani Akinola's debut novel, Leave Your Mess at Home: a Nigerian-American family drama about four adult siblings, a decade of buried secrets, and one very consequential Thanksgiving. This episode contains full spoilers and...
-
Kin: Worthy and Wanting
Two girls. Same wound. Completely different fates. In Tayari Jones' Kin, it's not just motherlessness that shapes Niecy and Annie. It's what Honeysuckle, Louisiana decides each girl's loss is worth. This episode digs into respectability politics, the mothers who showed up flawed and anyway, and...
-
With Love from Harlem: The Cost of Choosing Love
This month, we're celebrating Women's History Month with a read that hit differently. "With Love from Harlem" by ReShonda Tate is the story of Hazel Scott: jazz prodigy, film star, civil rights warrior, and one of the most famous Black women in America. A woman who made history as the first Black...
-
Aurora's Reckoning: Power, Pain, and Love in A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke
She's a full-figured Dominican doctor in Victorian England. He's a newly titled Duke with something to prove. And together, they are absolutely not playing around. This month on The Ink is Black, we're diving into Adriana Herrera's A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, book four in the Las Leonas…
more -
Answer the Call: Embrace Your God Dream with Edwina Finley Dickerson
Season 2 kicks off with Edwina Findley Dickerson's The World Is Waiting for You: part memoir, part spiritual guide, all about stepping into the life you were called to live. Host Tiffani Staten unpacks Edwina's journey from poverty to purpose, the power of strategic faith moves, and why your...
-
People Person: Chaos, Bad Decisions, and the Making of a Family
Host Tiffani Staten digs into People Person by Candice Carty-Williams, a wild and heartfelt story about five half-siblings who are forced together after a violent incident and must decide what family truly means. Through humor, chaos, and painful honesty, the siblings confront their absent…
more -
Sky Full of Elephants: A Reckoning in the Water
Host Tiffani Staten reviews Cebo Campbell’s Sky Full of Elephants, a speculative novel that explores a post‑racial dystopia after an event causes white people to drown themselves. The episode addresses heavy themes, including suicide, generational trauma, identity, and the damage of internalized...
-
Blood Moon: Breaking the Generational Curse
On this episode of The Ink Is Black, host Tiffani Staten dives into Blood Moon by Britney S. Lewis — a haunting exploration of family secrets, inherited pain, and the supernatural threads that bind them. Through the story of Mira Owens’s search for truth, from her mother’s mysterious…
more -
He Burns by the River: Fire, Water, and Caribbean Soul
Host Tiffani Staten reviews Khalia Moreau’s He Burns by the River, exploring its vivid Trinidadian setting, lyrical voice, and themes of identity, family, spirituality, and the symbolism of river and fire across the African diaspora. Staten shares a personal connection from a writers’ conference,...
-
Matriarch: Tina Knowles’ Blueprint for Black Women’s Power
In this bonus episode, host Tiffani Staten reflects on Tina Knowles' memoir Matriarch, exploring how Knowles transformed personal struggle into collective empowerment. From witnessing her professional friends being disrespected at salons to needing an escape route from an unfaithful marriage…
more -
Lifting Off with Washington Black: Freedom, Flight, and the Cost of Rescue
In the debut episode of The Ink is Black, host Tiffani Staten dives deep into Esi Edugyan's "Washington Black" alongside Hulu's stunning new adaptation starring Sterling K. Brown. From the brutal cane fields of Barbados to the frozen Arctic and beyond, Tiffani traces Wash's complex journey to...
-
The Ink is Black: Celebrating Black Storytelling Across the Diaspora
Welcome to "Ink is Black," where host Tiffani Staten shares her passion for books by Black authors. Join this monthly book club with a soulful twist, exploring stories by Black writers from all over the world. Discover the tales that resonate, from memoirs that tug at your heartstrings to...
About this show
Hey book lovers! I’m Tiffani Staten, and I want to invite you into a space where Black stories get the celebration they deserve. The Ink is Black is your monthly book club with a soulful twist – think of it as sitting with your friend who’s always got the perfect book recommendation and the insights to match. Every month, we dive deep into fiction and nonfiction by Black authors from across the diaspora, exploring everything from heart-stopping thrillers to powerful memoirs, literary debuts to books that made the leap to your screen.
I’m a writer, reader, and forever fan of stories that speak from the soul. Whether you’re looking to fill your bookshelf with more Black voices, searching for your next book club pick, or just want to hear someone get genuinely excited about beautiful writing, you’ve found your home.
Expect spoilers, expect deep dives, and expect to discover authors who’ll become your new favorites. Plus, don’t miss our Fresh Ink Spotlight where
Hosted by
Tiffani Staten