On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with ReShonda Tate Billingsley, award-winning national bestselling author and co-founder of Brown Girls Books.
As a child, Billingsley was an avid storyteller and managed to channel that energy into her first published work at age 15 in True Confessions magazine. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, she had a brief stint at the National Enquirer, before moving on as an associate news producer with Channel 13 in Houston. Also she is an editor for the Houston Defender Newspaper, as well as a professional editor, ghostwriter and literary consultant.
In 2007, she left her job at FOX 26 News in Houston to write full-time. In 2012, Billingsley won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature for her book ‘Say Amen, Again’ and was nominated again in 2013 for her book ‘The Secret She Kept.’ She has won numerous awards for her journalism, fiction and poetry writing skills. She is a five-time winner of the National Association of Black Journalists Spirit in the Words competition.
Considered one of the top Inspirational Fiction authors in the country, her books remain a staple on the Bestseller’s list and have been featured in USA Today and Ebony Magazine. In 2010, Billingsley was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.