Apr 28, 2022
Dawnie Walton left Jacksonville after high school to pursue a successful career in magazines. Now she returns to town to chat with us about her first novel, which features a music magazine editor on a mission to discover the truth about an enigmatic music duo – a mission which includes a quick trip to Northeast Florida!
Dawnie Walton is the author of the novel The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, a “spectacular debut” (Publisher’s Weekly, starred review) that has been named one of 2021’s most anticipated books by Essence, Vogue, The Oprah Magazine, Elle, The Independent, Lit Hub, PopSugar, The Millions, and Hypebae. Her work as a fiction writer and journalist explores identity, place, and the influence of pop culture. A MacDowell Colony fellow (2015), a Tin House Scholar (2017), and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA, 2018), she has worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she lives in Brooklyn.
Interviewer Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy award winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black & Published podcast. Her latest novel, Beyond Bourbon Street, was awarded Best Fiction by the Black Caucus of African-American Librarians in the 2021 Self-Published eBook Literary Awards. It also received the 2020 Outstanding Book Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Nikesha is a Chicago native and she attended The Florida State University. Nikesha writes full time with bylines in The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and VOX.
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Dawnie Walton
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Website: dawniewalton.com
Twitter: @dawniewalton
Nikesha Elise Williams
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Website: newwrites.com
Twitter: @Nikesha_Elise
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