Deesha Philyaw – Writer, Speaker

THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 2020/2021 Story Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction

THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES

Latest reviews: “Tender, fierce, proudly black” on KIRKUS REVIEWS … “a bonafide literary treasure” on MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE … “The church, sexuality, and everyday life come alive in each story,” on ELECTRIC LIT

Available through West Virginia University Press

The nine stories in THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.

With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.

What others are saying about SECRET LIVES of CHURCH LADIES

“To encounter Deesha Philyaw’s work is to encounter contemporary folktales. They are the stories of southern customs and mores and of voices over the back fence. The daughters and granddaughters of Toni Cade Bambara and Bebe Moore Campbell readers need this book.”

– Yona Harvey
author of Hemming the Water
writer for the Marvel Comics World of Wakanda series

“Our new decade deserves a new literary force with major literary skills. Deesha Philyaw uses the comic, the allegorical, and the geographic to examine black intimacies and black secrets. Her work is as rigorous as it is pleasurable to read.”

– Kiese Laymon
author of HEAVY

“This is no mere collection of sappy romance stories. The love in Philyaw’s stories runs the gamut from sweet to bitter, sexy to sisterly, temporary to time tested, often with hidden aspects. The word secret in the title is earned, and some of the secrets are downright juicy.”

— Tara Campbell, author of Midnight at the Organporium, from Barrelhouse magazine

"Marks the emergence of a bona fide literary treasure."

— Marion Winik, The Star Tribune

.: events :.

Story Studio (Facebook Live)

StoryStudio Chicago Pajama Seminar: Sex, Lies, and Writing the Truth
Wednesday, June 2, 2021 | 8-10 PM ET
Facebook Live

Babylon Salon Reading and Q&A (Zoom)

Reading Series
Saturday, June 5, 2021 | 8-9:30 PM ET
Zoom webinar

Roots. Wounds. Words.

Babylon Salon
Thursday, June 10, 2021 | 6:50 - 8:30 PM ET

Oberlin (live & in person)

Oberlin
June 14 & 15, 2021

White Whale Reading (virtual)

WVU / White Whale Reading
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 | 7 PM ET

Nantucket Book Festvial: Juneteenth (online)

Juneteenth
Thursday, June 17, 2021 | 7-8 PM ET

Hey Girl Podcast with Alex Elle

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 | 2 PM ET

StoryGraph on IG Live

Sunday, September 19, 2021 | 3:30 PM ET

For media inquiries, please contact Jeremy Wang-Iverson at jeremy@vestopr.com.

For speaking engagements, please contact Anya Backlund at anya@blueflowerarts.com.

For all other inquiries, please contact Danielle Chiotti at danielle@upstartcrowliterary.com.

.: Speaking / Reading Topics :.

First, Do No Harm: Writing About Journeys Not Your Own
Good Girls Don’t. Black Girls Will: Black Women, Sex and the Black Church
Ain’t I a Mommy?: Narratives of Motherhood and Race
The Mythical Sisterhood of Black and White Women … and 10 Ways to Move Forward
The Patchwork Quilt Writing Career: How Not to be a Starving Artist
Choosing You, Telling the Truth: Encouragement for Women in Transition
Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive After Divorce
Co-Parenting a Child Who is Adopted
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Birth Mom?
Supporting Your Child’s Interest in Her Origins

Book Deesha through her CCMNT Speakers listing.

.: Interactive Workshop Topics Include :.

Choosing You, Telling the Truth: A Writing Workshop for Women in Transition
Let’s Write About Sex, Baby
Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive After Divorce
Co-Parenting a Child Who is Adopted
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Birth Mom?: Supporting Your Child’s Interest in Her Origins
Write Your D*mned Book Proposal Already!
From Idea to Publication: Starting & Sustaining Your Book Project
How to Pitch for Publication
How to Land an Agent

.: One-on-One Consultations Include :.

Write Your D*mned Book Proposal Already!
From Idea to Publication: Starting & Sustaining Your Book Project
How to Pitch for Publication
How to Land an Agent

.: about :.

Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies focuses on Black women, sex, and the Black church, and is being adapted for television by HBO Max with Tessa Thompson executive producing. Deesha is also a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and will be the 2022-2023 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.

.: featured work :.

I am not my ancestors

vox populi | jul 2020

Jada wasn’t sure exactly when sex after a long day of protesting had become a thing for her and Victor. But it was their thing. Without saying a word, they seemed to agree there was no need to let all that residual energy and rage go to waste. That’s how deep their bond went. Problem was, like most 20-year-olds they knew, they both lived at home with old-school Black parents who didn’t play that coed sleepover shit when they were in high school and were just as devoted to cock-blocking when their kids came home from college. So Jada and Victor parked behind Walmart and made vigorous love next to their “We Have Nothing to Lose But Our Chains” signs.

The 13 guys you’ll meet
on a dating app

medium | dec 2019

E, 34
Females want you to jump through all kinds of hoops just to get a text back. That’s the wrong move to make with me because I’m not auditioning for shit. DON’T play with me. If you like wing flats, watching Power, and lowkey being threatened, get at me.

Fear and Fresh Air: How Two Trips to Mexico Set Me Free

tue/night | Mar 2020

We don’t talk enough about how marriages can be dark, dark places. Not until afterwards, and even then, we can’t resist revising some light into them. We don’t want people to think that it was all bad. We don’t want to answer a million questions or explain why we stayed or why we didn’t talk about what was going on. Not while we’re still trying to figure all that out ourselves. It’s like asking someone to solve an algebra problem as soon as the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. It’s too early. It takes a lot of living and healing and time before you’re ready to start solving for x, for the whys.

A Pop Quiz for White Women Who Think Black Women Should Be Nicer to Them in Conversations about Race

BREVITY | Sep 2016

True or False: I am one of millions of white women saying ignorant, racist shit to Black women every day, and on a given day, I may be one of several white people who have worked a particular Black woman’s last fucking nerve with my ignorance.

True or False: Black women should be nicer when trying to get people to support their cause.

True or False: Black women should be willing to educate me and other white women, tirelessly, for free, instead of expecting us to educate ourselves.

Deesha writes on race, gender, pop culture, parenting, divorce, and more.
Available for freelance projects. See more of her work through Contently.

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