Lioness Tales Newsletter - Coming Soon
"Because until the lions have their own historians, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." -- Chinua Achebe
Welcome to Lioness Tales! My name is Jamila Minnicks, and I am a lawyer-turned-lioness telling the tales of my ancestors. I look forward to bringing you a weekly newsletter about writing, what community means to me, and the immense honor, and responsibility, of telling our stories for true.
My purpose is to breathe full, dynamic, life into Black people on the page in ways recognizable to folks who look like me. In 2021, my manuscript Moonrise Over New Jessup won the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. New Jessup is Alice Young’s story of how she arrives in all-Black New Jessup, Alabama in 1957, rises and shines among people thriving in Blackness, and becomes the woman who moves the man who inspires an independence movement. This newsletter will also give us a chance to chat about my path, my work, my love for family, and my love for Alabama. And because I believe in the power of oral tradition, you’ll find recordings of my words here, too.
New Jessup is currently available for pre-order at these outlets, as well as with your local bookstores, and will be released on January 10, 2023 (Algonquin Books). Looking forward to connecting!
I love the name of the newsletter. I’m looking forward to reading the thoughtful, thought-provoking, dynamic, engaging, and hilarious content you’ll post.
I love this quote! I had a frank conversation last week with a friend of mine who questioned why I wished her a reflective Indigenous People's Day here in California when she was familiar with it being Columbus Day. We build empathy when we consider events from the other's POV. Looking forward to reading the book :)