When Mahalia started blogging at https://www.show-up-differently.com/, she opened the floodgates: fan mail galore! We have questions. She has answers. Catch up with Mahalia in this new episode of Badass Black Girl. You can show her some love: www.show-up-differently.com Twitter: MahaliaS IG:showupdifferently

In this Facebook Live event, as part of the South Florida Book Festival and brought to you by The African American Research Library & Cultural Center of @BrowardCountyLibrary, and Friends of AARLCC & Bank of America, MJ Fievre discusses and reads from her book Badass Black Girl. MJ also talks about her evolution as a writer, and how growing up amid the political chaos of Haiti led her to writing, and how her first attempts at writing gave her a way to understand the chaotic world around her. She gives a shout out to her mentors, who helped her realize publication of her first novel when she was just 16 years old, and the surprise of finding out that her own story was of interest to others as a graduate student in Florida International University’s MFA program. She talks about her book Happy, Okay? A book about depression and the reasons she wrote it, and then delves deep into the anatomy of Badass Black Girl. She also discusses what’s next for her in terms of upcoming writing projects, how journaling can lead people to realize their own goals and find gratitude, and how Badass Black Girl is a love letter to girls who may just like she was when she was younger and in need of a pep talk.

This week on Badass Black Girl, MJ talks with badass writer Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel about the day the house she and her husband built burned down, the legal struggles that followed, and the racism of housing insecurity. They also discuss what keeps her going and how changing her attitude brought positive energy back into her life. She shares her self-care routine for preserving a positive mental outlook during the pandemic and details about her daily writing and meditation practices, including some of the badass Black women writers who inspire her. Marie Ketsia Theodore-Pharel (prefers to be called Ketsia) was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti. She currently lives in Homestead, Florida with her three children and husband. She earned a bachelor's degree from Tufts University and a master's degree in English from University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her most recent publications include "How to Get Up When Your Man's Been on Da Down-Low" published in Faultline: Journal of Arts and Letters volume 23; "Le Bon Berger" published in So Spoke the Earth, edited by M.J. Fievre; "Kako Blood" in the Caribbean Writer, 2011; "Mercy at the Gate" in Haiti Noir, edited by Edwidge Danticat, 2011; "Haiti: a Cigarette Burning at both Ends" in Butterfly Ways: Voices from the Haitian Diaspora in the United States, edited by Edwidge Danticat, 2001; and "The Mango Tree" in Compost Magazine, 1994. Her children's books include Beauty Walks in Nature (2010), Songs from a Tower (2009), Keeper of the Sky (2007), One More Daughter, America (2006), Daughter of the House (2005), A Fish Called Tanga (2003), and I'll Fly Away (1999).

This week on Badass Black Girl, MJ is talking to Yves Marie Exumé, a badass world traveler, and blogger who lives in Canada. They discuss what it is like to travel alone as a Black woman, how curiosity fuels her dreams for adventure, personal safety when traveling, and which countries are more difficult to access. Yves Marie tells you how you too can become a world traveler, even if the budget is tight. They also discuss how culture is best when you live and spend time with the locals, which two countries were her favorite destinations of the 33 countries she's visited, and how she's still feeding her need to travel in the face of Covid 19 related travel restrictions. Bio: Yves Marie Exumé is a travel blogger who hails from Port-au-Prince, but currently lives in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. I'm a foodie, a bookworm and a film aficionado who spends way too much time in museums and in front of the TV. I love shoes, photography and everything Haiti. You can read her travel blog at https://www.piedspoudres.com/

This week, Badass Black Girl is featuring two badass guests, Ashley M. Jones and Fabienne Josaphat, in conversation with MJ Fievre. Join us for a far-ranging discussion about the current situation in the United States between pandemics and protests, and for a talk on the emotional labor of being a Black woman in a society built on systemic racism, on self-care, nurturing Black joy, mental health, the global divide between Black people, and much more, including a look to the near future and remembrances of the past. Fabienne Josaphat received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Florida International University. Her short stories have appeared in various journals and magazines, including The Caribbean Writer and MiamiZine. Dancing in the Baron’s Shadow is her first novel. She lives in South Florida. Ashley M. Jones received an MFA in Poetry from Florida International University (FIU), where she was a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fellow. Her poems and essays appear or are forthcoming in many journals and anthologies, including CNN, the Academy of American Poets, Tupelo Quarterly, Prelude, Steel Toe Review, Fjords Review, Quiet Lunch, Poets Respond to Race Anthology, Night Owl, The Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, pluck!, Valley Voices: New York School Edition, Fjords Review: Black American Edition, PMSPoemMemoirStory (where her work was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016), Kinfolks Quarterly, Tough Times in America Anthology, and Lucid Moose Press’ Like a Girl: Perspectives on Femininity Anthology. She received a 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and a 2015 B-Metro Magazine Fusion Award. Her debut poetry collection, Magic City Gospel, was published by Hub City Press in January 2017, and it won the silver medal in poetry in the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Awards. Her second book, dark // thing, won the 2018 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry from Pleiades Press. Her third collection, REPARATIONS NOW! is forthcoming in Fall 2021 from Hub City Press. She won the 2018 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize from Backbone Press, and she is the 2019 winner of the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where she is founding director of the Magic City Poetry Festival, board member of the Alabama Writers Cooperative and the Alabama Writers Forum, co-director of PEN Birmingham, and a faculty member in the Creative Writing Department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

This week, on Badass Black Girl, we are featuring Ashley M. Jones, badass prizewinning poet, as she reads six poems from her three collections of poetry, Magic City Gospel, dark//thing, and her forthcoming collection REPARATIONS NOW! Jones’ poems touch on historical anger and the pain of injustices suffered by our Black ancestors, pay homage to her foremothers in a reimagination of the Virgin Mary, stop for a moment on an Alabama highway, touch bases with James Brown, and delve into the world of comic book character Lois Lane. Ashley M. Jones received an MFA in Poetry from Florida International University (FIU), where she was a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fellow. Her poems and essays appear or are forthcoming in many journals and anthologies, including CNN, the Academy of American Poets, Tupelo Quarterly, Prelude, Steel Toe Review, Fjords Review, Quiet Lunch, Poets Respond to Race Anthology, Night Owl, The Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, pluck!, Valley Voices: New York School Edition, Fjords Review: Black American Edition, PMSPoemMemoirStory (where her work was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016), Kinfolks Quarterly, Tough Times in America Anthology, and Lucid Moose Press’ Like a Girl: Perspectives on Femininity Anthology. She received a 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and a 2015 B-Metro Magazine Fusion Award. Her debut poetry collection, Magic City Gospel, was published by Hub City Press in January 2017, and it won the silver medal in poetry in the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Awards. Her second book, dark // thing, won the 2018 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry from Pleiades Press. Her third collection, REPARATIONS NOW! is forthcoming in Fall 2021 from Hub City Press. She won the 2018 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize from Backbone Press, and she is the 2019 winner of the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where she is founding director of the Magic City Poetry Festival, board member of the Alabama Writers Cooperative and the Alabama Writers Forum, co-director of PEN Birmingham, and a faculty member in the Creative Writing Department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

“If you can’t love who you are, one of two things will happen: you will give more praise to what does NOT look like you (and degrade what does look like you). Or you won’t know how to love at all.” Join MJ for this new, uplifting episode of Badass Black Girl, featuring Stichz, the multi-talented badass entertainer and author as she talks about faith, how it sustains her during protests, pandemics and difficult times, her multilingual children’s empowerment book, why children (and adults) need to be reminded they are beautiful, and the series of books she is currently working on. Born in Canada to Haitian parents, Stichiz is a woman of faith, an artist, radio personality, and community champion. Recently featured on BET’s One Shot, she is known the world over as a trilingual, tongue-twisting, award-winning entertainer and artist with a stylish, unique, and infectious appeal and unforgettable stage presence. Stichiz flips and mixes hip-hop lyrics in English, Creole, and French with touches of reggae and rock-influenced vocals to create a one-of-kind musical experience. She has performed with world-renowned artists such as Wyclef Jean, Nas, Gucci Mane, Lil Kim, Fred Hammond, Shawn Mendes, Capleton, Damian Marley, R.City, and many more. She is the author of the multilingual children’s book, Tu Es Belle: You Are Beautiful: Abby's Great Day. Her book is available at https://www.amazon.com/Tu-Es-Belle-Beautiful-Abbys/dp/1732492115 M.J. Fievre is the author of Happy, Okay? Poems about Anxiety, Depression, Hope, and Survival (Books & Books Press, 2019) and Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens (Mango Publishing, 2020). She helps others write their way through trauma, build community and create social change. She works with veterans, disenfranchised youth, cancer patients and survivors, victims of domestic and sexual violence, minorities, the elderly, those with chronic illness or going through transition and any underserved population in need of writing as a form of therapy—even if they don’t realize that they need writing or therapy. Badass Black Girl is available at https://www.amazon.com/Badass-Black-Girl-Questions-Affirmations/dp/1642501727 #badassblackgirl #stichiz #faith #hope #meditation #selfdiscovery #beauty #embraceyourself #believeinyourself #selfrespect #love #thirdeye #positivity #selfcare #lifestyle #healing #personalgrowth #mindfulness #healthylifestyle #spiritualawakening #fit #motivation #lifejourney #inspiration #goals #selfloveisthebestlove #fitness #betruebeyou #happiness

Badass Black Girl is thrilled to share a video exclusively from Badass writer and all-around literary goddess, Edwidge Danticat. Her prose poem, “Legends” reminds us that “what comes too easy does not make legends.” It is a captivating poem that turns several classic fairy tales on end (namely “Sleeping Beauty”) and braids them into a modern narrative where it is not the Prince’s breath that wakes the sleeping princess, but salt. It is always the salt, whether it comes from the prince’s lips or is stirred into a bubbling pot of soup that awakens those of us who are in danger of sleeping our lives away. “Legends” is a powerful meditation on the sustaining magic of story and a warning not to let stories be forgotten. We at Badass Black Girl are thrilled to share this exclusive video with you. If you are not familiar with Edwidge Danticat, you’re in for a rare treat. She is the author of numerous books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club Selection, and Krik? Krak!, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction. She has written 7 books for children and has edited several anthologies of adult fiction. Her memoir, Brother, I’m Dying was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Awards in Nonfiction and won the 2008 Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. In addition, Danticat is a 2009 MacArthur Fellow, a 2018 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, winner of the 2018 Neustadt International Prize and winner of the 2019 St. Louis Literary Award. #edwidgedanticat #badassblackgirl #legends #beholdthedreamers #abriefhistoryofsevenkillings #afiaatakora #booklover #tanehisicoates #shareblackstories #bibliophile #caribbeanauthors #chigozieobioma #bookstagrammer #terrymcmillan #blackbookstagram #books #bookworm #imbolombue #readersofinstagram #bookish #salvagethebones #blackoutbestsellerlist #everythinginside #bookphotography #bookstagram #caribbeanreads #readcaribbean #untwine #bookreview #krikkrak #caribbeanliterature