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USA Today Bestselling Author

Tif Marcelo

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Stories to Love
Stories to Love
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61. Giving women in history a voice with Sadeqa Johnson
Episode 61 of the Stories to Love podcast is up! Our guest today is Sadeqa Johnson.
Sadeqa Johnson is the award-winning author of And Then There Was Me, Second House From the Corner, Love in a Carry-on Bag and Yellow Wife. 

Yellow Wife is a 2022 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy finalist, a BCALA Literary Honoree, the Library of Virginia’s Literary People’s Choice Award winner, and a Barnes & Noble book club pick in paperback. Her other accolades include winning the National Book Club Conference Award, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, and the USA Best Book Award for Best Fiction. She is a Kimbilio Fellow and teaches in the MFA program at Drexel University. Originally from Philadelphia, she currently lives near Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three children.

In this episode, Sadeqa and I discussed how she married family history and a loose YA idea to come up with The House of Eve. We talked about how she navigates history as an author and a second point of view in The House of Eve that begged to be unearthed. Finally we talked about the story within a story that nudged its way into the book

I loved this conversation with Sadeqa, and I took so much away from it, notably how intuitive she is. Her stories, her ideas, the way she pieces parts of The House of Eve together…she was open to these changes. She even had mentioned it with Yellow Wife…that that story chose her, and it was the catalyst that nudged her off the contemporary fiction path to historical fiction. It felt like so many aspects and features of The House of Eve chose her too. 

To me, this episode was a reminder to keep my ears and eyes up. Maybe heed those nudges. Perhaps not self-reject quite as quickly. And as a storyteller, listen to what our characters are trying to say. At the moment, I’m editing my first book in my Harlequin series coming out spring of 2024, and re-listening to this conversation came at a perfect time.

Links discussed:
Our Kind of People by Lawrence Otis Graham
Dorthy Porter
Gladys Bentley
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
The Pieces I Am 

***
Preorder Tif's next book WHEN JASMINE BLOOMS, a contemporary fiction inspired by Marmee of Little Women, about a woman who suffers a great tragedy, wonders 'what if' and it comes true.

Note: some links are affiliate links

Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
Please check out her website for podcast submissions

61. Giving women in history a voice with Sadeqa Johnson
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61. Giving women in history a voice with Sadeqa Johnson
February 7, 2023
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60. Answering your character's why by attorney and author Tracy Badua
January 30, 2023
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59. Doing her important thing with author, podcaster, and military veteran Amanda Huffman
January 23, 2023
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58. Only doing what you want with author and coach Camille Pagán
January 16, 2023
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57. Happy 2023 and words of the year with host Tif Marcelo
January 9, 2023
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56. 2022 Stories to Love podcast wrap-up
December 23, 2022
Tif Marcelo
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55. Dog trainer and author Victoria Schade and the through line of her life
December 16, 2022
Tif Marcelo
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54. Contemporary world building and food as theme with author Amy E. Reichert
December 9, 2022
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53. Being a human being rather than a human doing with author Minnie Darke
December 3, 2022
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52. From stand-up comedian to author with Suzanne Park
November 13, 2022
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