Black Authors at NAACP Convention Call Storytelling a Tool for Truth and Resistance

The 116th NAACP Convention opened Saturday at the Charlotte Convention Center, and among its events was a panel on the importance of Black storytelling. The session, titled Ink & Inspiration: The Author's Roundup, brought together three authors to discuss why they write and what their work means in the current moment.

Sierra Tribble of the Charlotte-based podcast Headwraps & Lipsticks moderated the discussion. The panelists were producer and author Steve Jones, who has worked with celebrities including Issa Rae, Oprah and Brandy; activist Tamika D. Mallory, whose memoir I Lived to Tell the Story: A Memoir of Love, Legacy, and Resilience was released in February; and New York Times bestselling romance novelist Kennedy Ryan.

Much of the conversation tied into the convention's theme, The Urgency of Now. The speakers stressed the need to claim a seat at the table in a world where people from underrepresented groups often have to fight for one.

Ryan, who began her career as a journalist, said there is a bit of her in every story she writes. She noted that many people dismiss romance as fluffy, but she argued the genre is digestible and palatable, making it a safe space for difficult conversations about painful subjects. Ryan said she has dealt with panic attacks, suicidal ideation and depression, themes that appear in several of her novels. "I believe in leveraging fiction to impact those people so we're not suffering in silence," she said.

Mallory said she had already begun her first book when Breonna Taylor was killed by police in Louisville in 2020. The protests that followed, and watching her son get tear-gassed, convinced her to keep going. She said she often cried through writing sessions but felt much better by the end, comparing the process to a birth. That first book, State of Emergency: How We Win in the Country We Built, came out in 2021, and Mallory said it will show future generations that people stood up against injustices perpetuated by the government.

Jones described his role as a "conduit" between established voices and aspiring ones. He said storytellers have a chance to portray humanity in a way that reflects "our greatest selves," and that he would have been remiss to let fear or the pandemic keep him from writing.

The authors also addressed efforts to erase Black history, which they said is under attack. Mallory argued that Black people cannot simply wait for the system to improve. "While we fight, we also have to educate," she said, adding that Black authors keep history alive and create spaces where people can read the truth about who they are rather than let the media define them.

Jones agreed, saying representation matters and that reading is both escapism and a form of resistance. He urged anyone with a dream to write it down, noting that a draft does not need to be perfect and can be refined later. Ryan said the goalposts for Black writers keep moving and that they will be underestimated, asking audiences to "give Black authors grace because we are fighting for visibility." She also said there has never been a better time to be a writer and encouraged writers to bet on themselves.

Jones closed with a call to write for those who came before and those who will follow. "If you don't want to do it for you," he said, "do it for your ancestors whose shoulders we're standing on, and then do it for the next generation who's coming behind us."