USA Today bestselling author Vanessa Miller is back with another story shining the spotlight on our history. I recently spoke with her about The Ladies Hall.
Tell me about your latest book.
The Ladies Hall is a book about some of the first Black women to receive a college degree after emancipation—Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt—but it’s also about a town [that] once nurtured their dreams for equality.
Why did you decide to write it?
We live in a time where equality is being questioned once again. I wanted to take readers back in time and let them view what it looks like to fight for equality and win. In The Ladies Hall Mary, Anna, and Ida entered a college where Black students were supposed to be treated as equals, but they discovered that they had to fight to be treated as equals. Today, it seems as though we are still in that fight.
How did you come up with the book’s title?
We struggled for months trying to figure out what the title should be. Then one day I went to a book discussion at a bookstore. I told the women about my next book and about the fact that most of the interactions happen in the dormitory, which was called Ladies Hall, and one of the women simply said, “Then why not call the book, Ladies Hall.” And a title was born.
What’s the nicest thing a reader has ever said to you?
Readers have said so many nice things about my books through the years, but the thing that has stuck with me is when one of them noted that a story of mine caused them to trust God or believe for something they had given up on.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was nine years old, sitting on my grandmother’s porch with my father. He told me a story about an animal that sounded so beautiful, but by the end, I discovered he was talking about a rat. That night, sitting on the porch, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller like my father.
What books have you read lately and loved?
A Pair of Aces by Marie Bennedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, You Can’t Hurry Second Chances by Michelle Stimpson, and Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris
What books are at the top of your to-be-read pile?
Writer in Residence by Rhonda McKnight
What’s next for you?
Next year, I have a new women’s fiction title, The Disgruntled Black Ladies Book Club releasing in June 2027.
Use the Black Fiction Addiction affiliate link to purchase your copy of The Ladies Hall by Vanessa Miller.
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Website: www.vanessamiller.com
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