Meet Your Favorite Authors in 2026
We kick off the 2026 "Lit Chat" series in January with two fabulous authors:
You may know Nikesha Elise Williams for her self-published work, including Mardi Gras Indians, Beyond Bourbon Street, Four Women and more (available instantly as e-books on Biblioboard Library). The Seven Daughters of Dupree is her debut book with a "Big 5" publisher. Meet Nikesha Elise Williams at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Main Library as she kicks off her multi-state book tour.
You may know Mona Awad from her national bestseller Bunny (soon to be a major motion picture). Her latest, We Love You, Bunny, was an instant New York Times bestseller, LA Times bestseller, and USA Today bestseller. Meet Mona Awad from noon to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Main Library.
For young readers, there is also a "Junior" Lit Chat Author Talk with author/illustrator Michael Regina at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10, at South Mandarin Library.
Lit Chat Interview with Nikesha Elise Williams
A two-time Emmy Award–winning producer and an award-winning author, Nikesha is producer and host of the "Black and Published" podcast. A narrative strategist by day and journalist always, Nikesha's work has also appeared in The Washington Post, Essence, and Vox. She is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and a DeGroot Foundation Writer of Note grantee.
Hailed as "transcendent" by author Elizabeth Gilbert, The Seven Daughters of Dupree is officially set to release on January 27 from Simon & Schuster but a limited number of copies will be available to purchase (early) at the Lit Chat event from our partners at San Marco Books & More. To guarantee your copy, pre-order from the bookstore's website. The program includes a 40-minute interview and 20 minutes of audience Q&A, followed by a book signing.
Generational Trauma, Black Women’s Resilience, and Unbreakable Familial Bonds
Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom. The Seven Daughters of Dupree is a sweeping multi-generational epic following seven generations of Dupree women as they navigate love, loss, and the unyielding ties of family in the tradition of Homegoing and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.
Find more of Nikesha's work in our catalog. Reminder: Any book by a 2026 Lit Chat featured author counts toward the Jax Stacks Reading Challenge.
Lit Chat Interview with Mona Awad
Mona Awad is the bestselling author of the novels Rouge, All’s Well, Bunny, and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl. Margaret Atwood named Awad her “literary heir” in The New York Times’s T Magazine. She was also a three-time finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award, the recipient of an Amazon Best First Novel Award, and shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Her horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale Rouge is being adapted for film by Fremantle and Sinestra. Bunny was a finalist for a New England Book Award and was named a Best Book of 2019 by Time, Vogue, and the New York Public Library. It is currently being developed for film with Bad Robot Productions.
The 40-minute interview will be followed by 20 minutes of audience Q&A and a book signing. Copies of her bestsellers will be available for sale on site from Happy Medium Books Café.
Grab your ticket (seating is limited)
A Dark Trip Back to the Bunny-Verse
In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracized and then seduced by a clique of creepy-sweet rich girls who call themselves “Bunny.” An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with deadly and wondrous consequences.
When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers—and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation.
Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is both a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete stand-alone novel. Click here to read more by Mona Awad.
Further Reading
Read-alikes & Recommendations for Nikesha Elise Williams
- 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Poemhood, our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience edited by Amber McBride
- The Jewel of the Blues by Monica Chenault-Kilgore
- Finding Me by Viola Davis
- Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
- Glory Daze by Danielle Arceneaux
- The Wind on Her Tongue by Anita Kopacz
- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
- More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth
Read-alikes & Recommendations for Mona Awad
- American Rapture by CJ Leede
- Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
- How Can I Help You by Laura Sims
- A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan
- Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
- Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen
- The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
- The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
- Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
- Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
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