#Deesha Philyaw

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

[daricommons]

She didn’t know whether Mama remembered her. But it was enough to know that Mama wanted her to believe she did.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

[meltotheany]

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop ♡ this audiobook is free with my amazon membership this is maybe the best short story collection i have ever read to date. i was blown away by how many back to back five stars i was giving, and how each story felt so real and each story was so deeply felt by me. to me, this really is a collection about identity and connection and how we embrace, enhance, and find those things in so many life experiences. from church and sex, to motherhood and sisterhood, to our queerness and our connections, to how we were raised and our relationship to our families currently, to just every facet of life. i just loved this wholeheartedly and completely and i recommend so very much. (also, i really loved the short story fuckboy museum in the peach pit anthology by this author! and it made me want to read everything by them!) ━━♡ Eula ★★★★ “But maybe you should question the people who taught you this version of God. Because it’s not doing you any favors.” oh i really loved this, and such a great and strong start to this anthology. this short story follows two women in their 40s celebrating the y2k new year. they are both teachers, and both have shared a lot of their lives with each other, and this focuses on glimpses of the past ten years, where they have also been lovers, with very different thoughts on what a happy life should look like. tw/cw: mentions of infidelity ━━♡ Not-Daniel ★★★ this is a very short story that is showing a hook up between two people who are taking care of their mothers in a hospice center. this felt very real and very harrowing and there is really no words for a situation as cruel as this, but i also didn’t love reading it. tw/cw: hospice setting, cancer mentions, grief, anxiety, depression, mention of maybe infidelity ━━♡ Dear Sister ★★★★★ i really loved this. this is a letter being written by a sister to a sister she has never met before. it is in the midst of planning their fathers funeral, and she is detailing the events to this sister that she never knew. this was just the perfect balance of sad and heartwarming, and it just felt so very real to me. tw/cw: loss of a parent (stroke), mention of loss of a grandparent (heart attack), alzheimer mention, mention of abortion, grief, abandonment, brief mention of infidelity, unwanted touch, funeral setting ━━♡ Peach Cobbler ★★★★★ “…maybe I could make a cobbler that pleased God. And maybe that would please my mother.” a very powerful short story about a young girl growing up watching her mother have an affair with their pastor. and her learning to recreate the perfect peach cobbler, that her mother makes every monday, in the hopes that maybe her mother would see her and love her. i know i sound like a broken record, but truly all of these stories just feel so real and the sadness and hurt and loneliness are just so easily felt in so few pages. i also feel like i could truly taste the tartness, the sweetness, and the softness of this story on every page. tw/cw: infidelity, child abuse, abandonment, neglect, mention of sick aunt/sister, loss of a aunt/sister. ━━♡ Snowfall ★★★★★ two women, shoveling the snow from their northern home, being nostalgic for their southern upbringing. this has big themes surrounding the feelings of giving away the past you loved for a healthy future that allows you to live the life you deserve to live. i just like really loved this one wholeheartedly and so very completely. tw/cw: brief mention of infidelity in past, implied homophobia, homophobia in past from parent, abandonment ━━♡ How to Make Love to a Physicist ★★★★★ this story starts out at a conference, where we follow two people who meet for the first time and stay up talking late into the night. and then we get to see their journey after the conference is over. this is a really beautiful depiction of a relationship growing, and how other relationships in life can impact that (very ...

[thingsreadinthedark]

Incredible. I love Deesha Philyaw.

[libraryleopard]

new deesha philyaw!!!

[podcastconnectthedots]

I had a blast meeting book lovers, booksellers, authors, and my favorite authors.

[ifyourebored]

Buy from the publisher HERE

or Buy from my favorite place to buy books: Better World Books

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

By Deesha Philyaw.

[sapphicides]

in honor of black history month 2025, i’ve put together a list of books written by black sapphic authors for you to read in the month of february

non-fiction essays/memoirs:

all about love: new visions by bell hooks

black lesbian in white america by anita cornwell

sister outsider: essays and speeches by audre lorde

mouths of rain: an anthology of black lesbian thought by briona simone jones

blues legacies and black feminism by angela davis

does your mama know?: an anthology of black lesbian coming out stories by lisa c. moore

fiction:

the color purple by alice walker

loving her by ann allen shockley

the gilda stories by jewelle gomez

in another place, not here by dionne brand

pomegranate by helen elaine lee

the summer we got free by mia mckenzie

these letters end in tears by musih tedji xaviere

dead in long beach, california by venita blackburn

young adult:

honey girl by morgan rogers

escaping mr. rochester by l.l. mckinney

this ravenous fate by hayley dennings

faebound by saraa el-arifa

so let them burn by kamilah cole

where sleeping girls lie by faridah àbíké-íyímídé

adult:

the deep by rivers solomon

sweet vengeance by viano oniomoh

come back (love concealed) by terri ronald

house of hunger by alexis henderson

short stories:

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo

the secret lives of church ladies by deesha philyaw

additional info:

-> “why wasn’t this book listed?” probably because it wasn’t black sapphic-centric, the author isn’t a black sapphic themself, or i just simply haven’t heard of it! so feel free to add on if it meets those two criteria

many of these books require trigger warnings, especially some of the older ones that are more likely to feature racial struggles of the time. please do your due diligence and search for tws if you want to read them!

please feel free to add onto this list in the rbs or comments! happy black history month

[makingqueerhistory]

I’m actually serious about this, if at all possible, right now is a very good time to request queer books from your local library. Whether they get them or not is not in your control, but it is so important to show that there is a desire for queer books. I will also say getting more queer books in libraries and supporting queer authors are pretty fantastic byproducts of any action.

This isn’t something everyone can do, but please do see if you are one of the people who has the privilege to engage in this form of activism, and if you are, leverage that privilege for all you’re worth.

For anyone who can’t think of a queer book to request, here is a little list of some queer books that I think are underrated and might not be in circulation even at larger libraries:

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco     

Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals by William Wright    

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley   

God Themselves by Jae Nichelle

IRL by Tommy Pico        

The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World's Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages             

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom          

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow              

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser

Queer Magic: Lgbt+ Spirituality and Culture from Around the World by Tomás Prower            

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam   

Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon 

Hi Honey, I'm Homo! by Matt Baume      

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Homie: Poems by Danez Smith

The Secret Life of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw  

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman 

Kapaemahu by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Sacrament of Bodies by Romeo Oriogun     

Witching Moon by Poppy Woods 

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt    

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman    

Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist           

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi             

Peaches and Honey by Imogen Markwell-Tweed      

Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color by Christopher Soto

[thetransfemininereview]

Thinking about this 2021 article with Denne Michele and @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social about literary gatekeepers and black trans literature today

[daricommons]

I’m not going to raise mine to go through life expecting it to be sweet, when for her, it ain’t going to be. The sooner she learns to accept what is and what ain’t, the better. She get a taste of that sweetness, she’s going to want it so bad, she’ll grow up and settle for crumbs of it.”

[mumblingsage]

In these darkest and laziest days of the year, I've been reading some really great books -- Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies was so good it went on my Reread list as soon as I checked it off my Read list -- but I don't quite have the wherewithal to write more detailed reviews/recommendations, at least not yet.

[elliizzzabeth]

One (or two) sentence reviews of all of the books i read in 2024.

1. A Power Unbound by Freya Marske (4/5 stars)

End to gay magical edwardian england trilogy. Wrapped everything up nicely but still slightly meh on whole series.

2-8. Secrets and Scrabble series by Josh Lanyon (4.5/5 average)

Cute, sweet murder mystery series set in New England. I want to move to pirates cove :)

9. The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach (4/5 stars)

Maori eco-futurism pirates. Interesting concept, too much going on.

10. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (3.75/5)

Saccharine sweet found family in a magical foster home. Too sweet in fact, should have been a kids book.

11. Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendy (4/5)

Sweet old lady lesbians solve a murder mystery. Funny and silly but didn't blow me away.

12. This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (5/5)

Star-crossed time-travelling killing machines on opposite sides of an intergalactic war. So short and yet packed such a punch!

13. Nine Liars (Truly Devious book 5) by Maureen Johnson (3/5)

Teenage detective prodigy comes to england to solve a murder. Also happens to be most annoying character of all time!

14. Heartstopper vol. 5 by Alice Oseman (5/5)

Nick and charlie so sweet and lovely forever

15. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (5/5)

Short stories about southern black women and their relationships (and sometimes the church). Felt like i could step right through the page every single time.

16. Hidden in Snow by Vivica Sten (3.5/5)

Translated swedish murder mystery. Suffered from fatal combo of slow pacing and predictable plot :/

17. Babel by R.F. Kuang (4.75/5)

What if language magic was used for colonialism? Unfortunately the tiktok girlies are right about this one it slays

18. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (3.5/5)

The Tiktok girlies were NOT right about this one. Not unless you like listening to two people hate each other for 13 hours

19-22. The Singing Hills Cycle by Nigh Vo (4.75/5 average)

Nonbinary monk travels around asia collecting stories and folklore. Again, how can such a short books pack such a fucking suckerpunch!!!

23. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (4.75/5)

What if you made a deal with the devil and then he fell in love with you? How can you live 300 years and only manage to meet white people 😭

24. Thieves by Lucie Bryon (5/5)

Dumbass Lesbians hatch a plan to un-steal people's belongings. Silly and cute as hell

25. Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (5/5)

Nona I love you!!!!!!!

26. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Oseman (4.5/5)

Pensioners solve a murder at their retirement home. Pleasantly suprised for such a popular book, looking forward to the rest of the series

27-29. The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (4.5/5 average)

Earth magic + racism + the world is ending + colonial power is the root of all evil = everybody having a bad time forever (but in a good way). The Fifth Season slapped so severely that I was let down a little by its two follow ups.

30. The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White (4.5/5)

Violent and unflinching look at how they treated women, queer people and the mentally ill in the victorian era. I am so so so brave for sitting though all the medical descriptions are you proud of me

31. Everything is Under Control: a Memoir with Recipies by Phyllis Grant (4/5)

Memoir of a recipie blogger but tbh i don't really think she had anything that groundbreaking to say.

32. Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros (4.25/5)

Percy Jackson but he's gay and jewish. Fun and funny but middle grade and I could feel it

33. Cultish: The Language of Fanatacism by Amanda Montell (4.5/5)

How cults will use language to trap you and keep you in their greasy little hands. Also why you should never ever join an MLM

34. Saltblood by Francesca De Tores (4.25/5)

Was famous pirate Mary Read a Non-binary icon? We literally have no way of knowing but its a nice thought I guess

35. On Earth We're Breifly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (3.75/5)

A long and emotional letter from a traumatised son to his traumatised mother. Unfortunately i am nauuuurt a literary fiction girlie and I could feel it

36. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (4.75/5)

Musings of a lesbian daughter on the suicide of her closeted gay father. More academic than I expected but still real good

BONUS - my 3 books I am currently reading

37. House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski

Sooo confusing and yet sooo compelling. Whoever is holding this hostage at my local library please give it back please please please pl-

38. Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

What if the local gay conversion camp/cult was a little bit tooo into demons. Chuck Tingle really said I know I've made a career of writing gimicky gay porn books but what if I wrote this slam dunk of a mystery/queer horror/sensitive look into the relationship between faith and queerness Chuck you can't do this to me why is it so good

39. Half Arse Human by Leena Norms

Been a big fan of Leena's youtube channel so I am very excited to read! Its been getting a lot of promo so I hope it does well for her :)

[lucyfrostblade]

🪢 A headcanon about their family, 📓 A headcanon about their hobbies, 👗 A headcanon about their clothes, 🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence (for both ivy and lucy please i love your takes)

headcanon ask game !!

Lucy:

🪢 A headcanon about their family

one of lucy's parents (i say she has two moms but that's unrelated to the current headcanon) was born in the mountains of chaos and moved to elmville with her own parents when she was an older teen, around 16 or 17. the official reasoning was that it was safer to raise a family in elmville and a desire to live a life less rooted in survival and more in living, but the real reason but that lucy's grandparents had gotten some vague communications from ruvina that some time in the coming decades that a frostblade would be needed in elmville.

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies

credit to @vortahoney for starting this conversation with the other day !! lucy reads sad girl books, be it weird sad girl or hot sad girl. an absolutely remarkable thing by hank green, severence by ling ma, our wives under the sea by julia armfield, my heart is a chainsaw by stephen graham jones, olga dies dreaming by xochitl gonzalez, gods of want by k-ming chang, bad cree by jessica johns, the secret lives of church ladies by deesha philyaw.

i think i said to spence that i don't think she would read horror or the weirder books yesterday but i have changed my mind. she doesn't read the goreriest stuff or even truly weird stuff, but she doesn't shy away from it either.

👗 A headcanon about their clothes

lucy dresses like it's winter every single day. every since she became a frost gensasi, it's been hard for her to stay warm. it doesn't exactly bother her, it's comfortable, but she misses it, you know? so she's always wearing sweaters even on the hottest summer day, trying to chase the warmth she remembers from early childhood.

🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence (for both ivy and lucy please i love your takes)

she's depicted in the official art as having a morning star and i am a little bit obsessed with that. it implies either a strength that isn't necessarily evident in her character design, or that she's just carrying around a weapon that she can't really use. i lean more towards the former, and that she has a tendency to be more involved in combat than any of the other rat grinders are completely comfortable with. she'll always try and keep combat from breaking out but once it does she can wack people with her morning star and then cast healing word as a bonus action. it's fine guys, she promises. of course if someone gets badly hurt she'll focus on that but let my girl hit people in between. especially post-resurrection it's one of the only ways she feels comfortable expressing anger.

Ivy:

🪢 A headcanon about their family

ivy moved to elmville shortly before freshman year with her mom. her parents divorced during the last year of middle school. it was messy, and they absolutely had the worst fights right in front of ivy for most of her childhood. in the end, ivy was made to chose between staying in fallinel with her dad or moving to elmville with her mom, and she chose the latter. she sees her dad a couple times a year now, but her mom isn't much more present despite the fact that they live under the same roof.

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies & 👗 A headcanon about their clothes

archery itself could be considered a hobby, i don't know if you have any experience with it. personally i am pretty shit at it but i am getting back into it anyway. back to ivy though, i imagine it started out as a hobby before it became who she was. summers spent shooting at targets instead of playing with the other kids, and after school time was spent more on practice than her homework.

i imagine that once she starts aguefort she's similarly intense about it but picks up an actual hobby or two now that she has time in school to be intense about it. something tactile, maybe knitting or crochet? i lean knitting for ivy bc it's simpler and more practical but she could still use it to make crop tops and tank tops. i think she'd have fun with it. and she makes oisin count her rounds for her. it's hard, okay?

🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence

ivy's an archer which creates a certain distance from the violence she enacts. the first thing she kills is a deer while on a hunting trip with her parents. for a while it's just game, then when she starts aguefort it's rats and monsters. even in battle against other people (against lucy) it's easy enough for her to keep her distance from the reality of violence against another person. she didn't touch lucy when they killed her, just stood by the treeline and aimed. the distance doesn't help with the guilt, doesn't stop the nightmares.

[picklejarred]

My Top Books of 2024

hello! i read 191 books last year and here are my top 20 (in no particular order)

- The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart

- Africa Is Not A Country by Dipo Faloyin

- Bodyminds (Re)imagined by Sami Schalk

- Letters To My Weird Sisters by Joanne Limburg

- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

- The X-Files: The Truth Is Still Out There by Dr Bethan Jones

- Infect Your Friends And Loved Ones by Torrey Peters

- Constructing A Nervous System by Margo Jefferson

- Last Seen Online by Wren James

- Before We Were Trans by Dr Kit Heyam

- Burn This by Lanford Wilson

- Late Bloomer by Clem Bastow

- One Hundred Days by Alice Pung

- Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

- Feminist Queer Crip by Alison Kafer

- When The Body Says No by Gabor Maté

- Reel to Real: Race, Class and Sex at the Movies by bell hooks

- The Future is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

- Daddy Boy by Emerson Whitney

- Trauma Stewardship by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky

Please share your faves from this year to help me inform my tbr for 2025!!!

[the-formerone]

Beloveds! It's happened again! A career shaping opportunity approaches!

I have been accepted into the Roots. Wounds. Words. Winter 2024 Retreat for Storytellers of Color, where I and 64 other fellows will participate in a week of virtual workshopping, community building, craft talks, and readings. 🎉🥳🎊

I'll be bringing my darling speculative behemoth CROWNLESS to the party, whose faculty has included literary artists Daniel Jose Older, Jesmyn Ward, and Deesha Philyaw in the past.

And my workshop leader you ask? None other than author of the Magic of the Lost trilogy, author who I've been comping my work to ever since I started reading theirs, C. L. Clark.

Excited? Isn't even close to the right word.

While I have been gifted with a generous partial scholarship, I will need some assistance for the remaining tuition.

Friends, family, and strangers alike, your generosity has moved mountains in the past, and continues to propel me forward. I'm a little under halfway there after a day of fundraising.

No matter what you're able to give (good vibes, well wishes, and reposts included) thank you for your part in this journey. It truly does mean the world.

https://secure.givelively.org/donate/roots-wounds-words-inc/roots-wounds-words-2024-winter-writers-retreat-for-storytellers-of-color/nailah-mathews-2