Wine & Words Michelle Gipson Talks With Sadeqa Johnson April 13

HHM Digital presents Wine & Words with Michelle Gipson and her special guest Sadeqa Johnson on Tuesday, April 13 at 7 PM (EST). They’ll discuss Johnson’s journey from book promoter to best-selling author, and her highly acclaimed new novel, Yellow Wife. This virtual event via Zoom is free for Hammonds House Museum members and $5 for non-members. Please register at hammondshouse.org. Join us and invite your book club, too!

Sadeqa Johnson, a former public relations manager, spent several years working with well-known authors such as JK Rowling, Bebe Moore Campbell, Amy Tan and Bishop TD Jakes before becoming an author herself. Her debut novel, Love in a Carry-on Bag, is the recipient of the 2013 Phillis Wheatley award for best fiction, OOSA best book award, and USA best book award for African American fiction. Second House From the Corner was hailed by Essence magazine and a Go on Girl! Book Club selection for 2017. And Then There Was Me, won the National Book Club Conference fiction book of the year award. She received the Black Pearl Magazine Author of the Year award for 2017. Johnson is a Kimbilo Fellow and proud member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She teaches fiction writing for the MFA program at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

Yellow Wife. Born on a plantation in Charles City, VA, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world. Promised freedom on her eighteenth birthday, instead of the idyllic life she imagines with her true love, Essex Henry, Pheby is forced to leave the only home she has ever known. She unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half Acre, a jail in Richmond, VA, where the enslaved are broken, tortured, and sold. Pheby is exposed not just to her jailer’s cruelty but also to his contradictions. To survive, Pheby will have to outwit him, and she soon faces the ultimate sacrifice.

“Yellow Wife is a deeply researched and truly transfixing narrative told with heart, soul and skill — one that will no doubt grip the reader as much as it did the author." Toronto Star

Michelle R. Gipson is the Publisher and Founder of Written magazine. She holds a B.A. and a M.A. from Hampton University, attended Stanford University's Executive Publishing Course, and Harvard University's Maynard Institute. A freelance writer, radio personality, and marketing and advertising executive, Ms. Gipson has been in publishing and media for more than 15 years. She has contributed to Essence, Chicken Soup for the African American Soul, Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul, and Where Did Our Love Go: Love and relationship in the African American community.

Hammonds House Museum is generously supported by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Fulton County Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, The National Performance Network, AT&T and WarnerMedia.

Hammonds House Museum’s mission is to celebrate and share the cultural diversity and important legacy of artists of African descent. The museum is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and a passionate arts patron. A 501(c)3 organization which opened in 1988, Hammonds House Museum boasts a permanent collection of more than 450 works including art by Romare Bearden, Robert S. Duncanson, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Amalia Amaki, Radcliffe Bailey and Kojo Griffin. In addition to featuring art from their collection, the museum offers new exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, concerts, poetry readings, arts education programs, and other cultural events throughout the year.

Located in a beautiful Victorian home in Atlanta’s historic West End, Hammonds House Museum is a cultural treasure and a unique venue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to observe CDC guidelines, but look forward to welcoming in-person visitors soon! For more information about upcoming virtual events, and to see how you can support their mission and programming, visit their website: hammondshouse.org.

Media Contact: Karen Hatchett - karen@hatchettpr.com.