Author Terry McMillan performs an intimate reading and analysis of her bestselling novels in this funny and profound talk, blurring the lines between fiction and reality and revealing the spiritual power of writing.

When a writer reveals her process, it is always a fascinating thing. McMillan has become known as much for her dynamic personality as she has her magnetic writing and this presentation puts both on full display at the Chicago Ideas Festival.

Two of the most respected living authors came together to discuss their craft at the New York Public Library recently.

Most remarkable are the stories of Toni Morrison about her days at a publishing house and challenging the white gaze.

Toni also speaks about the power of female friendship and her close relationship to author and filmmaker Toni Cade Bambara.

Watch the discussion unfold.

Watch this dynamic panel of women discuss Zora Neale Hurston's seminal work.

Each of these fierce women, Alice, Sonia, & Ruby Dee in their own rite share a unique Ancestral covenant with Zora Neale Hurston.  I would argue Alice Walker’s call from the Great Femine, the Sibyls happened during her discovery of Zora’s unmarked grave.

For Sonia Sanchez, the call from Zora came on an underground journey as a young woman.  The young Sonia emerged, guided by this powerful Ancestral force into the Harlem, NY, and met her messenger “Up From Slavery”, through “The Souls of Black Folks”, and together, “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Ruby Dee spoke Zora’s purpose and revealed our purpose, us as her lineage.  Ruby Dee said, “she [Zora] brings us to essences, brings us to the beginning, she brings us to the reasons for being here that we have not considered.”  Ruby Dee explains that through Zora she over-stands the greater purpose for the Africans of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and their legacy. It is a momentous responsibility, an order that could have only been Divinely sanctioned.  She proposes that we were brought to the Americas to demonstrate the nature of the human character.

The Passionate Fruit via Liberator Magazine