THE INK IS BLACK PODCAST | Tiffani Staten

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with Tiffani Staten

If I Ruled the World

by Amy Dubois Barnett

June Book Club Pick

It's 1999. New York City is everything. Hip-hop is running the world. Fashion is having a moment. And one Black woman is about to run a magazine in the middle of all of it.

June's pick is If I Ruled the World by Amy DuBois Barnett, and honey, this one is a ride. Think boardrooms and backstabbing. Think ambition, romance, and a villain who is very powerful and very petty. This debut novel is written by someone who actually lived this world: a former editor-in-chief of Ebony, Teen People, and Honey magazine, and the first Black woman to run a major mainstream magazine in the United States. She is not guessing. She knows exactly where the bodies are buried.

Oprah Daily called it the first can't-miss page-turner of 2026. A Hulu series is already in development. And after everything we just went through with the Longe family last month, we have absolutely earned something this juicy.

Grab your copy. We have a lot to talk about.

Available Where Books Are Sold

JULY'S PICK

The Fervent Whites

By De'Shawn Charles Winslow

We're doing something a little different this July.

The Fervent Whites by De'Shawn Charles Winslow is our first mystery and thriller pick, and if you've been waiting for us to go there, the wait is over.

It's 1982. A small Hudson Valley community called Fervent has spent years trying to move on from a shocking murder that rocked the town. And then the couple convicted of that murder is proven innocent, released from prison, and moves right back in.

What happens next is the kind of story that keeps you reading with the lights on.

This is a propulsive, cinematic thriller about secrets, betrayal, and what it really means to return to a place that never wanted you back. De'Shawn Charles Winslow is an award-winning author with a sharp eye and a sharper pen, and this book does not disappoint.

Grab your copy. July is about to get very interesting.

Grab Your Copy

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