by Fern Gillespie
When author Donna Hill, Executive Director for the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, first joined the college in 2012 as a professor, the Brooklyn native already had a reputation as a prolific pioneer in publishing. Her page-turner novels on African American romance were acclaimed for spotlighting Black women as the sheroes of their stories. Since 1990, she has published almost 100 novels telling “her stories” about Black women in romance, mystery, historic and suspense fiction.
“In January 2025, I became the Executive Director for the Center for Black Literature, which hosts the National Black Writers Conference,” Hill told Our Time Press. “I was asked by Dr. Brenda Greene, the founder, who was retiring. She had been my mentor for quite some time. I want to make sure that the Center for Black Literature as well as the National Black Writers Conference continues.”
Renowned Black authors from the African Diaspora will be at Medgar Evers College for the 18th National Black Writers Conference, from March 25 to March 28. The conference theme is “Expanding Conversations on Environmental Justice, Popular Culture, Resilience and Peace.”
This year’s conference kicks off with a panel moderated by Dr. Greene with speakers Nikole Hannah-Jones (“The 1619 Project”) and Michael Harriot (“Black AF History: The UnWhitewashed Story of America”). Some of the other speakers during the conference include: Lee Hawkins (“I am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free”) Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, poet and novelist (“The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois”), Dr Uche Blackstock (“Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine”), Natalie Baszile (“Queen Sugar”), Dolen Perkins-Valdez (“Wench: A Novel”), Abby West (Amistad Books), and Trymaine Lee (“A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America”).
The conference also will host a special tribute honoring Camille Dungy (“Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden”), Kassahun Checole (publisher Africa World Press and The Red Sea Press) and Imani Perry (“South to America”).
“When we look at the theme of the conference, we look at writers and scholars who speak to that topic through their work, speaking engagements, literature, the articles that the write,” said Hill.
The conference also includes Dr. Edith Rock Writing Workshop for Elders, student roundtables and the poetry café.
At the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, Hill directs year-round literary programs and workshops for children to elders. “The goal is to inform, increase and expand on the work of Black writers across the Diaspora. We choose an absolute variety of programs beyond the National Black Writers Conference.
We have an online book club. We are responsible for the Re-Envisioning Our Lives through Literature (ROLL) program for our young people from primary grades through high school,” said Hill.
“In addition to that, we also have the Wild Seeds Writers Retreat for writers of color. We do that in the winter, and we do that in the summer to bring in aspiring writers to work with seasoned writers over a period of time, one-on-one. While the program in the winter is virtual, the one in the summer is in person and we go to CUNY Polytech for our writer’s retreat.
We partner with local bookstores and host authors at Medgar Evers College. We also have annual Black History Month and Women’s History Month programs.”
During her 36 years in publishing, Hill has observed a growth of Black authors getting their voices and stories to the public through being published by major publishing houses and independent self-publishing. “When I first started writing, it was sort of a new thing and there weren’t many Black writers being published.
Now there are so many Black writers who are writing in a variety of genres from contemporary fiction. There are a lot of historical writers now who are looking at our history from a variety of lenses and rewriting those stories. We have science fiction writers. We have writers who are writing for children,” she said.
“Once the publishing industry realized that this was a market they had ignored, a lot of Black imprints wound up coming up in these major publishing houses. Also, a lot of Black writers publish independently. There’s a lot more opportunities to be to get published and to be seen. There’s a lot more acceptance. Black authors are no longer an anomaly.”
Hill, who holds a creative writing MFA from Goddard College, not only balances three careers as a college executive, adjunct professor of English and creative writing and a moonlighting novelist, she also has her work published by various publishing houses. She’s a longtime author at Harlequin Romance with several different genres of stories. Her two recent novels were historical fiction published by Entangled Publishing.
In November, her novel “Nola and Baldwin” will be published by Amistad Press, the African American imprint at HarperCollins. “Nola and Baldwin,” set in 1930s during the Great Depression, is about a young Black couple fleeing racism in the Mississippi Delta for the North looking for a better life.
The novel is a sweeping saga that also explores Baldwin’s life as a Pullman Porter traveling on the railroad. The novel has been referred to “Their Eyes are Watching God” for a new generation. Nola is inspired by the independence of Zora Neale Hurston’s protagonist Janie.
Hill’s visionary creative fiction focusing on Black women protagonists has resulted in three of her novels being adapted as television films for BET. In the film “Intimate Betrayal” starring Monica Calhoun, Khalil Kain and Erica Gimpel, a reporter investigates the murder of her brother. Vanessa Bell Calloway stars in “A Private Affair” with co-stars Clifton Powell and Lou Myers, about a famous novelist whose life is unraveling.
“Masquerade” is a romantic comedy about online dating co-stars Simbi Kali, Cress Williams, and Kelita Smith. In 2023, her novel “Confessions in B-Flat,” a romance during the Civil Rights Movement era in Harlem, was opted by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer to be adapted for the screen by Amblin Partners.
“I think, romance in general for Black readers and writers, is one of the main forms of literature that showcase the positivity of Black life. It’s not about the struggles and misogyny and tough life of living on the street and drugs, and all that. It’s really about what a great majority of Black folks are, which is essentially middle-class American.
Who are educated, who have jobs, who have struggles like everybody else and are looking for that relationship,” said Hill. “You see these positive Black men and Black women, (and) how we can and do love each other. Of course, we have our struggles and communication issues but, ultimately, it’s about seeing ourselves in a positive light.”
For more information on the National Black Writers Conference, visit www.centerforblackliterature.org.