It’s only Tuesday, but there’s already good news happening for three major voices in television, film, and music.
Mara Brock Akil, the acclaimed showrunner behind Girlfriends and Netflix’s hit series Forever, is taking her storytelling genius to the page. Akil’s first novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, is about to drop. Set in the 1990s, Akil’s heroine is a beauty editor whose picture-perfect life comes crashing down when her boyfriend delivers life-threatening news, which unearths a dark secret she has hidden since childhood. It’s a trifecta of emotions, buried secrets, and profound personal awakening.
“With this novel, I wanted to explore how shame quietly shapes so many of our lives — and what it means to confront it with honesty and love,” Akil told EBONY.
“Stepping into fiction as a novelist has been a beautiful evolution of my storytelling, an opportunity to explore what revelation looks like on the page… My hope is that readers will see themselves in Dionne and recognize the weight they’ve been holding, and feel permission to release it.”
The book will be released on June 30.
Singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae has announced “Like a Star: Celebrating 20 Years Corinne Bailey Rae,” a 23-city international tour that kicks off at Cheltenham Jazz Festival in Cheltenham, UK, on May 3. On this special tour, Bailey Rae will perform her 4X platinum album Corinne Bailey Rae in its entirety, which spawned the classics “Like A Star” and “Put Your Records On.”
“Celebrating twenty years since my first album feels like a beautiful full circle moment,” Bailey Rae shared. “That record changed my life and connected me with people all over the world. To be able to perform those songs again and relive those memories is a dream come true.”
The two-time Grammy Award winner is also entering the author space. Her first children’s book, Put Your Records On, will be released on March 3.
The truth is out there — and it has a new face.
Past EBONY cover star Danielle Deadwyler has been cast in the lead role of Ryan Coogler’s highly anticipated reboot of The X-Files. The reimagining of the iconic sci-fi series, originally created by Chris Carter, promises a fresh take on government conspiracies and paranormal investigations.
Deadwyler revealed her own love for science fiction and the supernatural to EBONY, with books like Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower in her literacy roster. She is also starring in the new comedy series Rooster, which premieres on HBO on March 8. Her extensive casting over the past year marks another major moment in a career defined by layered performances.