"The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery" Author Clarence Haynes [WASHDAY WOOSAH]

This week, BA fam—grab your coffee, get cozy, and let’s talk all things The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery, our official August/September book club pick! Mandi Woodruff-Santos sits down with none other than Clarence Haynes, author, publishing pro, and all-around NYC icon for a bold, joyful, and real convo packed with gems. Want to join the BA Book Club? All you've got to do is become a free member of our Patreon > Show recap: • Mandi introduces Clarence and gets real about what inspired the Brown Ambition Book Club and her own book altar game. • Clarence shares how the powerful women of NYC—and some serious Shirley Chisholm style—sparked his creation of Gwendolyn Montgomery. • Dive deep into the book’s plot: a high-powered publicist with mystical secrets, a fashion event gone wild at the Brooklyn Museum, and a botanica in the South Bronx run by an Afro-Latine queer psychic • Discussion on breaking generational trauma, mother wounds, fierce ambition, and why we’re all haunted by more than just ghosts. • A real talk about dating as a queer Black man in NYC—Clarence gets candid on finding intimacy in the big city and the sometimes wild, sometimes isolating dating scene. • The realities of Black-centered speculative fiction—why it matters and what hustle it takes to get these stories out there. Follow Clarence on IG @clarenceahaynes

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