OUR HISTORY

"Our Literature is the DNA to our Culture." - Kimberly Jones

OUR HISTORY

Our Lit Diaries journey started with a pop-up event hosted by Tamika Newhouse, founder of African Americans on the Move Book Club, Inc. (AAMBC) and held just two months before the pandemic hit. The event featured creative black women in publishing and film, providing them a safe space to share their journeys and create authentically. The purpose of this event was to dare women to dream and heal together through intimate conversations - sort of like the way you would engage with your personal diary. The energy from this event was so positive and palpable, and it was immediately apparent that our work with Lit Diaries was just beginning.

Through surveying the event attendees and our extensive network of over 15,000 Creatives affiliated with AAMBC, we discovered the strong need and desire for a physical space dedicated to literary arts entertainment within the African American population.

OUR FOUNDER

 

From teen mom to CEO, Tamika Newhouse began her literary artistry at the age of twenty. Since then authored over 16 novels, has landed on numerous best-sellers’ lists and is the winner of 8 African American Literary Awards. Her original series, Traces of Mika, is a society and culture podcast that features unscripted conversations with Tamika, her friends and family, and celebrity writers. The podcast was featured on the popularized streaming platform, Pandora, as a top pick for listeners. Currently, Tamika is creating new stories that dig into motherhood, sexuality, and self-love while raising her children in Atlanta. The various ways Tamika has navigated the creative arts space is a reflection of her spirit of tenacity, hard work, and capacity to dream and achieve her accomplishments.

Tamika 2022

OUR BOOK STORE MANAGER

Kimberly Latrice Jones is an American author and filmmaker, known for the New York Times bestselling and NAACP Image award-nominated young adult novel, I’m Not Dying With You Tonight, and for the viral video How Can We Win published during the George Floyd protest. That same year, a seven-minute video featuring Kim using a Monopoly analogy to explain the history of racism and its impact on Black Americans went viral, being shared by Trevor Noah, LeBron James, Madonna, and more. Kim’s literary roots run deep, with features in numerous publications, including Seventeen, Bustle, Publisher’s Weekly, Shelf Awareness. She served on the Selection Committee for the Library of Congress’ 2016-2017 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, the 2015 Children’s Choice Illustrator Committee for The Children’s Book Council, and the advisory board that created the Creative and Innovative Education Master’s Degree program at Georgia State University. 

 

Kimberly Latrice Jones