Deesha Philyaw: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies turned Black women's interior lives — desire, faith, mothers and daughters — into nine stories that swept the 2021 prize season from a small university press. This mix traces the Black women's literary tradition she writes inside of, the Pittsburgh scene she writes from, the gospel sound beneath her title, and the short-fiction world she now helps build.

The Kynda mix for Deesha Philyaw

• Key Influence · Sula by Toni Morrison (1973). Morrison is the north star Philyaw returns to, and Sula in particular: a novel about two Black women whose friendship is more consequential than any marriage, set among churchgoing neighbors who police female appetite. Philyaw's "Dear Sister" and "Peach Cobbler" inherit Morrison's refusal to moralize about women's sexual choices, and her insistence that Black women's inner lives need no white gaze to validate them — the argument of Morrison's own criticism.
• Influencia Obscura · Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara (1972). Bambara is the under-read ancestor of exactly what Philyaw does: short stories carried almost entirely by the sound of Black women and girls talking, with the writer declining to translate for outsiders. Bambara, also an editor of The Black Woman anthology and a community organizer, treated the story collection as a form for ordinary lives rather than a warm-up for a novel — the conviction Church Ladies proves again fifty years later.
• Local Roots · Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome (2021). Broome's memoir of growing up Black and queer in western Pennsylvania arrived from the same Pittsburgh literary moment as Church Ladies, and the two books were frequently paired on regional stages and reading lists. Both work in fragments rather than conventional arc, both treat Black church culture as formative and constricting at once, and both emerged from a Pittsburgh scene that suddenly produced national prize contenders.
• Beyond the Medium · Amazing Grace by Aretha Franklin (1972). Church Ladies cannot be read without the sound of the Black church, and Aretha's live gospel album — recorded in a Los Angeles church with James Cleveland, by a preacher's daughter who had already scandalized the congregation with secular hits — is that sound at its most charged. The record holds exactly Philyaw's tension: sanctified ecstasy and bodily desire produced by the same voice, in the same room.
• Peer · The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans (2020). Evans published her second collection the same autumn Church Ladies appeared, and the two books dominated the 2020–21 story-prize conversation together. Both writers use the short form to put contemporary Black women — their class anxieties, romantic bad decisions and moral compromises — at the center without flattening them into lessons, and both demonstrated that the collection, not the novel, could win the season's major awards.
• From the Canon · The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (2020). Nine stories about Black women negotiating faith and desire, published by West Virginia University Press's Vandalia imprint — a small academic press — and then named a National Book Award finalist, winner of The Story Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Award and the LA Times Book Prize. "Eula," its opening story of two friends on New Year's Eve, sets the method: terse first person, unresolved endings, no judgment passed on what women want.
• Key Collaborator · Long Division by Kiese Laymon (2013). Laymon is Philyaw's closest literary ally among Southern Black writers — a mutual champion in the essay and prize ecosystem, and like her a writer who reclaimed his work from publishing's usual paths. Long Division, his time-looping Mississippi novel, shares her commitment to vernacular voice and to Black Southern adolescence rendered without apology; the two are repeatedly in conversation on panels and in print.
• Legacy · Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz (2021). Moniz's Florida-set debut collection arrived months after Church Ladies and was widely received as part of the lineage Philyaw had just made commercially visible: Black women's short fiction about bodies, grief, faith and appetite, unhurried and unapologetic. Philyaw has been an active public advocate for Moniz's generation of story writers, and the two books are routinely shelved and taught together.

What influenced Deesha Philyaw

• James Baldwin by James Baldwin (1924). Philyaw explicitly says Baldwin has inspired her writing. “For years, I would name those two—Baldwin and Morrison—as my favorite writers, not so much to emulate in terms of style, but in giving permission to write unapologetically about Black people and Black life, and that our stories are worth…” (Goodreads)
• Toni Morrison by Toni Morrison (1931). Philyaw explicitly says Morrison has inspired her writing. “For years, I would name those two—Baldwin and Morrison—as my favorite writers, not so much to emulate in terms of style, but in giving permission to write unapologetically about Black people and Black life, and that our stories are worth…” (Goodreads)
• Nafissa Thompson-Spires. The article reports that Philyaw cites Thompson-Spires as a literary inspiration. (also via Heads of the Colored People) “She cites among her literary inspirations Toni Morrison , James Baldwin , Nafissa Thompson-Spires , Bassey Ikpi , and Tyrese Coleman.” (Wikipedia)
• Tyrese Coleman. The article reports that Philyaw cites Coleman as a literary inspiration. (also via How to Sit) “She cites among her literary inspirations Toni Morrison , James Baldwin , Nafissa Thompson-Spires , Bassey Ikpi , and Tyrese Coleman.” (Wikipedia)
• Bassey Ikpi. The article reports that Philyaw cites Ikpi as a literary inspiration. (also via I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying) “She cites among her literary inspirations Toni Morrison , James Baldwin , Nafissa Thompson-Spires , Bassey Ikpi , and Tyrese Coleman.” (Wikipedia)
• Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (2018). Answering which writers inspire her, Philyaw names Thompson-Spires and praises her approach. “Nafissa Thompson-Spires who wrote Heads of the Colored People , and Tyrese Coleman who wrote How to Sit . What they all have in common—these three very different books—is that they really just didn’t ask for permission to write these sto…” (The Rumpus)
• Sula by Toni Morrison (1973). Sula (Toni Morrison) — titan for Deesha Philyaw “She cites among her literary inspirations Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Bassey Ikpi, and Tyrese Coleman.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying by Bassey Ikpi. Philyaw names Ikpi in response to a question about writers who inspire her. “More recently, and more specifically, I think about writers, some friends of mine like Bassey Ikpi, who wrote a memoir called I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying” (The Rumpus)
• Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses. Philyaw says Salesses’s craft book helped her teach and write her first novel. “My copy of Matthew Salesses ’s Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping is heavily dog-eared. It’s an essential guide for doing exactly what the subtitle says. The principles and practical exercises in Craft h…” (The Millions)
• How to Sit by Tyrese Coleman. Answering which writers inspire her, Philyaw names Coleman and praises her approach to writing. “Nafissa Thompson-Spires who wrote Heads of the Colored People , and Tyrese Coleman who wrote How to Sit . What they all have in common—these three very different books—is that they really just didn’t ask for permission to write these sto…” (The Rumpus)
• Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts by Matt Bell. Philyaw says she relies on Bell’s craft book while writing her novel. “For my novel, I’m also leaning heavily on Matt Bell ’s excellent craft book Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts .” (The Millions)
• Amazing Grace by Aretha Franklin (1972). Amazing Grace (Aretha Franklin) — culture for Deesha Philyaw (musicbrainz.org)
• Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash (1991). Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash) — culture for Deesha Philyaw (themoviedb.org)
• Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara (1972). Gorilla, My Love (Toni Cade Bambara) — ghost for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (1982). The Women of Brewster Place (Gloria Naylor) — titan for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• Corregidora by Gayl Jones (1975). Corregidora (Gayl Jones) — ghost for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston) — titan for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey by Marion Williams (1973). Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (Marion Williams) — culture for Deesha Philyaw

Peers and kindred spirits

• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton (2021). The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton) — collaborator for Deesha Philyaw “The Final Revival of Opal & Nev: Dawnie Walton in conversation with Deesha Philyaw” (Charis Books and More/Charis Circle via Crowdcast)
• Michael D. Thomas. Philyaw and Thomas wrote Co-Parenting 101 together. (also via Co-parenting 101) “Philyaw's first book, Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Two Households After Divorce , was written in collaboration with her ex-husband, Michael D. Thomas, and published in May 2013.” (Wikipedia)
• Co-parenting 101 by Michael D. Thomas. The publisher identifies Philyaw and Thomas as co-authors and co-creators of a website. “In 2013, she co-authored Coparenting 101 with her ex-husband, Michael D. Thomas.” (The Rumpus)
• Passing by Rebecca Hall (2021). Passing (Rebecca Hall) — collaborator for Deesha Philyaw “For her role as a black woman living during the Harlem Renaissance in Passing (2021) she earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome (2021). Punch Me Up to the Gods (Brian Broome) — geography for Deesha Philyaw “== References == == External links == Official website 1455 Author Series: Deesha Philyaw 14:55 Interview with Deesha Philyaw 1455 Summer Festival: A Conversation with Brian Broome and Deesha Philyaw” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Tessa Thompson by Tessa Thompson. Philyaw and Thompson were announced as executive producers of the television adaptation. “In 2021, it was announced that The Secret Lives of Church Ladies would be adapted for television by HBO Max with Philyaw and actress Tessa Thompson executive producing through Thompson's production company Viva Maude .” (Wikipedia)
• Tori Sampson by Tori Sampson. Reports Sampson and Philyaw’s planned writing and executive-producing collaboration. “Sampson will work with Deesha Philyaw , the author behind the book, and the pair will write and exec produce the drama series project, which is in development.” (Deadline, via Yahoo Entertainment)
• What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young (2019). What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker (Damon Young) — geography for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• Long Division by Kiese Laymon (2013). Long Division (Kiese Laymon) — collaborator for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (2021). The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois (Honorée Fanonne Jeffers) — peer for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• Hemming the Water. Hemming the Water (Yona Harvey) — geography for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)
• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans (2020). The Office of Historical Corrections (Danielle Evans) — peer for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)

Who Deesha Philyaw influenced

• Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks (2023). Moonrise Over New Jessup (Jamila Minnicks) — legacy for Deesha Philyaw “Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks , Gone Like Yesterday by Janelle M. Williams , House of Cotton by Monica Brashear , and Sun is Sky by Jedah Mayberry . These authors all take risks, in the style and substance of their work, in…” (The Millions)
• Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz (2021). Milk Blood Heat (Dantiel W. Moniz) — legacy for Deesha Philyaw (openlibrary.org)