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Photo of Danyel Smith by Drew Allyn
The first African American editor of the seminal magazines Billboard and Vibe, where she was also the first woman editor, Danyel Smith moves lyrically between biography, criticism, and memoir in her new book Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop.
This history begins in 1773 with the poetry of the enslaved Phillis Wheatley, “who spoke truths in the language of her oppressors,” and shows not just the extent to which Black women, often under-recognized, have formed the pillars of popular American music and culture, but also the extent to which this music and history have empowered the author and transformed her own journey from music fan to essayist to journalist and now host of the pioneering podcast Black Girl Songbook.
In Shine Bright, as in Black Girl Songbook, Danyel celebrates and uplifts the lives and careers of the Black women who have defied the odds and industries working against them, both to make their voices heard and to make space for future generations of Black women like the author herself.
A culmination of her own illustrious career to this point, Shine Bright is the book Danyel Smith was born to write. Author of two acclaimed novels, More Like Wrestling and Bliss, Danyel is one of our generation’s “greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano, author of Hip Hop (and Other Things)). Kepler’s is thrilled to bask in her glow and to share it with you as we celebrate this essential new book.
Smith will be joined by Lynell George, an award-winning Los Angeles-based journalist, essayist and author. Her work explores social issues and human behavior as well as urban histories, visual art, music and literature. A former Los Angeles Times staff writer, her work has appeared in Alta Journal, Boom: A Journal of California, Preservation, Smithsonian, Oxford American, Essence among other publications. She is the recipient of a 2017 GRAMMY for her liner notes for “Otis Redding Live at the Whisky A Go Go,” and a Los Angeles Press Club first place prize in 2020 for Commentary. She is the author of three books of nonfiction: No Crystal Stair: African Americans in the City of Angels (Verso), After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame (Angel City Press) and her most recent—A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler (Angel City Press), published in 2020, was a 2021 Hugo Award Finalist.