Episode 104 - Vanessa Riley, Fire Sword & Sea

In this episode, recorded during Women's History Month, Lissa talks with author Vanessa Riley about her latest historical novel. Riley—whose works have received high praise from New York Times , NPR, Washington Post , and Entertainment Weekly, among others—pushes historical fiction into bold new territory. She reveals the often-erased stories of Black, Indigenous, and women pirates, weaving in diverse communities of gender expression, sexuality, class, and race too often silenced in traditional narratives. In addition to being a novelist, Vanessa Riley holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and both a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State. GO DEEPER Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

You can listen to Episode 104 - Vanessa Riley, Fire Sword & Sea online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 104 - Vanessa Riley, Fire Sword & Sea is an episode from Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads by iDream.tv.

This episode is 34:36 long.

This episode was published on Mar 27, 2026.

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