It’s the month of Black Excellence! We are celebrating Black History Month in many ways here at Bookstr, and one of those ways is through featuring Black Bookstagrammers who we just can’t get enough of! This week, we’ve talked with our Bookstagrammer of the Week, Lissa of @leesuhs.library, who describes herself as a “nursing student who likes to escape reality.” And let me tell you, picking a hard worn career like being a nurse–it definitely helps having something to escape with. We talked to Lissa about Black History Month in the bookish community and got all the dirty deets about her favorite Black authors!
Lissa Garcia
Bookstagram | Pinterest | TikTok | Goodreads | Spotify
Some of you may know the drill, but for those of you who don’t–hi! We’re Bookstr, and each week we choose one Bookstagram account that we can’t get out of our head. Our fabulous outreach team does what they do and we’re able to interview these creators and give them our platform.
Let’s get to know our Bookstagrammer of the Week, Lissa of @leesuhs.library! Now this is a question that we ask basically all of our Bookstagrammers because it’s always interesting to know how something began.
What inspired you to start this account?
I was already following 2 Booksta accounts on my personal page and was sucked into the world of BookTok and one day a video came up saying that if you’ve been wanting to make a book account, this is your sign to do it. I literally dropped everything and just started the account on Valentines Day 2022.
It is Black History Month and we’re featuring Black Excellence and doing what we can to elevate the stories of Black creators and authors.
What do you hope to one day see more of within Black Literature?
I would absolutely love to see more exposure. The stories are there, in every genre and they’re amazing pieces of work but they tend to not get marketed as much as non-black stories.
We know that this next question will be hard, but sometimes it’s fun picking favorites. Plus we’re dying to know the answer!
Who are some of your favorite Black authors?
My absolute favorites would definitely be Akwaeke Emezi, Tracy Deonn, Kennedy Ryan, and Tia Williams. Anything they write is immediately being bought.
A good portion of our readers are looking to support Black authors by expanding their bookshelves! And seeing as how Februrary is Black History Month, publishers are currently pushing more Black content.
What are some books that you’d recommend to read this month?
For my romance readers, I would recommend You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi, Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, or Restore Me by JL Seegers. For my fantasy readers, Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn literally changed my life and I can’t recommend them enough.
This is a more serious quesiton. We curate our Bookstagrammer questions to the specific timeframe they’ll be released for. Because of that, we’re talking Black narratives and the need for more diversity in the publishing world.
Why is it important to you to highlight Black voiced narratives?
It’s important to me because I want to be able to use my platform to introduce these narratives to people who would not think to pick them up and show them that they can read these books and find pieces of themselves the same way black readers find themselves in non-black narratives.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still reeling from the monstrosity that was 2022. That being said, I’m allowing myself to slow down with my consumption of material, especially when it comes to books!
Did you create any reading goals for yourself this year?
I set my reading goal this year for 100 books! So far I’ve finished 6 books.
And unfortunately our time with Lissa is coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean that you have to lose her! If you want to follow Lissa, all of her socials are linked at the top of this article!
Do you have any other fun facts about yourself that you’d like to share with us before you go?
I LOVE astrology! The second I meet you I need to know your birth date, time, and location so I can read your entire chart.
Well that’s it for our Bookstagrammer of the Week, Lissa of @leesuhs.library! It was a pleasure and honor to talk with you, Lissa! If you’re wanting to consume Lissa’s content all the time, be sure to follow her on Instagram! As always be on the lookout for Lissa’s feature on our Instagram–@bookstrofficial–to see the fantastic graphics that we were able to create for her!
Want more Bookstagrammers of the Week? Click here!