Whitney Peeling
@wpeeling.bsky.social
Co-founder, BroadsidePR.com * champion of the written word * Philadelphia booster * mom to “Moosh”
Pinned
Whitney Peeling
@wpeeling.bsky.social
· Sep 10
2025 National Book Awards Longlist for Nonfiction
The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Nonfiction
www.nationalbook.org
Congratulations, @calebgayle.bsky.social!!! BLACK MOSES is a contender for the National Book Award in Nonfiction!!! @nationalbook.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...
www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...
"Mother love & mother violence form an indivisible braid in Sasha Bonét’s deeply felt memoir...[O]bservant, thoughtful & poetic.... Her account of both her family history & the lives of her tributaries show off her gifts to the fullest." @aaknopf.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/b...
A Searing Memoir of Black Womanhood, Across Generations
www.nytimes.com
September 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
"Mother love & mother violence form an indivisible braid in Sasha Bonét’s deeply felt memoir...[O]bservant, thoughtful & poetic.... Her account of both her family history & the lives of her tributaries show off her gifts to the fullest." @aaknopf.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/b...
Artist Tschabalala Self calls Sasha Bonét's THE WATERBEARERS "a Black American classic." @bombmag.bsky.social "[It] is not just a book; it’s a living archive, a testimony, & a reckoning, one which Sasha so generously shares w/ us in equal parts tenderness & clarity." bombmagazine.org/articles/202...
BOMB Magazine | Sasha Bonét by Tschabalala Self
A Black mother’s memoir, from the Gulf to the Hudson, about transforming inherited pain into generational healing.
bombmagazine.org
September 19, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Artist Tschabalala Self calls Sasha Bonét's THE WATERBEARERS "a Black American classic." @bombmag.bsky.social "[It] is not just a book; it’s a living archive, a testimony, & a reckoning, one which Sasha so generously shares w/ us in equal parts tenderness & clarity." bombmagazine.org/articles/202...
Don't miss this beautiful excerpt of Sasha Bonét's THE WATERBEARERS in ELLE this week @aaknopf.bsky.social
www.elle.com/culture/book...
www.elle.com/culture/book...
'If She’s Beautiful, What Does That Make Me?'
The Waterbearers author Sasha Bonét on the perceptions thrust upon a Black girl’s body.
www.elle.com
September 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Don't miss this beautiful excerpt of Sasha Bonét's THE WATERBEARERS in ELLE this week @aaknopf.bsky.social
www.elle.com/culture/book...
www.elle.com/culture/book...
Happy publication week to Sasha Bonét, whose gorgeous debut, THE WATERBEARERS: My Mother, My Grandmother, and the Women Who Carried Me, is now out in the world (and excerpted in Oprah Daily).
@aaknopf.bsky.social
www.oprahdaily.com/entertainmen...
@aaknopf.bsky.social
www.oprahdaily.com/entertainmen...
Black Grandmothers Are the Quiet Architects of Survival—Their Prayers and Wisdom Still Shape Generations Today
"I can always tell when someone is raised by their grandmama," writes Sasha Bonét, "you’ll only notice if you know what you’re looking for."
www.oprahdaily.com
September 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Happy publication week to Sasha Bonét, whose gorgeous debut, THE WATERBEARERS: My Mother, My Grandmother, and the Women Who Carried Me, is now out in the world (and excerpted in Oprah Daily).
@aaknopf.bsky.social
www.oprahdaily.com/entertainmen...
@aaknopf.bsky.social
www.oprahdaily.com/entertainmen...
"[A] dazzling, transformative work that reimagines Black womanhood, inviting us to reconsider how we understand ourselves as individuals, parents, communities and a nation."
Deep South on THE WATERBEARERS @sashabonet.bsky.social (out 9/16 from @aaknopf.bsky.social)
deepsouthmag.com/2025/09/09/f...
Deep South on THE WATERBEARERS @sashabonet.bsky.social (out 9/16 from @aaknopf.bsky.social)
deepsouthmag.com/2025/09/09/f...
September 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
"[A] dazzling, transformative work that reimagines Black womanhood, inviting us to reconsider how we understand ourselves as individuals, parents, communities and a nation."
Deep South on THE WATERBEARERS @sashabonet.bsky.social (out 9/16 from @aaknopf.bsky.social)
deepsouthmag.com/2025/09/09/f...
Deep South on THE WATERBEARERS @sashabonet.bsky.social (out 9/16 from @aaknopf.bsky.social)
deepsouthmag.com/2025/09/09/f...
Congratulations, @calebgayle.bsky.social!!! BLACK MOSES is a contender for the National Book Award in Nonfiction!!! @nationalbook.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...
www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...
2025 National Book Awards Longlist for Nonfiction
The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Nonfiction
www.nationalbook.org
September 10, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Congratulations, @calebgayle.bsky.social!!! BLACK MOSES is a contender for the National Book Award in Nonfiction!!! @nationalbook.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...
www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...
Thanks to @therootdotcom.bsky.social for including THE WATERBEARERS by Sasha Bonét in its September round-up! @aaknopf.bsky.social
www.theroot.com/books-by-bla...
www.theroot.com/books-by-bla...
Books By Black Authors We Can't Wait to Read in September 2025
A new collection of work from Nikki Giovanni and the story behind the women of Parliament-Funkadelic are just a few of the books we're reading this month.
www.theroot.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Thanks to @therootdotcom.bsky.social for including THE WATERBEARERS by Sasha Bonét in its September round-up! @aaknopf.bsky.social
www.theroot.com/books-by-bla...
www.theroot.com/books-by-bla...
Included in the @vanityfair.com round-up of September staff favorites is Sasha Bonét's beautiful debut, THE WATERBEARERS ("a rich ode to Black matriarchy") @aaknopf.bsky.social
www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...
www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...
These Back To School Novels Skewer Academia—Dark, Protein-Maxxing, and Otherwise
New fiction by Jordan Castro and R.F. Kuang makes hay of campus politics and intellectual foibles, plus more recent favorites from the staff of Vanity Fair.
www.vanityfair.com
September 3, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Included in the @vanityfair.com round-up of September staff favorites is Sasha Bonét's beautiful debut, THE WATERBEARERS ("a rich ode to Black matriarchy") @aaknopf.bsky.social
www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...
www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...
Love seeing Aaron Robertson among the 2025 Zora Awards nonfiction finalists for THE BLACK UTOPIANS! @fsgbooks.bsky.social
people.com/2025-zora-aw...
people.com/2025-zora-aw...
2025 Zora Awards Finalists Are Here — See the Full List (Exclusive)
The Zora Awards have announced their 2025 finalists. Hosted by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, the award honors Black writers across fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
people.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Love seeing Aaron Robertson among the 2025 Zora Awards nonfiction finalists for THE BLACK UTOPIANS! @fsgbooks.bsky.social
people.com/2025-zora-aw...
people.com/2025-zora-aw...
"Today, with the White House attempting to control discussion of African American history...BLACK MOSES is a useful reminder that for nearly a century after the Civil War, what was called democracy was indistinguishable from white power." @calebgayle.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/b...
The Quixotic Crusade to Create an All-Black State in Oklahoma
www.nytimes.com
August 15, 2025 at 11:47 AM
"Today, with the White House attempting to control discussion of African American history...BLACK MOSES is a useful reminder that for nearly a century after the Civil War, what was called democracy was indistinguishable from white power." @calebgayle.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/b...
BLACK MOSES @calebgayle.bsky.social, excerpted this week in @smithsonianmag.bsky.social: "It is the story of trying, why we cannot stop trying, and why being able to try is worth remembering at all." @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this...
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this...
This Visionary African American Politician Dreamed of Creating an All-Black State in Oklahoma Territory
Edward P. McCabe petitioned Benjamin Harrison for an opportunity to show him that Black people "are men and women capable of self‑government." When the president was unmoved, McCabe and his followers ...
www.smithsonianmag.com
August 13, 2025 at 3:24 PM
BLACK MOSES @calebgayle.bsky.social, excerpted this week in @smithsonianmag.bsky.social: "It is the story of trying, why we cannot stop trying, and why being able to try is worth remembering at all." @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this...
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this...
"[T]he moral decisions we must make [today] haven’t gotten easier. Who we detain, whose histories we erase, which freedoms we underfund.... The difference now is that there’s no Kansas to send our convictions to." @calebgayle.bsky.social @bostonglobe.com
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/10/o...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/10/o...
How New England built the Plains - The Boston Globe
When a fugitive slave was caught in Boston in 1854, many civic leaders were outraged — but they wouldn’t challenge slavery directly. So they found an outlet for their conscience on the frontier.
www.bostonglobe.com
August 13, 2025 at 3:21 PM
"[T]he moral decisions we must make [today] haven’t gotten easier. Who we detain, whose histories we erase, which freedoms we underfund.... The difference now is that there’s no Kansas to send our convictions to." @calebgayle.bsky.social @bostonglobe.com
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/10/o...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/10/o...
@hamiltoncain.bsky.social calls BLACK MOSES @calebgayle.bsky.social "eloquent" & "engrossing." "Gayle does more than just rescue a forgotten yet crucial figure; he places McCabe at the center of radical liberation." @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @startribune.com www.startribune.com/edward-mccab...
Review: Meet the man who tried to establish a Black state within the U.S.
Nonfiction: Caleb Gayle’s gorgeous “Black Moses” illuminates a forgotten figure from our racial past.
www.startribune.com
August 11, 2025 at 3:35 PM
@hamiltoncain.bsky.social calls BLACK MOSES @calebgayle.bsky.social "eloquent" & "engrossing." "Gayle does more than just rescue a forgotten yet crucial figure; he places McCabe at the center of radical liberation." @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @startribune.com www.startribune.com/edward-mccab...
Tx to @therootdotcom.bsky.social for featuring BLACK MOSES @calebgayle.bsky.social in its August Books round-up! @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @thegernertco.bsky.social
www.theroot.com/august-2025-...
www.theroot.com/august-2025-...
August 2025 Books By Black Authors We Can't Wait to Read | The Root
The summer may be almost over, but great books by Black authors are still coming in hot.
www.theroot.com
August 6, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Tx to @therootdotcom.bsky.social for featuring BLACK MOSES @calebgayle.bsky.social in its August Books round-up! @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @thegernertco.bsky.social
www.theroot.com/august-2025-...
www.theroot.com/august-2025-...
"If we are serious about holding this country together, we have to reckon w/ the real American inheritance, where ambition & betrayal, dreaming & dispossession, are not opposite. They are co-tenants." @calebgayle.bsky.social BLACK MOSES (8/12) @us.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
If you don’t understand Oklahoma, you can’t understand America
A Black man like me is not supposed to love Oklahoma. But in studying my home state’s history of violence, theft and wild ambitions, I learned to reckon with its legacy
www.theguardian.com
August 4, 2025 at 1:53 PM
"If we are serious about holding this country together, we have to reckon w/ the real American inheritance, where ambition & betrayal, dreaming & dispossession, are not opposite. They are co-tenants." @calebgayle.bsky.social BLACK MOSES (8/12) @us.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Among the many reasons I cherish Sasha Bonét's THE WATERBEARERS (Knopf, Sept 16): its incomparably authentic, mold-shattering depiction of womanhood & single motherhood. Ty @publisherswkly.bsky.social for giving your cover to this life-changing new work. Get ready, world.
August 1, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Among the many reasons I cherish Sasha Bonét's THE WATERBEARERS (Knopf, Sept 16): its incomparably authentic, mold-shattering depiction of womanhood & single motherhood. Ty @publisherswkly.bsky.social for giving your cover to this life-changing new work. Get ready, world.
Love seeing Caleb Gayle's superb BLACK MOSES (Riverhead, Aug 12) on this list!
@nytimes.com @calebgayle.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @thegernertco.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/b...
@nytimes.com @calebgayle.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @thegernertco.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/b...
22 Books Coming in August
www.nytimes.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Love seeing Caleb Gayle's superb BLACK MOSES (Riverhead, Aug 12) on this list!
@nytimes.com @calebgayle.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @thegernertco.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/b...
@nytimes.com @calebgayle.bsky.social @riverheadbooks.bsky.social @thegernertco.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/b...
Reposted by Whitney Peeling
At the top of my reading list: @calebgayle.bsky.social's forthcoming BLACK MOSES, about a 19th-century Black visionary who dreamed of a state governed by and for Black people. It's my favorite kind of story--a buried history of resistance and possibility.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717975...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717975...
April 23, 2025 at 8:01 PM
At the top of my reading list: @calebgayle.bsky.social's forthcoming BLACK MOSES, about a 19th-century Black visionary who dreamed of a state governed by and for Black people. It's my favorite kind of story--a buried history of resistance and possibility.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717975...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717975...
Congratulations to the stupendous new cohort of Whiting Award winners!!!
@npr.org @mtaeckens.bsky.social
@whitingfoundation.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/04/09/n...
@npr.org @mtaeckens.bsky.social
@whitingfoundation.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/04/09/n...
10 emerging writers win Whiting Awards
The awards, which come with a $50K purse, have helped launch the writing careers of many now well-known authors, including Colson Whitehead, Ocean Vuong, Alice McDermott and Jia Tolentino.
www.npr.org
April 10, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Congratulations to the stupendous new cohort of Whiting Award winners!!!
@npr.org @mtaeckens.bsky.social
@whitingfoundation.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/04/09/n...
@npr.org @mtaeckens.bsky.social
@whitingfoundation.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/04/09/n...
Just call me Bubbles
@aliahanna.bsky.social @broadside-pr.bsky.social
aliahabib.substack.com/p/bubbles-of...
@aliahanna.bsky.social @broadside-pr.bsky.social
aliahabib.substack.com/p/bubbles-of...
Bubbles of Interest: An Interview with Independent Publicist Whitney Peeling
On the vexed question of "Should I hire a freelance publicist for my book?" plus further proof that it pays to be kind.
aliahabib.substack.com
February 20, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Just call me Bubbles
@aliahanna.bsky.social @broadside-pr.bsky.social
aliahabib.substack.com/p/bubbles-of...
@aliahanna.bsky.social @broadside-pr.bsky.social
aliahabib.substack.com/p/bubbles-of...
THE BLACK UTOPIANS + THE LIGHT EATERS are @latimes.com Bk Prize finalists! 👏 👏👏 to @zoeschlanger.bsky.social @sarahjgrimm.bsky.social Aaron Robertson (+ to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social, rep'd by @broadside-pr.bsky.social's @mtaeckens.bsky.social, for ABSOLUTION)!
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Andrew Garfield, Percival Everett and Attica Locke among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists
Andrew Garfield, Percival Everett and Attica Locke are among the finalists for the 45th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.
www.latimes.com
February 19, 2025 at 5:09 PM
THE BLACK UTOPIANS + THE LIGHT EATERS are @latimes.com Bk Prize finalists! 👏 👏👏 to @zoeschlanger.bsky.social @sarahjgrimm.bsky.social Aaron Robertson (+ to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social, rep'd by @broadside-pr.bsky.social's @mtaeckens.bsky.social, for ABSOLUTION)!
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
YES to this (and thanks also to Victor Luckerson, whose book, BUILT FROM THE FIRE, was frequently referenced in the report).
I'm rapidly running through🎁 links this month to share what I think matters. Thanks to @roncharles.bsky.social for highlighting DOJ reports on Jan. 6 and Tulsa massacre, and to @melvillehouse.bsky.social for turning the former by Jack Smith into a book with more reach than a DOJ pdf. wapo.st/40lsCrB
Column | The most important author of the moment is the Justice Department
Special reports on Jan. 6 and the Tulsa Race Massacre challenge us to remember what some would rather forget.
wapo.st
January 22, 2025 at 3:37 PM
YES to this (and thanks also to Victor Luckerson, whose book, BUILT FROM THE FIRE, was frequently referenced in the report).
Ty @bostonglobe.com @katekilla.bsky.social for including THE BLACK UTOPIANS/Aaron Robertson, THE LIGHT EATERS/@zoeschlanger.bsky.social, + more @broadside-pr.bsky.social projects here! @fsgbooks.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social @sarahjgrimm.bsky.social
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/13/a...
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/13/a...
The 75 best books of 2024 - The Boston Globe
Boston Globe book critics give us their favorites from a year of great titles.
www.bostonglobe.com
December 13, 2024 at 1:58 PM
Ty @bostonglobe.com @katekilla.bsky.social for including THE BLACK UTOPIANS/Aaron Robertson, THE LIGHT EATERS/@zoeschlanger.bsky.social, + more @broadside-pr.bsky.social projects here! @fsgbooks.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social @sarahjgrimm.bsky.social
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/13/a...
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/13/a...
Remember the names of these new Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grantees - their projects will start to roll out in the next year or so and each one is truly more spectacular than the next!
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants! Learn more about their remarkable and indispensable forthcoming books and read excerpts from their work on our website: www.whiting.org/writers/crea...
December 10, 2024 at 3:21 PM
Remember the names of these new Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grantees - their projects will start to roll out in the next year or so and each one is truly more spectacular than the next!
More Thanksgiving-timed good news for Aaron Robertson and THE BLACK UTOPIANS: The New York Public Library has named the book a 2024 Top Ten Best Book for Adults! @fsgbooks.bsky.social
www.nypl.org/blog/2024/11...
www.nypl.org/blog/2024/11...
Best Books of 2024: Top 10 Picks | The New York Public Library
Noteworthy new books for readers of all ages recommended by NYPL's expert librarians and staff.
www.nypl.org
November 26, 2024 at 2:40 PM
More Thanksgiving-timed good news for Aaron Robertson and THE BLACK UTOPIANS: The New York Public Library has named the book a 2024 Top Ten Best Book for Adults! @fsgbooks.bsky.social
www.nypl.org/blog/2024/11...
www.nypl.org/blog/2024/11...