Month: January 2026

Sadeqa Johnson returns with ‘Keeper of Lost Children’

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

In this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve, one American woman’s vision in post WWII Germany will tie together three people in an unexpected way.

Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI’s, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes.

Philadelphia born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever.

In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity.

Toggling between the lives of these three individuals, Keeper of Lost Children explores how one woman’s vision will change the course of countless lives, and demonstrates that love in its myriad of forms—familial, parental, and forbidden, even love of self—can be transcendent.

——AMAZON

From Sadeqa:

Many of the events require advance registration and tickets, so please click on Tour Schedule to get all the details. I’ll be joined by some incredible conversation partners, including Victoria Christopher Murray, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Sharon Kurtzman, and Tanya Sam, to name a few. I’m dropping the links for the first week here as well:Richmond, Washington D.C., New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Hampton. For additional cities, please visit my events page.

Pre-Order Exclusive VIP Experience with Sadeqa on Jan 28th, 7pm

As promised, I’m hosting a very special zoom VIP Experience on January 28, 2026 at 7pm EST, exclusively for my most loyal book clubs, readers, and friends. Your pre-order book receipt or your ticket to one of my upcoming events will grant you access. You don’t want to miss this special sneak preview of all things Keeper of Lost Children. Plus, I will be giving away a few very special prizes to my VIP attendees. You don’t want to miss this!

To join me for the VIP Experience, do the following:Follow me on INSTAGRAMEmail a photo of your pre-order receipts or ticket to tour event to sadeqabookstores@gmail.com. Please type VIP in the subject line. Then include your name, email address, and photo of receipt in the email.Tell five friends about Keeper of Lost Children and invite them to do the steps above and join us too!If you haven’t pre-ordered your book yet, you are in luck. Here are a few of my favorite independent bookstores happy to assist you, Uncle Bobbies, 44th and 3rd, Resist Booksellers, . And they will ship you a signed copy. Audio lovers, you can pre-order your audio copies here!

Reading A Dress: Fashioning Black Women’s Histories

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

Description

What can fashion tell us about the history of Black American women? The answer may not be obvious, but when so many 19th and early-20th century Black women have been ignored, misrepresented or erased in official documents, history books and museums, they can seem lost to us in the 21st century. Their existing material culture can be the key to unlocking their stories. The dresses they wore and the photographs that show their styling practices can tell us not just that they existed but can grant us access to their perspectives, opinions and the ways they positioned themselves in their Black communities and the wider American culture.

The 2026 Black History Lecture will explore examples of these fashion objects and how they can open a portal into a rich facet of American history.

James Branch Cabell Library
901 Park Ave. Richmond, VAThe event is free and open to the public and will be held in person and live streamed via Zoom. 

Speaker Bio: 

Elizabeth Way is curator of costume and accessories at The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, where her recent exhibitions include Food & Fashion (2023) and Africa’s Fashion Diaspora (2024). She guest-curated “Ann Lowe: American Couturier” at Winterthur Museum Garden & Library (2023) and edited the books Black Designers in American Fashion (2021) and Ann Lowe: American Couturier (2023). 

Way holds an M.A. in costume studies from New York University and a doctorate in fashion curation from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.

When: February 5, 2026 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where: James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Ave. Richmond, VA

Register now. 

Photo Credit: Eileen Costa

VCU Libraries’ Black History Month Lecture is supported by the Francis M. Foster Fund. Francis Merrill Foster Sr., DDS, was an assistant professor of general-practice dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University and a retired Richmond dentist. The unofficial historian of Jackson Ward, Foster was known for his health-care advocacy and for his desire to improve the lives of those around him.

Community partners for this event include VCU Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising, the BND Institute of Media and Culture Inc., and the Foster Family.