Deesha Philyaw on Leaving A Marriage Over Email

“I thought: This is the kind of life I want. I want adventures. I want the super blue sky. I want to feel free.”

Deesha Philyaw is an American author, columnist, and public speaker. Her debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in fiction and won The Story Prize. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies focuses on Black women, sex, and the Black church, and is being adapted for television by HBO Max with Tessa Thompson executive producing. Deesha is also a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and will be the 2022-2023 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.