Denene Millner

Denene Millner (born October 21, 1968)[1] is an American author, editor, television and podcast host, and journalist. She has authored more than 30 books, including six New York Times best sellers. She is the creator and director of Denene Millner Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and MyBrownBaby.com, a critically acclaimed blog that examines the intersection of parenting and race.[2]

Denene Millner
Born (1968-10-21) October 21, 1968
EducationHofstra University (BA)
Occupations
  • Writer
  • editor
  • host

Early life

Millner grew up in Bay Shore, New York and graduated with a B.A. in communications from Hofstra University.[1]

Career

Millner was a reporter for the Associated Press and a political and entertainment reporter for the New York Daily News. She served as Executive Editor at Honey and Articles Editor at Parenting,[3] where she later worked as a columnist.[4] In March 2011, Millner was chosen by Black Voices website as one of 40 Influential Black Female Writers.[5] and in 2017 Forbes named her a top influencer in the parenting sector.[6]

Millner has written and collaborated on over 30 books of fiction, non-fiction, and youth literature including co-authoring six New York Times best sellers: Act Like a Lady, Think Like A Man (in paperback and hardcover),[7] Straight Talk, No Chaser (both with comedian Steve Harvey),[8] I Am Charlie Wilson with R&B performer Charlie Wilson,[9] Around the Way Girl with actress Taraji P. Henson,[10] and Believing in Magic with Cookie Johnson.[11]

Millner's other books include the young adult novel Miss You, Mina, written for Scholastic; the humor book, The Angry Black Woman's Guide To Life,[12] and the novel The Vow, both written with Angela Burt-Murray and Mitzi Miller; and the three-book teen series Hotlanta written with Mitzi Miller. In 2015, The Vow was turned into a movie on the Lifetime network, called With This Ring, starring Jill Scott, Regina Hall, and Eve.[13] Millner co-wrote three novels and three books of non-fiction with her former husband Nick Chiles,[14] including Love Don't Live Here Anymore and What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know, both Essence best sellers.[15] In 2007, Millner wrote the novelization of the screenplay for Dreamgirls and in 2012, the novelization for Sparkle.[16]

In 2019, Millner began hosting Speakeasy with Denene, a Georgia Public Broadcasting podcast that uses "art, culture, and entertainment to explore the beauty and humanity of blackness,"[17] and served as executive producer on the made-for-TV movie Angrily Ever After.[18] Millner co-hosts the GPB television show A Seat at the Table, that focuses on issues affecting black women[19] and has a forthcoming multigenerational epic novel, One Blood, to be published by St. Martin's Press.[20]

Denene Millner Books

In 2016, Millner became an editor at Bolden Books with her own imprint, Denene Millner Books.[21] Three years later, Millner moved the imprint to Simon & Schuster.[22] The imprint publishes titles by African-American authors and illustrators, for readers of all ages. Millner describes her imprint as "a love letter to children of color who deserve to see their beauty and humanity in the most remarkable form of entertainment on the planet: books."[2] In 2017, while still under Agate/Bolden, the imprint published the children's book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, which received a Newbery Honor, an Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, Caldecott Medal, two Coretta Scott King Awards, and the Kirkus Prize for Best Children's Literature. Following the move to Simon and Schuster, the imprint published a number of acclaimed books including Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera, recipient of a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor Book award[23] and Just Like A Mama, nominated for an NAACP Image Award.[24]

Selected Titles
  • Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James (2017)
  • Early Sunday Morning by Denene Millner, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton (2020)
  • If Dominican Were a Color by Sili Recio, illustrated by Brianna McCarthy (2020)
  • Just Like a Mama by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (2020)
  • Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera, illustrated by the author (2020)
  • My Brown Baby: On the Joys and Challenges of Raising African American Children by Denene Millner (2020)
  • My Rainy Day Rocket Ship by Markette Sheppard, illustrated by Charly Palmer (2020)
  • There's a Dragon in My Closet by Dorothea Taylor, illustrated by Charly Palmer (2020)
  • What Is Light? by Markette Sheppard, illustrated by Cathy Ann Johnson (2020)

Personal life

Millner was formerly married to journalist Nick Chiles,[1] with whom she has two children.

Selected works

References
  1. Harris, Janelle (March 6, 2013). "SO WHAT DO YOU DO, DENENE MILLNER, CO-AUTHOR OF ACT LIKE A LADY, THINK LIKE A MAN?". Mediabistro. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  2. "Introducing Denene Millner Books". simonandschusterpublishing.com. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2010-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Kershaw, Sarah (19 January 2018). "Talk about race? Relax, it's o.k." The New York Times.
  5. "Black News, Entertainment, Style and Culture - HuffPost Black Voices". www.bvonbooks.com.
  6. "Denene Millner". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  7. "Paperback Advice & Misc. Books - Best Sellers - Books - May 27, 2012 - The New York Times". The New York Times. 2021-02-08. Archived from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  8. "The New York Times Best Sellers". The New York Times.
  9. "The New York Times Best Sellers". The New York Times.
  10. "Celebrities Books - Best Sellers - Nov. 13, 2016 - The New York Times". The New York Times. 2020-10-16. Archived from the original on 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  11. "The Best Sellers: Filed Under Sports - The New York Times". The New York Times. 2020-11-08. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  12. Gorce, Tammy La (19 January 2018). "IN PERSON; Anger Management? Not for These Women". The New York Times.
  13. "With This Ring". 24 January 2015 – via www.imdb.com.
  14. "Snellville's Denene Millner penned books by Steve Harvey, NeNe Leakes".
  15. "Best-selling Books". ESSENCE. Vol. 31, no. 7. 2000-11-01. ProQuest 223148247. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  16. Dodes, Rachel (10 August 2012). "How Whitney Houston Got Her Last Chance to 'Sparkle'". Wall Street Journal.
  17. "Introducing "SPEAKEASY WITH DENENE"". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  18. Vaughn, Terri J. (2019-09-21), Angrily Ever After (Comedy), Jasmine Burke, Ta'Rhonda Jones, Tyrone Marshall Brown, Terayle Hill, Octet Productions, May 3rd Films, retrieved 2021-01-29
  19. "A Seat at the Table". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  20. "Book Deals Week of June 22, 2020". www.publishersweekly.com. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-07-19. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  21. "Introducing Denene Millner Books". AGATE. 8 February 2016. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
  22. Kantor, Emma (2019-02-28). "Denene Millner Brings Imprint to S&S". www.publishersweekly.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-24. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  23. Cabrera, Cozbi A. (25 August 2020). Simon & Schuster: Me & Mama. ISBN 9781534454217.
  24. "2021 Nominees". NAACP Image Awards. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
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