89. Piper Huguley - American Daughters, and the way into story

Welcome to episode 89! I am back from my podcast hiatus! I didn’t mean to be away so long! And though I was absent from the podcast, if you follow me on socials and my newsletter, so many things have happened. It’s been over a year, friends, where there was quite a bit of change in our household. It was a year of deadlines, a move this summer, and getting set up—it was a whole big thing, having to get used to new schedules, while trying to have balance. We all know how that’s so hard.

But I’m happy to be back, and hopefully will now be in a groove in which I can get some fantastic authors and creators into this virtual studio. I’ve have missed this space, missed connecting with other folks in this avenue.

But to get down to business! I’m so excited to introduce Piper Huguley, where we discussed American Daughters. 

Piper G. Huguley’s biographical historical fiction, By Her Own Design: a novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register tells the inspiring story of the Black fashion designer of Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress. By Her Own Design was a Booklist top 100 Editor’s Choice selection for 2022, was named one of the top 100 books of 2022 in Canada by the Globe and Mail newspaper and was selected as the historical fiction winner for 2022 by the American Library Association’s Reading Council.

She is also the author of Sweet Tea, a contemporary romance about food and history (of course) and the author of two historical romance series: “Migrations of the Heart”, about the Great Migration and “Home to Milford College”. Her next historical fiction book, American Daughters (2024), is the story of the decades-long interracial friendship between Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington, the rebel teenage daughters of President Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington, respectively. She is a literature professor at Clark-Atlanta University and blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com . She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son. 

In this conversation, we discussed the idea of a  “way” into a story and Piper’s research process. We talked about historical women and their passions and Piper’s thoughts about historical accuracy. Finally, she talked about who of the two characters she endeared to the most.

***
Preorder LETTERS FROM THE TRAIL, out on February 25, 2025

Note: some links are affiliate links

Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
Please check out her website for podcast submissions