Black women deserve to be seen. Their voices deserve to be heard. Their stories deserve not merely validation, but also celebration. For Black women authors, books are a powerful tool to achieve all of this and more. That’s why Women & Words is so necessary. Women & Words is a collaborative publishing initiative between Penguin Random House and Storehouse Voices, designed to demystify the publishing process and create pathways for aspiring Black authors to be discovered, supported, and published.
In 2025, Storehouse Voices partnered with ESSENCE to launch the inaugural Women & Words x ESSENCE Writing Contest, an initiative that attracted hundreds of applicants and resulted in two exceptional new authors being signed to book deals. These two winners joined four additional authors from the Women & Words program in an imprint-wide Signing Day celebration held at Penguin Random House headquarters in New York City earlier this month.
The 2025 Women & Words Signing Day Authors
Below are the six authors signed by Storehouse Voices through Women & Words, including the two ESSENCE Writing Contest winners:
Tamani Wooley – Do You Dare?
An enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance that follows two former flames reuniting after tragedy and years apart.
Marissa Nelson – Not Tonight
As a licensed therapist and intimacy expert, Nelson offers couples an honest, practical guide to reconnecting emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
Aseanté Renee – The Recovering Perfectionist
This prescriptive nonfiction work by Renee, a licensed mental health practitioner, invites high-achieving Black women to release societal pressure and internalized perfectionism.
Dr. Tori Niemynski – Parental Concern
A straightforward, trusted guide from a practicing pediatrician that covers the most common questions and challenges of parenting newborns through toddlers in a grounded and culturally responsive way.
Coleitha Banks – Go Solo (ESSENCE Winner)
Founder of Sisters Traveling Solo and co-winner of the ESSENCE Writing Contest, Banks delivers a part-guide, part-manifesto on how solo travel transformed her life. Her personal growth book encourages women to trust their instincts, travel alone and take bold ownership of their joy.
Christine Cowan – More Than Pretend (ESSENCE Winner)
In this contemporary romance with fantasy flair, a Nigerian woman agrees to a staged relationship with a rising politician to help boost his image, only to find herself entangled in real emotions.
The Women & Words x ESSENCE Writing Contest was created to identify and amplify new Black voices across genres, and provide immediate publishing opportunities backed by editorial development, marketing, and distribution. Through virtual workshops, live events, and curated editorial matchmaking, Women & Words has become one of the most effective pipelines for surfacing new talent in the publishing industry. The partnership extends ESSENCE’s legacy of celebrating Black creativity and Storehouse Voices’ mission to cultivate culturally resonant authors for a global audience.
