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Deesha Philyaw

Goodreads Author

Born

in Jacksonville, FL, The United States

Website

https://www.deeshaphilyaw.com/

Twitter

https://www.instagram.com/deeshaphilyaw/

Genre

Fiction, Nonfiction

Member Since

November 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/deeshaphilyaw

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Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, the LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Deesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts, Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon). She is currently at work developing TV shows based on her short fiction.

Deesha’s debut novel, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, is forthcoming from Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, on September 29, 2026.

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Deesha Philyaw's Blog

Coming Sept. 1, 2020!

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Deesha Philyaw’s books

Average rating: 4.11 · 46,946 ratings · 7,667 reviews · 17 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Secret Lives of Church Ladies 4.12 avg rating — 44,803 ratings — published 2020	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Daddy Was a Number Runner (55th Anniversary Edition) by Louise Meriwether, Bridgett M. Davis (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Farah Griffin (Contributor) 4.17 avg rating — 1,496 ratings — published 1970 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peach Pit: Sixteen Stories of Unsavory Women by Molly Llewellyn (Editor), Kristel Buckley (Editor), Lauren Groff (Goodreads Author) 3.53 avg rating — 1,025 ratings — published 2023 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman 4.08 avg rating — 668 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best of Brevity: Twenty Years of Groundbreaking Flash Nonfiction by Zoë Bossiere (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Dinty W. Moore (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Brenda Miller (Contributor) 4.28 avg rating — 324 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Co-parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Two Households after Divorce by Deesha Philyaw (Goodreads Author), Michael D. Thomas (Goodreads Author) 3.88 avg rating — 78 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children's Classic and the Difference It Made by Lori Rotskoff (Editor), Laura L. Lovett (Editor), Joe Kelly (Contributor) 3.79 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Anthology of Rural Stories by Writers of Color 2025 by Deesha Philyaw (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Keith Pilapil Lesmeister (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.50 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fractured Lit Anthology Volume 2 by Deesha Philyaw (Goodreads Author) (Compiler), Tommy Dean (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	So S/He Had An Affair: Writing to Keep From Losing Your Sh*t by Deesha Philyaw (Goodreads Author), Magda Pecsenye (With) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Deesha Philyaw…

One of the most famous women in the Bible is known by a number, not a name. The Proverbs 31 woman is “the Beyoncé of evangelicals,” or the...

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The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

by John Truby

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Jun 06, 2020 06:24PM

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The House of Deep Water

by Jeni McFarland (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 06, 2020 06:24PM

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The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat

by Caroline Grant (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 13, 2013 09:32AM

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Deesha Philyaw has read The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 17, 2026 10:03AM · 4 likes · like
Deesha Philyaw rated a book it was amazing The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 17, 2026 10:03AM · 32 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Deesha Philyaw (?)

“But maybe you should question the people who taught you this version of God. Because it's not doing you any favors.”
― Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

20 likes

“You can't save me, because I'm not in peril.”
― Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

17 likes

“There’s an old saying: mothers raise their daughters and love their sons.”
― Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

14 likes

See all Deesha Philyaw's quotes »

Polls

February BoTM Nominations ~ Book by a Black Author ~ 1st Poll
Top 5 Books move onto Final Poll

The Violin Conspiracy

by Brendan Slocumb

10 votes, 28.6%

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

by Trevor Noah

7 votes, 20.0%

Harlem Shuffle

by Colson Whitehead

4 votes, 11.4%

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

by Deesha Philyaw

3 votes, 8.6%

People Person

by Candice Carty-Williams

3 votes, 8.6%

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

by Akwaeke Emezi

3 votes, 8.6%

By the Book

by Jasmine Guillory

2 votes, 5.7%

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

1 vote, 2.9%

Someday, Maybe

by Onyi Nwabineli

1 vote, 2.9%

What the Fireflies Knew

by Kai Harris

1 vote, 2.9%

Dele Weds Destiny

by Tomi Obaro

0 votes, 0.0%

Hold You Down

by Tracy Brown

0 votes, 0.0%

35 total votes

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Deesha’s Quotes

“I love myself when I am laughing. . . and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, I Love Myself When I Am Laughing And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean & Impressive

1817 likes