Renée is an essayist, novelist, travel writer and speaker who calls both Williamston, Michigan and Paris, France home.
Her essay A Redbone’s Reality—about being a light-skinned black woman in the United States—won the Los Angeles Review’s Creative Non-Fiction Literary award. Her story of bacon as a metaphor for unconditional love Twelve Strips of Bacon was published in the Burningword Literary Journal and, in Tulip Tree Anthology’s Stories That Need to Be Told, Red Light/Black Zone highlights how surprising it can be when the racial component of our appearance brings unexpected reactions. Featured twice in International Living Magazine, she provides practical advice for visiting Paris.
Renée is currently seeking representation for her debut novel Unwanted Significance—a cautionary tale of what happens when intergenerational betrayal and interracial love collide in two dysfunctional families.
Honored to be chosen, she recently read an excerpt of her novel at Litquake, San Francisco’s popular literary festival. Watch the video here.
A second novel is in progress. In both her essays and fiction, Renée’s writings often address the universal failures to communicate which destroy and derail relationships—regardless of race, gender, education or class.
Renée’s Writing
A Redbone’s Reality
Renée’s essay “A Redbone’s Reality,” about being a light-skinned black woman in America, won the Los Angeles Review’s Creative Non-Fiction Literary award. Read it here.
Twelve Strips of Bacon
Her story of bacon as a metaphor for unconditional love, “Twelve Strips of Bacon,” was published in the Burningword Literary Journal. Read it here.
Red Light/Black Zone
Published in TulipTree Review’s Stories That Need to Be Told anthology in 2021, “Red Light/Black Zone” highlights how surprising it can be when the racial component of our appearance brings unexpected reactions. Read it here.