Hi! I’m Joy, a Louisiana-born, Nigerian-American writer who’s obsessed with literature, research, and the untold histories of Africa and the Black diaspora. The Braid Blog is where I weave it all together: memory, literature, culture, and the quiet power in our everyday lives. Think of this space as part archive, part altar–always an offering.
I’d love to connect! Feel free to visit my socials below or send me an email xo.
Welcome to The Braid Blog!
The Braid Blog is a literary billet doux to the Black experience, rooted in history, parted with care, and textured with memory. This is where the soft meets the sharp, where lineage speaks in sentences and every strand tells a story. Through art, essays, book reviews, and reflections on everything from politics to plaits, I’m weaving a space where we can feel, remember, and reimagine ourselves out loud. Whether you’re deep conditioning your boundaries, scrolling through joy, or just detangling the day—you belong here.
A space for the poems that live at the root. Return each month for a new verse.
February 2026 Feature:
To a Dark Girl
by Gwendolyn Bennett
I love you for your brownness
And the rounded darkness of your breast
I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice
And shadows where your wayward eye-lids rest.
Something of old forgotten queens
Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk
And something of the shackled slave
Sobs in the rhythm of your talk
Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow’s mate
Keep all you have of queenliness
Forgetting that you were once were slave
And let your full lips laugh at Fate!
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In Sweet Heat (2025), Bolu Babalola delivers romance with depth–intimate, messy, and impossible to ignore. Kiki Banjo thought she outran her past, but one reunion cracks everything open: love, pride, ambition, and the life she’s been carefully constructing. Consider this your invitation to read this spicy title responsibly.
Step into Spike Lee’s Crooklyn through the eyes of a little Black girl carrying weight she never should’ve held. This reflection unbraids hyper-independence, misogynoir, and the quiet traumas we normalize in Black families—revealing how generational patterns shape our children long before we notice.
Let’s rewind to the Muses—five sisters who sang Hercules into legend and now rise again in Farrah Rochon’s Bemused. This Greek mythology retelling fuses Disney nostalgia, Black girl magic, and divine sisterhood, reminding us that unity isn’t weakness. It’s the truest form of power.
🇳🇬 As Nigeria celebrates 65 years of independence, I’m compelled to appreciate the culture that has shaped my life in countless ways. I decided to reflect on the traditions that make our culture so unique. For this milestone, I’ve chosen my top three favorite parts of being Nigerian. Dive in and celebrate with me!
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A literary billet-doux to the African world.
