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Author Talk | Tiffany L. Warren

Join author Tiffany L. Warren as she discusses her historical fiction novel, "The Unexpected Diva," about the first Black prima donna Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield.

The Unexpected Diva | Born into slavery on a Mississippi plantation, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield has been raised in the safety of Philadelphia’s Quaker community by a wealthy adoptive mother. Sheltered and educated, Eliza’s happy childhood always included music lessons to nurture her unique gift: a glorious three-octave singing voice that leaves listeners in awe. But on the eve of her twenty-fourth birthday, young Eliza’s world is thrown into a tailspin when her mother dies.

Eliza’s inheritance is contested by her mother’s white cousins, leaving her few options. She can marry her longtime beau, Lucien, though she has no desire to be a wife and mother. Or she can work as a tutor for rich families. Her mother’s dying wish was for Eliza to pursue her talent and become a professional singer, but that grand vision now seems out of reach.

When a chance performance on a steamboat to Buffalo, New York, leads to a surprising opportunity, fearless Eliza seizes her moment. Within a year she is touring America, singing to packed houses, and igniting controversy wherever she goes. In a country captivated by “the Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind, Eliza is billed by tour promoters as “the Black Swan.” An unlikely diva, Eliza is tall, dark-skinned, and robust of figure compared to the petite European prima donna, but even the harshest critics can’t deny Eliza’s extraordinary gift. Menaced by racist crowds, threatened by slave-catchers who kidnap free Black people, Eliza lives a public life full of risk, but one which also holds the promise of great riches, and the freedoms those buy.

From the churches of Philadelphia to Queen Victoria’s salon in Buckingham Palace, Eliza Greenfield will blaze her own path—with a voice that no listener will ever forget.

Registration is recommended. 

Books will be available for purchase and signing. 

Tiffany L. Warren is a nationally bestselling author, playwright, songwriter, mother, and wife. A two-time RT Book Award winner, an Essence bestseller, and an eight-time AALBC bestseller, she’s published more than twenty-five novels since debuting in 2005 with What a Sista Should Do, as well as two young adult series under the name Nikki Carter. The film adaptation of her award-winning novel, The Favorite Son, premiered in 2021 as a BET+ Original Movie directed by Robin Givens and starring Rotimi, Jonathan McReynolds E. Roger Mitchell, Serayah, and Loren Lott. The visionary behind the Faith and Fiction Retreat, Warren also is the co-founder, along with her husband Brent, of Warren Productions, and has produced gospel musicals of her novels What a Sista Should Do and The Replacement Wife. She and her husband live in Maryland with their five children. 

Moderating the talk will be Piper Huguley, author of By Her Own Design as well as the Home to Milford College and the Migrations of the Heart series. She is a multiple-time Golden Heart finalist. Piper blogs about the history behind her novels on her website. 

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