Author Talk with Denny S. Bryce

Join award-winning author Denny S. Bryce as she discusses her newest novel, Where the False Gods Dwell, inspired by choreographer Katherine Dunham's dance expedition, and the search for destiny turns into a struggle for survival.

Inspired by real-life legendary choreographer Katherine Dunham's groundbreaking expedition into the heart of Caribbean dance culture, this uniquely captivating novel imagines the experiences of three very different women who accompany her, hoping to find their destinies--yet finding themselves forced to survive a historic event . . .

Chicago, 1935. Othella is an orphaned con artist who needs to escape the city's brutal underworld . . . or else. Vivian Jean is a wealthy wife, student, and anthropologist eager to prove herself professionally and personally. Zinzi is a Jamaican labor union activist determined to bring change to her homeland's plantation system. Thanks to a series of fortunate mishaps and coincidences, all three join Dunham's voyage to the Maroon village of Accompong in Jamaica's Cockpit Country--and perhaps discover what they desperately want most.

Books will be available for sale and signing from Read It Again Books.

Denny S. Bryce is an award-winning and bestselling author of historical fiction, including Can't We Be Friends, The Other Princess, and Wild Women and the Blues. She is also an adjunct professor in the MFA program at Drexel University, a book critic for NPR, and a member of the Historical Novel Society, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Tall Poppy Writers. Currently, she resides in Savannah, Georgia.

Moderator Anicka Austin is a choreographer and archivist based in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Carolina Academic Library Associates fellowship, graduating in May 2020 with a Master of Science in Library Science. Her choreographic work has been presented by Elevate Atlanta, The Lucky Penny (2015-2018), and Fulton County Arts and Culture and exhibited at Gallery 72, the Zuckerman Museum of Art’s Fine Arts Gallery, and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. As artist-researcher, she presented written scholarship and choreography on site-specific performance in Atlanta’s public spaces as Atlanta Art on the Beltline Scholar-in-Residence (2021-2022) and is co-author of Composite Harmonies: Reclaiming Memory Artifacts through Community Creative Practice (2025).

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