Book Launch for THE LADIES HALL with Vanessa Miller

Vanessa Miller is returning to Bookmarks to celebrate the launch of her latest book, The Ladies Hall, in a conversation with Well-Read Black Girl book club leader Valencia Taylor. A book signing will follow the talk.

Registration is free; attendees have the option to purchase the book with their registration. Copies of The Ladies Hall and Vanessa Miller's other books will be for sale at the event.

Have any questions? Check out our page and email [email protected] for further inquiries.

Vanessa Miller is a USA Today bestselling author, whose prolific body of work spans

over 50 titles that explore deep themes of redemption, resilience, and faith—often

spotlighting strong Black women in pivotal moments of history.

Miller’s book The American Queen won the prestigious Christy Award, the Audie

Award and was the 2024 American Fiction Award winner for Historical Fiction. The

American Queen was a North Carolina Reads pick for 2025 and an Alamance

Countywide read for 2026 and Our State Magazine book club pick for February 2026.

Her novel The Filling Station was named one of Booklist’s Top Ten Historical Fictions

of 2026, one of Library Journal’s Best Books of 2025, and A Booklist Editor’s Pick. It is

a Positively Charlotte book club pick, an Oklahoma County Big Read and was an instant

USA Today bestseller.

The lives of real heroes prove this truth: equality is won when we rise together.

1880s, Ohio. When Mary and Anna enter the Bachelor of Arts program, also known as the "gentlemen's course" of study, at Oberlin College, they have little in common other than the color of their skin and their passion for education.

While Mary was raised in luxury, attending presidential inaugurations with her wealthy father, Anna is a schoolteacher, likely the daughter of her enslaved mother's former owner, and works a second job to pay for her room and board. But despite their differences, both women share strength, ambition, and a deep yearning for change. If they can bridge the gaps between them, they just might build a lasting legacy.

From its earliest days in the 1830s, Oberlin College admitted men and women, white and Black students. Though the doors are officially open, school policy cannot change the hearts of classmates who refuse to see a woman, and especially a Black woman, excel. Despite constantly being forced to prove themselves, the women triumphantly overcome every obstacle and push through their pain. And as the world evolves around them, Mary and Anna persevere to build a legacy of success and excellence.

Based on the real lives of Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt, The Ladies Hall is a mirror into times of great change--where progress and new possibilities are met with violence and resistance . . . but hope always rises. And it rises still.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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