Book Talk & Signing with Author Bridgett M. Davis

Join The Detroit Writing Room for a book talk and signing with award-winning author Bridgett M. Davis! Come celebrating the release of her new memoir "Love, Rita" on March 22 at 27th Letter Books.

Bridgett M. Davis is the author of “The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers” (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), a New York Times Editors’ Choice and 2020 Michigan Notable Book. Her latest book, “Love, Rita,” will be released by Harper Books in March.

“Love, Rita” tells the story of Bridgett’s beloved older sister, Rita, who knew Bridgett before she knew herself. Just four years apart in age, as the two sisters grew into young adulthood, they left behind their childhood rivalry and became best friends. The memoir is a searing tribute of sisterhood and family, love and profound loss.

At the event, Kat Stafford, a global race and justice editor at Reuters and Coaching Detroit Forward Journalism Camp coach, will moderate the conversation.

Guests will have an opportunity to participate in a Q&A. They’ll also be entered in a raffle for literary prizes and Perspectives Magazine.

Location:

27th Letter Books

3546 Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI 48216

There is free street parking along Michigan Avenue and side streets.

Tickets:

Tickets are a suggested minimum $15 donation.

Tickets are nonrefundable. Registration is open until 6 p.m. on March 22.

About the Cause:

All proceeds benefit The Detroit Writing Room’s 2025 Journalism Camp and Coaching Detroit Forward scholarships for Detroit high school students to attend the camp for free. During two weeks, students will report and write a story focused on environmental, health and social justice topics. Their articles will be published by Planet Detroit and printed in Perspectives Magazine.

Bridgett M. Davis is the author of the memoir, Love, Rita, published by Harper Books in spring 2025. Her first memoir, "The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers," was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine, and featured as a clue on the quiz show "Jeopardy!" The upcoming film adaptation will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and released by Searchlight Pictures.

She is author of two novels, "Into the Go-Slow, named" a Best Book of 2014 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and "Shifting Through Neutral," shortlisted for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award.

Davis is also writer/director of the 1996 award-winning feature film "Naked Acts," newly restored and released in 2024 to critical acclaim, screening in theaters across the U.S. and globally; the film will soon be available on DVD, BluRay and streaming services.

Davis is Professor Emerita in the journalism department at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center, where she taught creative, narrative and film writing.

Her essays have appeared most recently in The New York Times, the LA Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia Journalism School, she lives in Brooklyn with her family. Visit her website at bridgettdavis.com.

In "Love, Rita," Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister, Rita, who knew Bridgett before she knew herself. Just four years apart in age, as the two sisters grew into young adulthood, they left behind their childhood rivalry and became best friends.

Rita was a vivacious woman who attended Fisk University at age 16, and went on to become a car test driver, an amateur belly dancer, an MBA, and later a popular special ed teacher; in doing so, she modeled for her younger sister Bridgett how to live boldly. And in the face of family tragedy, the two sisters leaned on one another to heal; their closeness grew, until Rita’s life was cut tragically short by lupus when she was just forty-four. This led Bridgett to ask the simple, heartbreaking question: Why Rita?

A brave and beautiful homage that celebrates the special, complex bond of sisterhood yet also reveals what it is to live, and die, as a Black woman in America.

This moving memoir, full of joy and heartbreak, and family history alongside American history, uses Rita’s life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women — and the men they love. This poignant, deeply resonant portrait of an unforgettable woman and her impact on those she left behind is essential reading.

Copies will be available to purchase at .

Kat Stafford is the global race and justice editor at Reuters. She previously served as a national investigative writer and global investigations correspondent at The Associated Press, where she investigated how structural racism has fueled inequity in America. Prior to joining the AP, Stafford was an investigative reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Her reporting has prompted city legislation, policy changes, congressional reviews and federal and state criminal investigations. Stafford is a Board of Director for the Investigative Reporters and Editors, the industry's leading nonprofit organization focused on investigative journalism. She is also the chair of IRE's Member Services Committee and deputy chair of the National Association of Black Journalists' Print Task Force. Stafford has received several awards for her work. She was named a 2019 Ida B. Wells Investigative Fellow and received the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2017 Young Journalist of the Year Award by its Detroit chapter. Stafford attended Eastern Michigan University and serves as a board member for the university’s student newspaper, The Eastern Echo. She is also a journalism trainer and has led several trainings and panels for the Ida B. Wells Society, the Poynter Institute, the Maynard Institute and colleges and universities nationwide, including Amherst College, Cornell University, and the University of Michigan. She has led The Detroit Writing Room's "Race and Social Justice Reporting Workshop" for Journalism Camp students since 2020. A Detroit native, Stafford is a fierce advocate for newsroom representation and ensuring opportunities for journalists of color.

Thank you for attending the event and supporting our 2025 Journalism Camp! Interested students can apply at .

The Detroit Writing Room offers an inspirational community for writers, creatives and professionals. Whether you’re working on the next Great American novel or a resume, the DWR has 30 professional writing coaches to help with all your writing needs. We also host book talks, writing workshops, and literary events. Visit detroitwritingroom.com to sign up for coaching, memberships, events and more. Check out newyorkwritingroom.com to see our New York-based coaching team.

Coaching Detroit Forward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that coaches Detroit high school students in writing, photography, graphic design and other creative fields. Award-winning local journalists, authors, communications professionals, photographers and designers teach students and share their expertise through summer camps and workshops . Through Coaching Detroit Forward, students gain mentors who guide them through internships, jobs and careers. Visit coachingdetroitforward.org to learn more.

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