Meet Authors Darby Baham & Tati Richardson

Darby began her career as a sports desk intern at The Times Picayune in New Orleans, La. Since then, she has written for several news organizations, including The Washington Post in their Relationships vertical. For 7 years, she also ran a blog, Choices, Voices, and Sole, that focused on her dating life, shoes, and politics.

In January 2022, Darby's debut novel, The Shoe Diaries hit stores and online retail outlets. The book was the first in her Friendship Chronicles series with Harlequin Books. Her latest and sixth installment in the series, A Risk Worth Taking, released on July 29 and is available wherever books are sold.

Currently working as the deputy director of strategic communications at a national nonprofit (based in NYC), Darby spends her days laughing with friends and loved ones and longing for the shoe closet she once had in Maryland.

Tati Richardson is a fiction writer, podcaster, and (sometimes) blogger from the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia. As a kid, Tati’s mother instilled in her a love of books and she started reading full sentences by the age of 3. It was a trip to the library at age 14 with her mother that she discovered the world of romance in copies of historical romances by Beverly Jenkins.

After graduating Magna cum Laude from Clark Atlanta University with a B.A. in English, Tati received her Master of Arts in English (Editing and Publishing) from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2003.

Although she has spent the last 20 years working in higher education administration, Tati's real passion has always been writing. She started  a successful and popular blog in 2008 (SexandtheSouthernBelle.com), chronicling her adventures as a single, black woman dating in Atlanta. In 2018, Tati decided to pursue the craft professionally, writing inclusive contemporary and romantic comedies centering Blackness, queer-identity, and body-positivity. In December of 2019, Tati started the podcast, Romance in Colour with her friend of nearly twenty years, Dr. Yakini Etheridge.  Initially a place to talk all things Hallmark and holiday movies, Romance in Colour has evolved into a podcast dedicated to the discussion the intersection of race and romance in movies, television, books, and all facets of pop culture.

Tati lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and their school-age daughter. When she isn't writing, Tati enjoys watching rom-coms, tattoos, 90s R&B, Southern Rap, crafting fails from Pinterest, sweet tea, Marvel Comics, Wonder Woman, and collecting “the perfect shade of red” lipsticks. (She’s up to 22 so far!)

Host or Publisher Virginia Highland Books