​LaKesa Cox (Richmond, VA)

“I would prefer Black only because there's so much strength and power behind Blackness now #BlackGirlMagic not to mention the Black Panther movie!"

LaKesa Cox is an author and screenwriter from Richmond, Virginia with over 20 years of writing experience. Dubbed the “Countess of Urban Drama” by none other than the Queen of Hip Hop Lit, Ms. Nikki Turner, LaKesa is truly a drama queen who enjoys stirring up trouble on paper.

An avid reader of all genres of books as a child (from Nancy Drew to Judy Blume) it wasn’t until her teenage years when she read her first Danielle Steele novel that the fire in her began to flicker. Soon after, LaKesa discovered authors like Eric Jerome Dickey and Terry McMillan were beginning to write more and more stories about characters she could relate to. This paved the way for the firestorm that was brewing inside of her and it was then she realized it was time for her to create some drama of her own.
 
After the Storm was born and Water in My Eyes soon followed. When given the opportunity to contribute to the Nikki Turner Presents: Street Chronicles-Girls in the Gameanthology, LaKesa added some spice to her pen to create Power, which Ebony magazine gave a favorable review.

After the success of Girls in the Game, Nikki Turner offered LaKesa another opportunity to put her pen to work and her story, Southern Girls’ Escort Service was chosen for the Nikki Turner Presents: Street Chronicles – A Woman’s Work anthology.
Not one to be put in a box, LaKesa released an erotic, psychological thriller titled Fetish for a Blue Skyy in 2011.
 
LaKesa’s most recent short story which was released in March 2016, was her contribution to the National Best Selling anthology, The Ex Chronicles which was published by Brown Girls Publishing and won the 2016 African American Literary Award for the best anthology.
In 2017 LaKesa released her first Young Adult/Teen novel titled Mulatto Girl Aggie, 13: Name on the Ledger.

LaKesa decided to expand her creativity by crossing over into screenwriting. Her first feature-length screenplay, I Love You to Pieces, was selected for the 2017 Urban Media Makers Film Festival and the 2017 Houston Black Film Festival. LaKesa’s comedy pilot script, Wait a Minute Mr. Postman was selected as a quarter-finalist in the 2017 WeScreenplay TV Pilot Screenplay competition, was also selected for the 2017 Atlanta Comedy Film Festival and won 1st place in the Best Spec/TV Script at the 2017 Urban Mediamakers Festival. LaKesa was named one of the top 100 African-American authors of 2017 by UBAWA.org. She is currently working on her fourth full-length adult novel as well as her next feature-length screenplay. To learn more about LaKesa, check her out on social media- Website: www.lakesacox.com
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Facebook: www.facebook.com/lakesacox; Twitter & Instagram: @IamLaKesa