Black Folx Book Club: "Chocolate Chip City" by Be Steadwell WITH AUTHOR!

Join Greedy Reads bookseller Leela Chantrelle for the Black Folx Book Club, a reading space for Black women and Black queers reading works by Black women and Black queers.

The Black Folx Book Club meets in person at our Remington store. Please register here to let us know you'll join us!

For February, Be Steadwell, author of Chocolate Chip City, will join for the conversation!

ABOUT CHOCOLATE CHIP CITY

Singer-songwriter and filmmaker Be Steadwell’s lyrical debut is Practical Magic meets Black Cake in this warm and wry family drama with a magical twist about three sisters, a vision of princes, true love, and revolution, and one very complicated year of self-realization, family dynamics, and learning to let go.

The Jones sisters have powers.

Jasmine is a queer, heartbroken baker who crafts beautiful pastries that no one in DC wants to buy. Her sister Ella is a fat and fine bodyworker, begrudgingly serving rich white folk. And Layla, the youngest, is an ambitious affordable housing activist in the rapidly gentrifying district. The sisters are all conjurers, but they aren’t yet sure how to use their magic— and they’re not sure the world deserves it.

When their mother reveals her vision of princes, true love, and revolution, the jaded sisters meet her with skepticism. But after a chance encounter with the filthy rich Black developer Malcolm Scott and his two princely children, their mother’s prophecy begins to unfold.

This romantic novel explores class privilege while placing Black love, queer sex, and joy at its center.

Be Steadwell

(They, She, He, Be)

Be is a queer pop composer and author from Washington DC. Be's goal as an artist is to write love stories centering Black girlies, introverts and weirdos.

Be earned a BA in Black Studies from Oberlin College and an MFA in film from Howard University. Be's short films Vow of Silence and Black Tea (2025) screened in film festivals around the world, including Black Star, HBO OutFest, The Schomburg Center, Inside Out Toronto and The Bush Films.

In 2019, Be wrote and directed Dear Ex, the musical. Dear Ex imagines a queer black woman's experience of healing after a breakup. In 2021 Be released their pop and R&B album- Succulent. In 2023, Be joined the cast of Parable of the Sower the Opera by Toshi Reagon and Dr Bernice Johnson Reagon.

Be released their debut romance novel Chocolate Chip City in 2025. Be currently lives in Baltimore. They tour their music and work as an adjunct lecturer at Howard University.

Chocolate Chip City is available for purchase at greedyreads.com!

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