Courtesy photo of the book cover for “The Revelation of Dionne Daphne” by Mara Brock Akil.

Mara Brock Akil’s “The Revelation of Dionne Daphne” Arrives June 30

After more than two decades shaping television as one of Hollywood’s defining storytellers, Mara Brock Akil is entering a new chapter — literally. The award-winning showrunner and creator of series such as “Girlfriends,” “Being Mary Jane,” “Love Is ___” and Netflix’s “Forever” will publish her debut novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, on June 30 through Storehouse Voices, an imprint of Crown Publishing. Preorders are now available.

The novel marks Akil’s first foray into fiction, expanding a storytelling legacy that has elevated and humanized the interior lives of African American women across screens. Set in 1990s New York, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne follows a thirty-something beauty editor whose carefully curated world begins to fracture when an unexpected visitor and a life-altering revelation send her spiraling into her past and toward a long-delayed reckoning.

“I wrote this novel with the intention of taking readers through a story that may be familiar — one of isolation, shame, resilience, and the redemptive power of love,” Akil said in a statement. “My hope is that readers will see themselves in Dionne and feel permission to let go of what’s been holding them.”

Storehouse Voices publisher Tamira Chapman called Akil’s debut “a masterful extension of her gift for emotional honesty and cultural reflection,” while executive editor Chelcee Johns described the book as “a story of awakening, family, and forgiveness, anchored by a heroine who carries both tenderness and bite.”

Akil’s move onto the page places her in conversation with generations of African American women authors who have reshaped American literature — from Toni Morrison and Alice Walker to Tayari Jones, Jesmyn Ward, and Brit Bennett. At the same time, research over the last two decades has shown that  African American readers are among the book industry’s most committed customers: one landmark study estimated that African Americans spent roughly 356 million dollars on consumer books in a single year, with a strong preference for titles by African American authors and about African American life, a baseline that advocates say the industry has still not fully met. Later surveys have found that African American readers engage with more print, e-book,k and audio titles per month than the general population, underscoring both a deep reading culture and significant untapped potential in a market that has historically underserved them.

The release caps a milestone year for Akil, who will receive the Producers Guild of America’s Norman Lear Achievement Award later this month, following her 2025 Legacy Award from the African American Film Critics Association. Her Netflix series “Forever,” which reached No. 1 on the platform last year, is set to return for its second season this spring.

With The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, Akil joins a growing circle of showrunners turning their storytelling instincts toward fiction, translating their sense of dialogue, rhythm, and emotional truth from the screen to the page. For readers and viewers alike, her debut promises what her work has always offered — complexity, depth, and a reflection of the inner lives of African American women in full bloom.