A Book Talk with Vanessa Miller

Join Bookmarks and the Winston-Salem chapter of the Well-Read Black Girl Book Club for a book discussion with Vanessa Miller! The author will be discussing The Filling Station with Valencia Taylor, leader of our WRBG Book Club.

This is a free, in-store event with registration required. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the book with registration, and we will also have copies for sale at the event. Vanessa Miller will sign books after the event.

To ask questions about accessibility or request accommodations, please contact Bookmarks at [email protected] or (336) 747-1471 x1001. At least two weeks' notice will allow us to provide the best experience possible for you and your guests.

Have any questions? Check out our page and email [email protected] for further inquiries.

Vanessa Miller is a bestselling, award-winning author and playwright. Her writing has been centered on themes of redemption and books about strong Black women in pivotal moments of history.

Several of Vanessa’s novels have appeared on bestseller lists. The American Queen won the prestigious Christy Award and was the 2024 American Fiction Award winner for Historical Fiction. The American Queen was also the Woman Evolve Book Club Pick for October 2024; is a North Carolina Reads pick for 2025; and has been featured in GMA, Washington Post, and Essence roundups. Her novel Something Good was the 2022 Best Christian Fiction Award winner at the African American Literary Awards. Vanessa’s books have received countless favorable reviews.

Vanessa is currently published through HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and family. She graduated from Capital University with a degree in organizational communication.

Two sisters. One unassuming haven. Endless opportunities for grace.

Sisters Margaret and Evelyn Justice have grown up in the prosperous Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma--also known as Black Wall Street. In Greenwood, the Justice sisters had it all--movie theaters and entertainment venues, beauty shops and clothing stores, high-profile businesses like law offices, medical clinics, and banks. While Evelyn aspires to head off to the East Coast to study fashion design, recent college grad Margaret plans to settle in Greenwood, teaching at the local high school and eventually raising a family.

Then the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre upends everything they know and brings them unspeakable loss. Left with nothing but each other, the sisters flee along what would eventually become iconic Route 66 and stumble upon the Threatt Filling Station, a safe haven and the only place where they can find a shred of hope in oppressive Jim Crow America. At the filling station, they are able to process their pain, fill up their souls, and find strength as they wrestle with a faith in God that has left them feeling abandoned.

But they eventually realize that they can't hide out at the filling station when Greenwood needs to be rebuilt. The search for their father and their former life may not give them easy answers, but it can propel them--and their community--to a place where their voices are stronger . . . strong enough to build a future that honors the legacy of those who were lost.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Bookmarks, 634 West 4th Street, Winston-Salem, United States