Camille Acker and Jeannine A. Cook Jump Start Main Tent

August 4, 2026 — Camille Acker is the author of the critically acclaimed short-story collection Training School For Negro Girls, the writer of the Audible original short story Starchild, and a new satirical novel, A Very Special Episode, set to release this month. With the summer in full swing and book festival season creeping in, with only a few months to go, Camille Acker is set to kick off the Collingswood Book Festival this year! She will be joined by Jeannine A. Cook, author of Shut Up and Read: A Memoir from Harriett’s Bookshop. They are ready to chat with their reading community and dive into the world of culture, literacy and storytelling. Camille Acker was gracious enough in her busy schedule to take a moment to answer a few burning questions for us.

“I’ll often light a candle or palo santo, something to help me focus and to create a demarcation between whatever I’ve been doing before and getting to work. Sometimes I also put on music, depending on what stage of the writing process I'm in,” she shares about her pre-writing rituals, those moments before she sits down and starts building intricately woven stories.

Camille’s debut short story collection, Training School for Negro Girls, touches on the irony and tragic comedy of respectability by following a collection of characters that call Washington D.C. their home. These characters must learn that respectability does not equate to freedom by facing and learning from their own challenges and their own judgements. Now, back with her novel, A Very Special Episode, where “a woman gets a chance to realize her ambitions for her family's legacy, but when she uncovers a diabolical plot, she has to decide what's truly important, her personal desires or the welfare of her entire community.” The origin of this book goes back to 2012, she writes in the acknowledgements. It has been a long time coming, “to write this book thinking about the legacy of Black activism and how change is made in the world,” Acker says when asked about the inspiration for this novel. “The characters have different ideas about how best to enact change, but ultimately they find a way to work together.”

Camille says that when it comes to writing, it is solitary work, so when the story is completed, sharing that work with others is a wonderful experience. “Meeting readers means that my work can now be a part of a conversation, be a part of people’s joy, of people’s interest, even of people’s debate.” Camille describes that moment of allowing readers to read their story as the moment the work comes to life. It is the moment all the emotions and stories can be heard.

 In addition to writing, Camille Acker is also a creative writing teacher and editor. She has been recognized for her work in The New York Times Book Review and her writing has received love and support from organizations like The Callaloo Workshop, Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) and more.

 Jeannine A. Cook is a multifaceted artist who has shown her local community how to build connections out of struggle and reflect beauty in chaos. She is a cultural curator and well known for being the founder of her niche, avant-garde Harriett’s Bookshop. Her ability to mix and match different art mediums test the boundaries of storytelling.

Through adversity and the setbacks of Covid, Jeannine opened Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood, with its trendy shops and creative people, to share the power of storytelling and literacy. She has stated in other interviews, “you go where you are led to go,” which is how she found herself launching Harriett’s Bookshop, as well as Ida’s Bookshop in Collingswood, and her literary installation, Josephine’s in Paris.

 Jeannine chooses to use her creative background and storytelling gifts to celebrate Black women authors and to create spaces to highlight culture, art and storytelling. “Books are one of the most powerful forms of technology,” she says, “by providing the ability to learn and live a life through the acts of storytelling.” Her whole life has been centered around books, she states in an interview with Lori L. Tharps.

 Jeannine has won many awards, and has interviewed literary and cultural icons, including Michelle Obama, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Sonia Sanchez, Alice Walker, Ibram X. Kendi, Isabel Wilkerson, and Will Smith.

 Don’t miss Camille Acker and Jeannine Cook this fall at the Collingswood Book Festival!