Showrunner, writer, producer, and creator of beloved shows like “Girlfriends,” “Love Is,” and “Forever,” Mara Brock Akil put her pen to the test and wrote her debut novel, “The Revelation of Dionne Daphne.”

“I wrote this novel with the intention of taking the reader through a story that may be familiar,” Brock Akil said. “My hope is that readers will see themselves in Dionne and recognize the weight they’ve been holding and feel permission to release it. Stepping into fiction as a novelist has been a beautiful journey for me, expanding my storytelling into a new form and discovering what revelation looks like on the page and I am so grateful to have Storehouse Voices alongside me on this new journey.”

“The Revelation of Dionne Daphne” will be published on June 30 by Storehouse Voices. Set in 1990s New York City, the novel follows Dionne Daphne, a thirty-something beauty editor whose finely curated life — a coveted magazine job, elite social circles, and a handsome boyfriend — begins to unravel when the boyfriend delivers life-threatening news at her Brooklyn door. That fracture triggers a road trip and an excavation of a childhood secret that sends Dionne into “isolation, shame, resilience and the redemptive power of love,” Brock Akil said in a statement. 

The book is a natural next step for an artist whose shows tend to reshape Black women’s stories on television. Storehouse Voices publisher Tamira Chapman praised Brock Akil for bringing “the same depth, vulnerability, and cultural insight to the page,” saying the novel stakes literary ground for nuanced Black female interiority.

This release matters for two reasons: it expands Brock Akil’s creative footprint beyond screens and it signals continued momentum for projects centered on Black women’s interior lives that are stewarded by Black creatives.

Brock Akil has publicly been recognized and regarded as TV royalty and her turn to prose comes after a multi-decade career of building complex characters and cultural touchstones. “Stepping into fiction as a novelist has been a beautiful journey for me,” she said, “expanding my storytelling into a new form and discovering what revelation looks like on the page.”