Yona Deshommes, Publisher
Yona Deshommes is the President of Riverchild Media, a public relations firm specialising in the promotion of books by and for authors of colour. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Special Education and earned a master’s in fine arts degree in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. She previously served as an Associate Director of Publicity at Atria Books, an imprint of one of the largest publishers in the world, Simon & Schuster. She is also a contributing author for the soon-to-be published essay collection, Sacred Promise, a collection of essays by inspiring women curated by Dr. Tererai Trent, Oprah Winfrey’s favourite guest of all time. She is a proud member of the Tau Gamma Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phy Beta Sorority, Incorporated and lives in Haverstraw, New York. Ms. Deshommes has participated in literary festivals in St. Croix, St. Maarten, and Anguilla where she conducted workshops on publishing, marketing and publicity. She has been part of the planning committee for the Anguilla Literary Festival since 2014 and was able to secure high profile authors and industry professionals such as Alice Walker, Richard Williams, Zane, Blair Underwood, Dawn Davis, J Ivy and others.