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Deesha Philyaw

Biography

Deesha Philyaw

Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, the LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Deesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts, "Ursa Short Fiction" (with Dawnie Walton) and "Reckon True Stories" (with Kiese Laymon). She is currently at work developing TV shows based on her short fiction. Deesha’s debut novel is THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF FIRST LADY FREEMAN.

Deesha Philyaw

Books by Deesha Philyaw

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman
by Deesha Philyaw - Fiction

From the moment Scharisse Freeman married a megachurch pastor 15 years her senior, she’s been labeled too brash by church folks and too holy by her estranged childhood bestie Petra. Schar doesn’t have many allies, but that hasn’t stopped her from building an enviable business empire spanning books to clothing to branded products. On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the final bit of validation she’s always dreamt of: a coveted invitation to participate in the First Lady USA pageant. This is her chance to be accepted by the other pastors’ wives --- First Ladies --- who are “like Jesus’ disciples if they had been a group of mean girls.” But as the pageant nears, a sensational scandal breaks with Schar at its center, and Schar is reminded that in the eyes of the church, optics can matter more than the truth.