ABOUT

​Rakia Clark is an executive editor at Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. She acquires serious, literary and narrative nonfiction; and gorgeously written, plot-driven novels and short story collections. She often works with journalists and thought leaders writing about current events, public intellectuals and culture critics telling the world about itself, biographies of legendary figures, and some history, especially when there are obvious ties to the present day. Books on Rakia’s list have won the Kirkus Prize; been longlisted for the National Book Award, Aspen Words Literary Prize, and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence; been finalists for the NAACP Awards; selected by Barack Obama as one of his "Favorite Books of the Year"; and are routinely recognized in best-of-the-year roundups. In all cases, she looks for writers who have something to say. Big emotions and topical subjects are a plus.

Rakia's nationally bestselling titles include:

• The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by novelist Deesha Philyaw
• Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America by sports and culture writer Howard Bryant
• The Wilderness by novelist Angela Flournoy
• Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End by death doula Alua Arthur
• Burn It Down: Power, Complicity and a Call for Change in Hollywood by Vanity Fair contributing writer Maureen Ryan
• American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Wesley Lowery
• Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD by former Army captain and Missouri state legislator Jason Kander

Rakia's very first acquisition at Mariner Books, Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome, won the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, was named to the New York Times' list of 100 Notable Books of the Year, was a New York Times Editors' Choice pick, and was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Apple Books.

Her forthcoming titles include a memoir about the troubled history, beauty and contradictions of Black land ownership in the American South by feature writer and American Mosaic Journalism Prize recipient Latria Graham; a biography of three-time Super Bowl winner and Monday Night Football announcer Troy Aikman by sports reporter Jean-Jacques Taylor; as well as Brian Broome's debut novel, about a fragmented community forced to confront their changing neighborhood and to bare their secrets when a young enigmatic neighbor goes on the lam. (Find more upcoming titles here.)

Prior to Mariner Books, Rakia worked remotely from New York City as a senior editor at Boston-based Beacon Press. Her strong entrepreneurial instincts and personable working style led her to develop book ideas from scratch alongside promising writers, and to cultivate a distinctive, "tradier" list at the publishing house. For her innovative and daring work, she was honored by Publishers Weekly as a Star Watch honoree in 2018.

Before Beacon Press, Rakia held editorial positions at HarperCollins, Viking Penguin, and Kensington. She freelanced for six years, as well.

Outside of acquisitions and editing, Rakia served as an adjunct lecturer for three consecutive spring semesters at the City College of New York. Her weekly course was Introduction to Publishing. Rakia tutored writing, English and SAT prep for three years at Upward Bound, an after-school program for teens. Additionally, she volunteered for two years as a writing mentor with the nonprofit organization Girls Write Now.

Rakia is a proud graduate of Haverford College and the Columbia Publishing Course, where she was an AOL Time Warner Scholar. Follow her musings and publishing evangelism on Instagram.