Elizabeth Atkins

Elizabeth Atkins teaches her popular Elizabeth Atkins Write it Right! workshops at Wayne State University in Detroit and Wayne County Community College District, and is writing screenplays based on her best-selling novels: White Chocolate, Dark Secret, and Twilight (co-authored with Billy Dee Williams), the provocative and pioneering love stories about mixed-race characters whose lives challenge conventional attitudes about color and culture. Her newest book, Other People’s Skin, deals with “colorism” and black women, and the favoritism/discrimination based on light or dark skin, hair texture, and eye color.

Atkins has shared her message of colorblind love as author and expert on The Montel Williams Show, focusing on her experience as the biracial daughter of a white Catholic priest who sparked a scandal in the turbulent 60s by marrying a much younger African American woman who is now a judge. Her life-calling, to pioneer new ground in contemporary literature and film by bringing biracial voices to life, is rooted in the racial conflict she endured as a teenager. At the same time, she became enchanted with the written word as a reporter and editor at the campus newspaper, while earning an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan.

Her expertise on biracial issues is bolstered by national research she did for her Masters thesis at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. A portion of that work was published in The New York Times, which led to appearances on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Good Morning America Sunday, and BET. The former television newswriter for Detroit’s Fox 2 News has also talked about the subject on The Ananda Lewis Show, The Rob Nelson Show, Chicago’s WGN Morning, and Detroit’s Fox, NBC, and ABC affiliate news stations.

As a reporter for The Detroit News, Atkins’ articles on race relations were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written for Essence, Ms. , BET.com, Black Issues Book Review, HOUR Detroit, and The San Diego Tribune.

Former President of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Detroit Chapter, Atkins creates workshops that weave together an inspirational, high energy, and motivational message, leaving audience members enthusiastic about life and writing. As a speaker at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, she has explored “What is Race?” in the context of US Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

She recently joined a debate on the BET program Meet the Faith and has written her second novel, Dark Secret, a thriller about a biracial woman who’s “passing” for white even though her black mother dies as a result. Atkins also co-wrote Click! , with networking phenom George Fraser, about building extraordinary relationships.

Atkins was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show for her other passion, fitness, where she detailed how running, eating healthy, and lifting weights whittled away more than 100 pounds! She has run the Detroit Free Press Marathon and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. She also cycles, swims, and weight trains.