Venise Berry (M.A., The University of Iowa; Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin) is the author of three national bestselling novels: So Good, An African American Love Story; All of Me, A Voluptuous Tale; and Colored Sugar Water. A book of essays, Driven: love, career and the pursuit of happiness, is currently with her agent. Berry’s co-edited anthology, Black Culture & Experience: Contemporary Issues, was published by Peter Lang. She is also the co-author of two nonfiction books on film, The Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema (Scarecrow Press) and The 50 Most Influential Black Films (Citadel). Another co-edited anthology, Mediated Messages and African-American Culture: Contemporary Issues, won the Meyers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America in 1997. ​Berry is the recipient of the Creative Contribution to Literature Award from the Zora Neale Hurston Society and the Honor Book Award (for All of Me) from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Additional work, including short stories, journal articles, and book chapters appears in a range of creative and academic publications. Berry’s research focuses on media, African Americans, and popular culture. She is an associate professor of Journalism and African American Studies at The University of Iowa.