Mara Brock Akil, Showrunner of ‘Forever’ and ‘Girlfriends,’ to Release Her First Novel ‘The Revelation of Dionne Daphne’ This Summer
Mara Brock Akil, renowned showrunner and creator of popular television series such as Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, and Love Is__, is set to make her literary debut with her novel The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, scheduled for release on June 30, 2026. The book will be published by Storehouse Voices, an imprint of Crown Publishing.
The novel centers around Dionne, a captivating woman in her thirties living in New York City during the 1990s. As a beauty editor at a prestigious magazine, she appears to lead a glamorous life, complete with a high-profile boyfriend. However, her world is turned upside down when he arrives at her Brooklyn home with life-altering news that forces her to confront a longstanding secret from her childhood.
“I wrote this novel with the intention of taking the reader through a story that may be familiar. One of isolation, shame, resilience and the redemptive power of love,” said Brock Akil. “My hope is that readers will see themselves in Dionne and recognize the weight they’ve been holding and feel permission to release it. Stepping into fiction as a novelist has been a beautiful journey for me, expanding my storytelling into a new form and discovering what revelation looks like on the page and I am so grateful to have Storehouse Voices alongside me on this new journey.”
Dionne’s journey of self-discovery and emotional reckoning explores themes of personal awakening and the complexities of life. Brock Akil has a history of creating layered and relatable characters, previously exemplified by Mary Jane from Being Mary Jane, Joan from Girlfriends, and Keisha from the Netflix series Forever, which is set to begin its second season.
In recognition of her contributions to television, Brock Akil received the African American Film Critics Association TV Honors Legacy Award in 2025 and will be presented with the Producers Guild of America’s Norman Lear Achievement Award on February 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. The return of her Netflix series, which achieved the number one spot on the platform last year, adds further excitement to her expanding career.
