So You Want To Write A Cookbook?! with Nicole A. Taylor
Food media maven Nicole A. Taylor will lead a session for anyone looking to publish a cookbook. Come for insights about current trends in publishing, how to build a writing practice that you can stick to, and how to approach defining your narrative for a successful book proposal.
We'll be offering more writing programs over 2026 and can't wait to kick it off in this way. Bring your notebook and start planning that cookbook you've been dreaming about!
More about the participants
A James Beard Award-nominated food writer, home cook, editor, consultant, and producer, Nicole A. Taylor is the author of Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations, the very first cookbook to celebrate Juneteenth. In addition to her other cookbooks, The Up South Cookbook and The Last O.G. Cookbook, Nicole has written for Better Homes & Gardens, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, FoodPrint, Resy, and Bon Appétit.
When Taylor became the executive food editor at Thrillist in 2019, she was one of the few Black women to lead a mainstream food publication and the first in digital media. Brooklyn Magazine named Taylor to its list of 100 influential people in Brooklyn culture, and her cookbooks have graced more than two dozen "best" lists.
Nicole is among the most respected and sought-after voices in food media. She has been featured in the LATimes, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, Apple, and Oxford American and on BET, TODAY and NBC News. She works as a restaurant and storytelling consultant, and her client list includes Chef JJ Johnson, Chef BJ Dennis, Brownsville Community Culinary Center (Chef Claus Meyer), Bridge Street Development Corporation (Ave NYC grant), Kingsborough Community College Farm and Garden (Project Rise), and Brooklyn Food Coalition.
Nicole is working on a new cookbook about the joy of making a “home” whoever and wherever you are (Abrams, 2027). She lives with her husband and son in New York City and Athens, GA.
More about BEM
BEM Cultural Foundation (BCF) is the sibling nonprofit to BEM | books & more, a bookstore and culinary hub dedicated to global Black foodways and storytelling.
Established in 2025, BCF creates programs and experiences that deepen the public’s knowledge of Black culinary and literary traditions across the diaspora. BCF prioritizes communal gatherings, creating space to celebrate and explore Black food through literature while serving as a home for readers, writers, cooks, and eaters passionate about Black cultures in all their diversity.