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Tensions are already flaring ahead of Sunday’s FIFA showdown … with England’s squad reportedly getting a chaotic night of “pre-match hospitality” from passionate Mexico supporters outside their team hotel. According to social media videos…

Nikole Hannah-Jones knows a thing or two about what it takes to create a memorable book. The Iowa native has been a journalist for more than two decades and was named one of TIME magazine’s most influential people in the world. As the mastermind behind The 1619 Project, the influential wordsmith who now calls Brooklyn, NY home received numerous accolades across publishing and television for her epic literary creation most notably a Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy Award. It debuted at number one on The New York Times Nonfiction bestseller list and has forever reshaped discourse surrounding the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

As a curator for this year’s ESSENCE Festival of Culture, Hannah-Jones also helped shape soul-shifting programming celebrating Black literature, authors and storytelling within the Book Festival. In between one of her many thought-provoking panel discussions, we got the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University to spill the beans on her all-time favorite book, the first book she read that moved her (and still does) and how she’s preparing for her next big career move—hint: it involves more amazing books that amplify our culture.

My Favorite Book of All-Time: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

The Book I’m Currently Reading: Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara because I am opening a bookstore, literary salon, café and bar in Brooklyn. This book teaches you about treating hospitality as a calling. I want to make sure my customers get treated right.

The Last Book I Read: The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story by Kermit Roosevelt III–it’s a great read around the 250^th anniversary (of America).

The Author I’m Looking Forward to Reconnecting with This Weekend at EFOC: Mara Brock Akil. I know Mara very well, but I don’t know Mara as a novelist. So, it is exciting to see her here now in this capacity (as Mara promotes her debut novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne).

Her Favorite Genre of Books for Pleasure: Girl, I don’t read for pleasure. (laughs) Nah, I’m playing: historical fiction.

The First Book I Read That Stayed with Me: Well, it’s not my first book but I would say the first book I selected for myself that had a Black girl on the cover was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. I’ve never forgotten that book and I’ll never forget going into the library, seeing a Black girl on the cover and wanting to read that book.

Audio Books or Traditional Print Books: I’m a printed book person but for fiction I prefer audiobooks because I can listen to them while I’m doing other things.

My Favorite Place to Read: My favorite place to read is in the bed. I started this habit as a young girl. I love reading as the last thing I do before I go to sleep.

The Book That I Always Assign My Students to Read: Black Reconstruction by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is one of the most important books ever written about the American experience. I also think it provides some breadcrumbs for what we need to do at this moment.

If you’re staring at your closet wondering what to wear when the temperature climbs past 90 degrees, allow Ryan Destiny to solve the problem for you. During ESSENCE Festival of Culture 2026, the multi-hyphenate stepped out looking effortlessly chic without breaking a sweat in one of summer’s most underrated wardrobe heroes: the shirt dress.

Sometimes the best outfit really is the simplest one. A tee-inspired shirt dress delivers that polished, put-together look without the hassle of coordinating separate tops and bottoms. It’s the kind of piece you can throw on in minutes and still look like you spent way more time getting dressed. When the heat is relentless, that’s exactly the kind of fashion win we’re looking for.

The beauty of a shirt dress is its versatility. It works across personal styles, body types, and ages. If your aesthetic leans classic, opt for a crisp button-down silhouette that feels timeless and sophisticated. Prefer to make a statement? Reach for a body-skimming, ruched version that brings a little extra drama. And when it comes to styling, the possibilities are endless. Pair it with your favorite sneakers for an easy daytime look, or elevate it with strappy heels for dinner, date night, or your next summer event.

Ryan Destiny gave the trend her own spin, coordinating with Normani by pairing her shirt dress with bold red lace-up heels. The vibrant hue added a playful pop of color, while her voluminous chocolate curls completed the effortlessly cool look.

If your calendar is filling up with cookouts, concerts, vacations, or rooftop parties, consider this your sign to invest in a timeless shirt dress. It’s breathable, endlessly versatile, and stylish enough to help you beat the heat without sacrificing your look. Sometimes, less really is more.

Shop The Best Shirt Dresses

On “This Week,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said additional renovations to the Reflecting Pool will be ‘a small number.’

The promise of agentic AI is massive — the problem is we cannot currently deploy agentic AI at scale, because today’s systems are not yet reliable enough. 

Tens of thousands of fans formed an ocean of blue outside the airport in capital city, Praia.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Sunday said the algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is “all gone” after a $14.6 million renovation to the landmark was overrun with muddy green water. “The algae is all gone. I mean, that was a momentary thing as the [Reflecting Pool] was being refilled, there was algae in…

Patriotism has become partisan.

It doesn’t matter that people across the ideological spectrum are equally likely to say that they themselves are patriotic. New international polling shows that when you ask them about expressions of patriotism, they think those displays are right-coded.

Those results from The POLITICO Poll reveal the extent of right-wing populist parties’ success after years of claiming nationalism as central to their political identities — and growing in power and popularity.

The political parties furthest to the right across several major Western democracies were consistently more associated with national pride than other parties, the poll found. A 29-percent

England players feel little to no impact of Mexico fans attempting to disturb their sleep by letting off fireworks outside their hotel.

England players feel little to no impact of Mexico fans attempting to disturb their sleep by letting off fireworks outside their hotel.

England players feel little to no impact of Mexico fans attempting to disturb their sleep by letting off fireworks outside their hotel.

The fireworks may be over, but the cleanup was just getting started Sunday morning in Washington, D.C. … where crews were hard at work clearing the Reflecting Pool after the massive Fourth of July celebration. In photos posted online, workers…