Exclusive Cover Reveal of “The Seven Daughters of Dupree” by Nikesha Elise Williams

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams, which will be published by Scout Press on January 27, 2026. You can pre-order your copy here.

It’s 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati desperately wants to know the identity of her father. Gossip flies fast and loose in her mother Nadia’s basement salon, but when it comes to family, she’s tight-lipped. Tati’s grandmother, Gladys, won’t tell her either; nor will Gladys tell Nadia the real reason she fled Land’s End, Alabama, in 1953. These are the first of many secrets in the matrilineal line of Dupree women. There’s Jubie in 1917 who failed to pass for white when she had a dark baby, Ruby. Ruby’s insatiable lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own out of wedlock. And that night in 1980 that Nadia so desperately doesn’t want to talk about. Dupree women can only have daughters, a malediction passed down because of the suffering by the first of their line. None of the women know their ancestor’s enslaved or given name, only the legend of how she died: They cut off her head because she ran. THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF DUPREE is a novel about the secrets kept between mothers and daughters, and how the actions of one generation ripple through the next. This sweeping epic about seven generations of Black women echoes Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing or Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’s The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. Readers will journey with Tati to uncover the identity of her father, while learning the truth of her lineage, still whispered at kitchen tables and murmured in basements, where the ritual of pressing hair happens every Saturday night. 

Here is the cover, designed by Danielle Mazzella di Bosco, with artwork by Jim Musil:

Nikesha Elise Williams: I didn’t really have a concrete idea for the cover of The Seven Daughters of Dupree. I created a mood board last summer, and looking back on it now, I’m sure the designers were thinking, “She’s a mess.” However, two things on that board that do come through in this final design are the use of color with emphasis on the color white. 

I really love bright colors, and when I first saw this Jim Musil painting used for the cover, I was immediately attracted to the vibrant use of color even though the scene is soft and idyllic. However, the painting alone wasn’t enough. I’m so grateful to my editor, Alison Callahan, for encouraging my honest feedback and advocating for the cover we have today, which includes a young woman walking down this dirt road in a white dress while birds fly above her. 

Those additions were everything because in my mind it’s a pivotal scene pulled straight from the novel and come to life. However, I also think it’s a point of intrigue or mystery because you don’t see the woman’s face. You don’t know which daughter it is, where they’re going, or what they’re going to do, just that they’re walking down this road with intention and purpose. While I’m of the belief it’s one specific character, it could be any of them and I think, I hope, that’s enticing to a future reader. My hope is that when readers see the cover and read the title they wonder, “Who is that?” And, then, say to themselves, “Let me get this book and find out.” 

As for the color white, it is a color of healing as well as of angels and ancestors. In my family, when someone passes we wear white. I have friends who have been initiated into Ifá, who for spiritual reasons go through rituals of wearing white. In the novel, some of the women practice hoodoo, some of the women are midwives, and so when they wear white they’re working and communicating with both this plane and that of the other side. 

The birds flying off in the distance was a suggestion by my editor and she pointed out to me that in the flock there are seven together and then two more a little further from the group. In a novel entitled The Seven Daughters of Dupree, the significance of the seven birds in the flock is obvious. The themes of generational heritage, history, lineage and legacy are all bound up in the title and those birds. I believe the two on the side represent the possibilities for this line of women as loosely evidenced by this line from the novel, “…if burdens could be passed down, surely blessings could move up.”  

Danielle Mazzella di Bosco: From the beginning, we knew we wanted the cover to reflect the heart of the book—something that spoke to seven generations of Dupree women, legacy, and quiet strength. An epic novel about the secrets kept between mothers and daughters, and how the actions of one generation ripple through the next, we focused on a visual that was more uplifting, brighter, and expansive to convey hope. The artwork is a landscape painting by Jim Musil, chosen for its warm, timeless feel. Musil’s painting, with its bold brushstrokes, vibrant colors, and open sky, captures a sense of memory and place that pairs beautifully with the novel’s tone. The lone figure in a white dress represents strength and reflection—she could be any one of the Dupree daughters, carrying the weight and wisdom of those before her. The final design brings together story and setting in a way that feels both classic and emotionally rich—drawing readers into a world shaped by generations of women.

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