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- Lynnette Nicholas
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. There has long been an unspoken connection between the Black and Jewish communities, both of which take center stage in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
- The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate. Hattie McDaniel is known for her roles in films like Gone with the Wind, Alice Adams and Song of the South, and she was the first Black woman to win an Oscar.
- Purple Rising: Celebrating 40 Years of the Magic, Power and Artistry of The Color Purple by Lise Funderburg and Scott Sanders. Named one of Oprah’s favorite things of 2023, Purple Rising pays homage to Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Color Purple.
- This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets edited by Kwame Alexander. Kwame Alexander is a literary force: He’s won the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Award and countless other accolades.
- Reedsy
- The Sellout by Paul Beatty. Buy on Amazon. In The Sellout, Paul Beatty introduces us to a young, Black watermelon-and-weed grower, named Me. When Me’s father is gunned down by police, and his hometown Dickens is erased from the map, he decides to face one injustice by burying it beneath another.
- The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Buy on Amazon. Jemisin’s unmissable, triple Hugo-Award-winning trilogy, The Broken Earth, takes place in the Stillness — a world in which society is structured around surviving nuclear winters.
- Beloved by Toni Morrison. Buy on Amazon. The seminal work from a giant of modern literature, Beloved chronicles the experiences of Sethe, an ex-slave living with her daughter in a house haunted by secrets.
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Buy on Amazon. Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God was out of print for nearly 30 years, due to its readers’ initial rejection of its strong, Black, female protagonist.
CBL List of Recommended Books by Black Authors. Since 2002, the mission of Center for Black Literature has been—and continues still—to expand, broaden, and enrich the public’s knowledge and aesthetic appreciation of the value of Black literature.
- Nightcrawling, by Leila Mottley. Mottley began her astonishing debut novel—an Oprah's Book Club pick—when she was just 16. It has received raves from such luminaries as Dave Eggers, Kiese Laymon, and this one from James McBride: “Leila Mottley has an extraordinary gift.
- That Bird Has My Wings, by Jarvis Jay Masters. Masters has been incarcerated in California’s San Quentin State Prison for the past 41 years. Oprah read the book shortly after it was first published by HarperOne, in 2009, and it left a strong impression: “His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system, and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today,” she said.
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. Originally published in 1937 and set in Southern Florida, this story follows main character Janie Crawford on her quest to find independence throughout three different marriages.
- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. This powerful intergenerational debut novel and Oprah’s Book Club pick explores the story and history of Black and Indigenous people in the South through the eyes of Ailey Pearl Garfield, the product of a small Georgia town and family lineage that tells the expansive, far-reaching story of Black America’s striving for dignity, respect, and freedom.
- The Vanishing Half. by Brit Bennett. From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
- The Prophets. by Robert Jones, Jr. A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
- Such a Fun Age. by Kiley Reid. A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.
- The Girl with the Louding Voice. by Abi Daré. A powerful, emotional debut novel told in the unforgettable voice of a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to get an education so that she can escape and choose her own future.
Jan 30, 2024 · 100 Essential New Works of Fiction by Black Authors. Posted by Cybil on January 30, 2024. 578 likes 197 comments. In celebration of Black History Month in the U.S., this year we've gathered together a collection of fiction from Black authors going back a decade.
Feb 6, 2023 · 25 Must-Read Books by Black Authors. Romance, memoir, sci-fi, poetry and more round out this list. By Lizz Schumer Updated: Feb 6, 2023. Save Article. We've been independently researching...
