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33 BLACK AUTHORS AND STORIES TO ADD TO YOUR READING LIST IMMEDIATELY
- Gracelyn Mitchell
- Jun 20, 2020
- 46 min read
Everyone has a unique and powerful voice, as you're probably aware of. We all have our lives, in which we wade through our own accomplishments, stories, and difficulties. As social creatures, we love to share these experiences, whether uplifting or empathetically disheartening. And the literary world is one of the best platforms to express your ideas or share your stories, or plunge into others'.
But as you will also be aware, people's voices and stories can be muted, especially the voices and stories people belonging to minority groups. Unfortunately the literary world is not immune to this exclusion. Minority authors a often find themselves overlooked or underrepresented when it comes to their work.
This is tragedy, and the reason this topic needs to be addressed is because it can be said for several minority groups that for so long, their voices have been left unheard. Historically, many have faced countless injustices, discrimination, crude stereotyping or profiling, hate crimes, and disadvantages—all simply because of their race, culture, identity, or religion.
But sadly, suffice it to say, the fight for justice for a plethora of minority groups has not ceased. The best way to receive justice, usually thought of as a human right, is to evoke feeling of empathy within the rest of the public. People in minority groups carry with them stories of both past and present that may shed light on their experiences and struggles—stories that could be used to accomplish this.
But what are we saying when the biggest platform available for sharing and relinquishing our stories does not appropriately amplify minority authors?
It's our job to amplify minority voices, and the best way to that is through listening and providing support.
I intend to start writing book recommendations occasionally to showcase works by minority authors, but I want my first to be dedicated to a group that is currently fighting a long-standing, descended prejudice that they have been trying to surmount for decades: the black community.
All of these fantastic authors have marvellous stories to tell in a wide variety of genres, so I hope if one catches your eye, you'll feel compelled to support the author and their work!
As I'm sure we are all aware of the current events taking place in our world, I have left some helpful links at the end of this post where you can make donations, find petitions to sign, and discover other ways to help the cause.
FEMALE AUTHORS
1. Queenie- Candice Carty-Williams
Rating: A
Candice Carty-Williams' debut novel, Queenie (2019), is a refreshing, remarkably-relatable novel that stretches across and explores several relevant social issues in brilliant representation.
Queenie (for which the book is titled) is a 25-year-old Jamaican-British woman living in London. As if the internal struggle with straddling two different cultures was not enough, Queenie also works for a national newspaper, where she finds herself constantly compared to her white coworkers.
After she breaks up with her long-term, white boyfriend, Queenie tries to find solace in a very toxic outlet....several hazardous men. They do a good job of occupying her thoughts and distracting from all of the environmental and internal battles she faces, sure. But when it comes to affirming her self-worth, they only manage to deplete it further.
Queenie remarks the tale of a black woman through her journey of vulnerability and self and worldly acceptance.
Receiving 4 out of 5 stars from Goodreads, Queenie boasts remarkable and ecstatic reviews. Before eventually being published by Orion, the debut novel was even in a four-way bidding war between other publishers, eventually ending with Orion offering Candice Carty-Williams a six-figure deal!
Candice Carty- Willliams perhaps instills some of herself into the character Queenie. She grew up in South London, and her mother was of jamaican-indian heritage. Her father, also jamaican, came to Britain at the age of 16, where he worked as a cab driver.
Candice has a very well-grounded background in the literary world. She has written for several publications in the past, including: The Guardian, i-D, Vogue, The Sunday Times, and BEAT Magazine. Additionally, she was a contributor for New Daughters of Africa (2019), a marketing assistant for Harper Collins, and was a mentor for Penguin Books "Write Now" campaign.
Versatile with social issues and vulnerable, Queenie is the first on the list for its broad scope of represented issues and for the broad scope of readers it could assuredly impact.
2. We Should All be Feminists- Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Rating: YA-A
A very unique and powerful novel, We Should All be Feminists (2014) is different in that it was adapted from a Tedx talk under the same name delivered by the author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2012 at Tedx Euston in London. The video of the speech had amassed over 5 million views to date.
In the novel/speech, Adichie uses heavy anecdotes to analyze what it means to be a feminist. In the book, Adichie eloquently argues and criticizes the way masculinity has been structured and how it continues to be defined today. She says that, in order to achieve equality, our society must change this definition and construction.
Adichie's hones in on the belief that the word "feminist" should not be used as an insult as it still so commonly is, but rather, a label worn proudly by all, a point which resonates in her 2014 novel and continues to resonate today.
3. Such a Fun Age- Kiley Reid
Rating: YA-A
A new addition to the list of New York Times Bestsellers, Such a Fun Age (2019) by Kiley Reid , explores the topics of racism and the connection of two women in what Entertainment Weekly calls "The most provocative page-turner of the year".
The story centers around Alix Chamberlain, well-established buisnesswoman who runs a confidence-driven brand that inspires other women, and the babysitter she employeed for her daughter, Emira Tucker.
Alix and Emira seem to be polar opposites: Alix is a white, successful, adult woman while Emira is a young black who is in a seemingly helpless situation. At twenty-five-years-old she is about to loose her health insurance. But something will thrust the two polarizing women into an unforeseen bond.
One night, Emira takes Alix's two-year-old daughter, Briar, to the local superstore. A store security guard sees the young black woman with a white toddler and falsely accuses her of kidnapping the child. A bystander films the confrontation, and Emira is left furious and humiliated. Alix, seeing the injustice, resolves to make things right.
Such a Fun Age is the debut novel of Arizona-raised Kiley Reid. In the first two weeks of its U.S. release, it ranked #3 on the New York Times hardcover fiction list. Kiley Reid studied theater at the University of Arizona before transferring to Marymount Manhattan College and graduating from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Reid spent six years babysitting children of wealthy Manhattanites, a moment in her life which obviously resonated with her. She began working on Such a Fun Age during this time, and the film rights were acquired before she graduated. The novel received high praise, becoming the first selection of 2020 for Reese Witherspoon's book club. In a review, The New York Times noted the book's "resonant insights into the casual racism in everyday life, especially in the America of the liberal elite".
With prevalant racial and social parallels, Such a Fun Age definitely reserves a high spot on my reading list!
4. Gingerbread- Helen Oyeyemi
Rating: YA-A
Helen Oyeymi, beloved author of Boy, Snow Bird, and What Is Not Yours, returns with her mystical, bewitched, and intriguing 2019 novel Gingerbread, which plays on the idea that gingerbread seems to have an odd yet pivotal role in many children's fairytales.
While many fairy-tale inspired novels seem to have a predictable plot, the New York Times claims that Oyeyemi does not allow her readers this luxury, writing "Her sentences are like grabbing onto the tail of a vibrant, living creature without knowing what you’ll find at the other end. It’s absolutely exhilarating".
The enchanting story centers around Londoners Perdita Lee, a British schoolgirl; and her mother, Harriet Lee. The two live in their gold-painted, seventh-story apartment together with some "surprisingly verbal vegetation". The mother-daughter duo apparently make excellent gingerbread, which their fellow Londoners may brush off, but is exceedingly-popular in a far-away land which others claim to be non-existent, Druhástrana. The odd and uncharted land was a place from Harriet's youth. This is also the place that a teenage Perdita comes to explore while on the search for her mother's ominous friend (and greatest fan of gingerbread), Gretel Kercheval. In her journey through Druhástrana, Perdita will uncover a new telling of her mother's life decades later.
Through the entire novel convoluted with ambition and adventure, gingerbread, as in many fairy tales, continues to be of great importance and reliability.
Many readers have said that the novel presents poetic twist on fantasy and science fiction.
Gingerbread is full of metrical and eloquent prose, with New York Times reviewer, Eowyn Ivey remarking that is "alive, unpredictable, sometimes whimsical and other times sinister, and often very bizarre", making it the perfect read for someone looking for a eccentric and whimsical read.
5. Patsy- Nicole Dennis-Benn
Rating: YA-A
Critically-acclaimed author, Nicole Dennis-Benn returns after her successful debut novel Here Comes the Sun (2016), which was named "Best Book of the Year" by New York Times, with the electrifying Patsy (2019).
The eponymous Patsy finally receives her long-awaited visa to America after years of yearning to escape her beautiful but economically-impoverished native home of Pennyfield, Jamaica. Seeking opportunity and excitement, Patsy resolves to follow her friend Cicely, a New York resident, who fills her with hope after sending several letters painting America in an invigorating light. Even more intoxicating, the letters don't just promise the exhilaration of a new life, but also the possible rekindling of Patsy and Cicely's preliminary young love.
Following these hopeful visions, Patsy leaves her young daughter in Jamaica with the intent to follow Cicely and the "American Dream" to New York.
Patsy is a firework of a novel, exploring relevant topics such as racism, immigration, sexuality, and self-discovery with raw vulnerability.
Nicole Dennis-Benn is truly a remarkable addition to the literary world, accumulating relentlessly-positive reviews and a plethora of nation-wide recognition.
Her book Patsy alone has: been named A Stonewall Awards Honor Book, been included on "Oprah Magazine" Best Books of 2019 list, been included on Washington Post's "50 Best Books of 2019", been included in Kirkus Reviews' "Best Books of Fiction of 2019", and has acquired countless other acknowledgments.
Some of the topics Dennis-Benn chooses to represent in her novel can be attributed to her personal life. Nicole Dennis-Benn was born and raised in Jamaica. She later left at 17, frustrated by apparent racial and class inequalities on the island, later landing herself in New York, a place she credits with helping her find her true identity. Nicole later married the love of her life, Emma Benn, on her native island in 2012, making national news in doing so by earning the title of "the first lesbian wedding" on the island.
Overall, Patsy and other works by Nicole Dennis-Benn showcase great promise for the budding author and are great reads for those looking for diverse and dynamic stories by a diverse and dynamic person.
6. Homecoming- Yaa Gyasi
Rating: A
In her award-winning debut novel, Homecoming (2016), Yaa Gyasi presents a dazzling, new addition of historical-fiction to the literary world.
The story takes place in eighteenth-century Ghana, a country and subversion of West Africa located on the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Two long-separated half-sisters are born into different villages, and thus, castes.
The two sisters are unaware of one another at the beginning of the novel, but they live juxtaposing lives that eventually come to connect them.
Effia is raised by her radical mother, Baaba. From the beginning of the novel, we get a glimpse of iniquity when she tells Effia to hide her menstrual cycle, resulting in wide-spread rumors and the diminishment of her betrothal to a village chief. Consequently, she marries a British man by the name of James Collins, the governor of Cape Coast Castle. She has a congenial and happy marriage. One fateful day, Effia leaves the comfort of her castle to rejoin her family in the village after her father's passing. During her time spent there, Effia's brother reveals something that will change her life forever: Baaba is not her mother. As it turns out, she is the daughter of an unknown slave.
Esi is the daughter of "a Big Man", a renowned warrior, and his wife, Maame, who was former slave. Esi and her long-lost half-sister, Effia, are eventually star-crossed when her village is raided and she is thrown in the dungeon of Cape Coast Castle.
Homecoming follows the sisters on their paralleled paths along with their descendants across eight generations, transporting readers to the Gold Coast, Mississippi in the era of plantations, the American Civil War, and the Jazz Age.
Gyasi weaves excellent story-telling with heartfelt tragedy to shine a light on the disturbing and disgustingly-enduring legacy of slavery.
Homecoming was an immediate critically-acclaimed success, winning several awards and nominations. It received the Pen/Hemingway Award in 2017, was listed as a New York Time's Editor's Choice, was nominated for the National Book Foundation's 2016 "5 under 35" list, was awarded the John Leonard Prize for the 2016 publishing year, and was shortlisted for the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Truly spellbinding, Homecoming is a great read for those wishing to indulge in an unforgettable piece of historical-fiction.
7. The Yellow House-Sarah M. Broom
Rating: YA-A
Called "a feat—a memoir and historical narrative created amid governmental bureaucracy and resistance from some of her subjects" (The Atlantic), The Yellow House (2019) is a memoir written by Sarah M. Broom, which has gained reputation as being wildly-diverse from other memoirs.
In her award-winning debut novel, Broom explores one-hundred years of history within her family in "a neglected area of one of America’s most mythologized cities", New Orleans.
Growing up as the youngest of twelve siblings, Broom recounts the riveting and raw tales of her family members, including her widowed mother who remarried to her father, Simon Broom. Tragically, he died just six months after Sarah's birth, and with his passing, the Yellow House became the "thirteenth unruly child". The Yellow House, centered in a New Orleans neighborhood with a major NASA-plant established optimistically during the 1961 Space Race, quickly becomes an object of Sarah's mother, Ivory Mae's, frustration. The Yellow House becomes a place of entropy, and even with it's chaos, Sarah, a prodigy who left to attend UC Berkeley, cannot deny it's relentless pull even after the house even after the house is demolished by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Through Sarah's new-found nostalgia and connection to the the Yellow House, the author expands the map of New Orleans to include tales of its natives.
But Sarah M. Broom has been writing long before the events of Hurricane Katrina, and is definitely a force to be reckoned with in the literary world. She received a degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and went on to write for several accredited magazines, including the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Oxford American, and The Oprah Magazine among others. She was awarded a Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant in 2016, and prior to that, she was a finalist for the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction in 2011.
For those looking for a novel of familial endurance, ambition, and fortitude —The Yellow House is a great selection.
8. It's Not All Downhill From Here-Terry McMillian
Rating: A
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of I Almost Forgot About You, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Waiting to Exhale , Terry McMillian, returns with a "a dose of joie de livre and can-do spirit" with her March 2020 release, It's Not All Downhill from Here.
On the eve of her sixty-eighth birthday, Loretha Curry realizes that she has a very fulfilled life. Literally filled—with a gaggle of tight-knit friends, a wonderful and faithful husband, success with her beauty-supply empire. Despite what her mother and twin sister say, she is the embodiment of carpe diem, refusing to believe that her best days are now behind her as her her mother and sister so-traditionally believe.
But then an unexpected loss shakes Loretha's world, forcing her to summon strength and resourcefulness she didn't know she had to face new battles, internal-conflict, and heal new wounds.
In her new, complicated journey through life and self-realization, Loretha must continually remind herself of one impariative matra: it is not all downhill from here.
Terry McMillian is a esteemed author, having written her first novel, Mama, in 1987. However, it took a few more years for her to release her first critically-acclaimed novel in 1992, Waiting to Exhale, which received national recognition, remaining a New York Times Bestseller for many months after its release. The same novel later received a film adaptartion in 1995.
Terry McMillian attended UC Berkeley, where she acquired her B.A. in journalism in 1977. She also participated in Columbia University's Master of Fine Arts program in film. Many of her novels have received eponymous film adaptations: How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Disappearing Acts (direct-to-cable), A Day Late and a Dollar Short (2014) starring Whoopi Goldberg.
While It's Not All Downhill From Here has not been confirmed for a film adaptation yet, with it's "both personal and societal" (Salon) message, it is sure to strike a cord amongst a broad spectrum of readers no matter their age.
9. The Hate U Give-Angie Thomas
Rating: YA
An upending, ostentatious, and passionate novel, The Hate U Give (2017) by Angie Thomas was an almost-instant sensation, receiving a maelstrom of exulting reviews, calling on the novel's relatability or otherwise revolution.
Starr Carter is a sixteen-year-old girl living almost two alternative identities. She finds herself constantly switching between the poor neighborhood in which she lives and the fancy, suburban side of town where she attends her preparatory school. She finds herself living an odd "double-life" in order to balance these two polarizing sides of her life. However, that balance is quickly shattered when after a party, Starr's childhood friend, Khalil, offers her a ride home and is fatally shot by a police officer after being pulled over. As the story becomes a national headline, Starr is the only one to witness the horrific injustice, and thus, is the only one who can truly recount "what happened that night".
Through the agonizing journey of receiving justice for her friend, recovering from the traumatic event, and becoming an advocate, Starr finds herself in several tumultuous and even life-threatening situations. Whatever she says (or does not say) could further fracture both sides of her once-"balanced" life.
The Hate U Give has received almost nothing but excellent reviews and esteemed recognition. In 2018, it was recognized by the American Library Association with the William C. Morris Award for best debut novel for teens. It later went on to receive the Coretta Scott King Award for best novel by an African-American author for children, a nomination for the Michael L. Printz Award for best novel for teens, the overall award for Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, the American Bookseller's Association Indie Award for Best Young Adult Novel, a nomination for the 2018 Carnegie Medal, and the overall prize for 2018 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in the "young adult jury" section.
Angie Thomas herself is no stranger to gun violence, growing up in Jackson, Mississippi. She states that she lived near the home of assassinated civil rights activist Medgar Evers. At the age of six, she witnessed a shootout. She recounts that the following day, her mother took her to a local library to show her that there was "more to the world than what [Thomas] saw that day". This event would have a lasting impact on her writing. Before becoming a beloved author, Angie Thomas was a rapper. She had a relatively short-lived music career, however she was the subject of Right on! magazine. She obtained her BFA from Belhaven University, where she majored in creative writing and was the first black teenager to graduate in this field at Belhaven. Additionally, she also wrote On the Come Up!, a book that was released in early 2019 and has received exponentially positive reviews since.
The Hate U Give is uncensored and deliberate in the topic of racism, allowing readers to be disturbed and appalled by a disturbing and appalling subject matter.
Speaking as someone who has listened to the powerful audiobook in full, I can personally say that if readers are seeking a hard-hitting, festering narrative, they need look no further than Angie Thomas' works.
10. The Poet X- Elizabeth Acevedo
Rating: YA
An astonishing and award-winning debut book, Elizabeth Acevedo's explosive and hard-hitting The Poet X (2018) is sure to become a riveting and timeless classic.
Xiomara Batista was born a fighter—attempting to come into the world in a "battle stance", breech-fully, on the day of her birth despite her twin brother being born without complications just minutes before. The circumstances are so risky that even her survival is precarious. Thankfully, she comes into the world screaming and shaking her tight fists.
Not much has changed since that night. Xiomara, now in her teens, "has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking" (Harper Collins). And her rebellious spirit is still evident to her parents; her indifference and combat boots vanquish sny visions they had of her wearing "floral dresses and a soft smile".
But Xiomara feels lost—"unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood" (Harper Collins). She finds solace and a method of relinquishing her emotions in a leather notebook, which she writes in religiously (especially after a boy from her bio class and a "forbidden love", Aman, captures her interest) .
Growing up Catholic with her mother putting heavy emphasis on the laws of the church, Xiomara knows she can never stray from the image of the "perfect catholic girl" her mother wants her to be. That means her mother must never find out about Aman or the after-school poetry club that Xiomara has been invited to join.
Described as "crackl[ing] with energy and snap[ping] with authenticity and voice" (Justina Ireland), The Poet X was the recipient of the 2018 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2019 Pura Belpré Award, and the Michael L. Printz Award for Best Young Adult Literature. In addition, it received starred reviews from the Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, and the School Library Journal.
Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American poet and author. She grew up in a predominantly Dominican/Puerto Rican neighborhood with a heavy Catholic population in New York. She performed at several open mics and poetry slams in the state, beginning at the age of 14. Later, she earned a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Performing Arts at George Washington University M.F.A in Creative Writing at the University of Maryland. She went on to teach eighth grade at Prince George's County. When she asked her students why they didn't seem enthused about reading, they answered that the books weren't about them. Realizing that there was a lack of diversity in the literary world, she was prompted to write inclusive and relatable books.
Poet X, which feels like standing in the audience of a driving and powerful poetry slam at times is a great read for those seeking a novel with a unique perspective that challenges familial ties
11. Piecing Me Together- Renee Watson
Rating: YA
Former teacher of twenty years, Renée Watson brings a compelling and distinguished debut novel to the stage.
Piecing Me Together centers around the life of sixteen-year-old Jade, who feels discontent in her lower-income neighborhood. She feels that in order to be successful in life, she must disconnect from her poor neighborhood. Her mother is a catalyst for this belief: telling her to taking every opportunity she can. One of these opportunities is being able to attend a private school unlike the rest of her friends from the same penurious neighborhood. In the school, she feels like an outsider, but this isn't the only opportunity that is off-putting. Jade is invited to join the Women to Women mentorship program, an organization for "at-risk" girls. But she knows, even if her mentor is black and a high school graduate, that the program has singled her out as someone who needs helps simply because of her skin and the location of her home. She is tired of being singled out. She wants to provide something for the world and leave an impact, and through her journey of realization, she just might do so.
Called "timely and timeless", Piecing Me Together receiving acclaimed recognition: recognized by the American Library Association at the 2018 Youth Media Awards, awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award, named a Newbery Honor Book, and winner Bank Street College of Education's Josette Frank Award.
Truly dynamic, Piece Me Together is a great for those seeking a book with a touch of complexity and internal-discovery.
12. Monday's Not Coming- Tiffany D. Jackson
Rating: YA
After a hard-hitting and heart-wrenching debut novel in 2017, Allegedly, Tiffany D. Jackson returns with another equally paralyzing 2018 release, Monday's Not Coming.
Claudia Coleman has been best friends with Monday Charles since they were both in the first grade. That's the kind of bond that doesn't just diminish. Yet, right as the two are supposed to enter the eighth grade—a day Claudia has been anticipating for years, notices that something is off. She and Monday promised to keep in touch over the summer, via letter. Yet, when she returns to Washington D.C. for school, Monday still hasn't replied to any of her letters. Claudia's mother, unconcerned, suggests that Monday may have become to busy to respond. Perhaps, but the next day at school, Monday is still nowhere to be seen. Claudia knows she wouldn't dare to miss the first day of the new school year. So what happened to her best friend?
As the second day, first week, and second week all pass by, Claudia comes to realize that she must unravel the disappearance of her friend, and she will uncover some traumatic discoveries in the process.
Inspired by the #MissingDCgirls of 2017.
Tiffany D. Jackson is a YA fiction writer and horror film maker residing in Brooklyn. She is the author of three other books that primarily focus on relevant social injustices, including Allegedly (2017), Let Me Hear A Rhyme (2019), and Grown (2020). She also a writer and director for the 2010 web series, So I Married a Vampire and the 2011 short film, The Field Trip. Monday's Not Coming received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and the School Library Journal. Tiffany D. Jackson has also received the Coretta Scott King Award, and she received NAACP Image Award in the category Outstanding Literary Work – Youth / Teens for her debut 2017 novel, Allegedly.
For those who do not shy away from mystery and tragedy and want to strengthen their advocacy , Monday's not Coming is the perfect fit!
13. A Blade So Black- L.L. McKinney
Rating: YA
An Alice in Wonderland parody with a sci-fi twist, Leatrice "Elle" McKinney (AKA L.L. McKinney hits the ground of the literary world running with her 2018 release, A Blade So Black.
Though it almost cost her her life the first time, Alice is now highly-experienced in and well-trained in fighting Nightmares, monstrous creatures that seap from the dark realm known as Wonderland, usually created by hopeless emotions such as fear and anger. She owes all of her skill to her mentor, Addison Hatta.
Yet, the complications don't end in Wonderland or when she vanquishes the Nightmares. Life in everyday Atlanta can be difficult, too. Alice has to balance and overprotective mom, a friend that "requires" a lot of her attention and time, and a slipping GPA. But the Nightmares and Wonderland are consuming her normal teenage life. It becomes overwhelming, and thus, she goes to visit Addison Hatta in Wonderland and resign as a Dreamwalker (a vanquisher of Nightmares), but upon arrival, she finds that her "handsome and mysterious" mentor has been poisoned.
Shocked and enraged, Alice soon learns that she most venture into the depths of Wonderland for the antidote and that she may have to make sacrifices she is uncertain if she is prepared to make.
A Blade So Black is McKinney's debut novel, however, fans have a lot to look forward to as it is meant to be a series of Nightmare-Verse Books, beginning with the A Blade So Black trilogy. McKinney released another addition to the trilogy in 2019, entitled A Dream So Dark. McKinney's ability to write incredible sci-fi pieces isn't limited to her own series, though. On May 28th, 2020, DC Comic Fans got a glimpse of her newest project, Nubia—a reimagined graphic novel about Wonder Woman's twin sister. Nubia:The Real One is set debut in February 2021 with McKinney and artist, Robyn Smith, working in collaboration to bring a "fresh, contemporary twist to the story".
With legendary author, Angie Thomas, calling the book "The fantasy book [she] [has] been waiting for [her] whole life", A Blade So Black promises to be a great addition for anyone seeking to add a riveting sci-fi or parody book to their shelves!
14. A Song Below Water- Bethany C. Morrow
Rating: MG-YA
Proclaimed as the "story for today's readers", Bethany C. Morrow's newly-released book, A Song Below Water (2020), will transport you back to your nostalgic belief in mermaids while instilling knowledge about matters of social prevalence, such as racism and sexism, in your mind.
Set in a modern fantasy about black mermaids, A Song Below Water promises to be a magical read, and not just in the sense of the fictional genre.
Travia feels suppressed and like an outcast in her world. She is forced to keep her identity as a siren as well as her mystical powers "under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key". Living in Portland, Oregon, a city with a very black population and an even smaller magic population, doesn't help matters.
Luckily, she has Effie, a friend of hers that understands trying to prevail in a less-than-ideal world, as she battles LITERAL demons from her past. With their similarities, the girls attempt to navigate their junior year of high school.
But then, in the aftermath of a siren murder trial, the girls' favorite internet fashion icon reveals that she is a siren in a move that rattles the nation. Things begin to escalate when the demons in Effie's life worsen and Travian accidentally lets her siren voice slip during a police stop.
It becomes apparent to Travia very quickly that both of her worlds—the world of mermaids as well as regular Portland, Oregon—are about to turned upside down. A California native, Bethany C. Morrow describes herself as "recovering expat", dividing her time between Montreal, Quebec, and Upstate New York. Bethany received her BA in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, but took a few deviations in the Film and Theatre departments. She later went on to study Clinical Psychological Research at the University of Wales in Great Britain. But her literary work eventually called her back to North America. She has written three novels as of 2020: Her debut novel, Mem (2018), which was Buzzfeed's #1 Book to Read that spring and a Best Book of the Month according to The Washington Post, Bustle, and Chicago Review of Books; Take the Mic (2019), which was one of Chicago Review of Books' Most Anticipated Books' of 2019; and, of course, A Song Below Water.
Proclaimed as an "enthralling tale of black girl magic and searing social commentary ready to rattle the bones" (Dhonielle Clayton), A Song Below Water is a fantastic choice for those wishing to dabble in fantasy once again!
15. The Everlasting Rose- Dhonielle Clayton
Rating: MG-YA
In a sequel to New York Times Bestselling novel, The Belles (2019) , Dhonielle Clayton presents a new YA release that "freezes blood and steals breath" (Kirkus Reviews) entitled The Everlasting Rose (2020).
Camellia Beauregard is a Belle, a girl who can control the commodity of Beauty, living in the sumptuous world of Orléans. Camellia is shocked when she is chosen as the favorite Belle and whisked away to the place. But she is soon surprised in more ways than one when she learns that her entire existence is raveled in lies. At the palace, she is told that she possesses much more than the power of beauty. Her abilities are far greater and far more dangerous than she ever realized.
In the sequel to the masterful novel, The Belles, Camellia is on the run with her sister, Edel, and her guard, Remy. They are in a race against time to find the ailing Princess Charlotte, who has disappeared without a trace, and return her to her rightful position as queen. The evil Queen Sophia will stop at nothing to ensure their endeavors are put to a halt, even sending out her imperial forces to do so.
Luckily, Camellia, Edel, and Remy find solace in an underground resistance called the Iron Ladies—a society that rejects beauty treatments as a whole and backs the alternative newspaper, the Spider's Web.
Camellia is now forced to face her greatest foe, Queen Sophia, but she will soon find herself forced to face a lot more than she bargained for—for after all, enemies lurk in numerous and unexpected corners. As her thrilling story unfolds, Camellia will have to decide what she is willing to sacrifice for the salvation of her people.
Dhonielle Clayton is a native of Washington D.C. suburbs now residing in New York City. As a child, she was very rambunctious and thrived in the literary world. Her father used to take her to Crown Books, then the comic bookstore every Saturday to stock up on weekly reading, and her grandfather used to take her to the library almost every day after the Catholic school she attended (which her parents enrolled her believing it would keep her out of mischief) dismissed. She went on to attend Wake Forest University with the intentions of receiving a pre-med degree, but a fateful F in Chemistry would lead to a Butterfly Effect in her life. Clayton changed her major to English, and in doing so, rekindled her love for books.
Dhonielle Clayton taught secondary education for several years, both for a professional ballet school and for a K-8 class. In her twenties, she spent most of her time living in and out of America—traveling to Paris, London, a small Japanese town, Bermuda, and several other wondrous destinations. She has been to five of the seven continents, and she doesn't plan on stopping there.
Additionally, Clayton is the co-founder of CAKE Literary and the COO of the grassroots non-profit, We Need Diverse Books.
Dhonielle Clayton has written two books of her own, The Belles (2019) and the subsequent sequel, The Everlasting Rose (2020). She also worked in collaboration with Sona Charaipotra to produce two books, Tiny Pretty Things (2015) and Shiny Broken Pieces (2016). She was a contributor for several anthologies, including Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet (2018), The Radical Element: Twelve Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes, and Other Dauntless Girls (2018), Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (2018), and Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America (2019).
Deemed "breathtaking and crushing, beautiful and vile, and whimsical and terrifying" (Booklist), The Everlasting Rose is guaranteed to be just as adventurous and thrilling as the woman who wrote it!
16. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them- Junauda Petrus
Rating: YA
Called a "bold and lyrical debut", Junauda Petrus' novel The Stars and the Blackness Between Them (2019) is a stunning story grounded in adversity, love, and overcoming.
In the Port of Spain, Trinidad sixteen-year-old Audre is beside herself. Her strictly-religious mother has caught her with her secret girlfriend, who, to worsen matters, was the priest's daughter. Appalled, her mother forces her to move to America and stay with her father. But before she leaves, her grandmother, Queenie, a former dance teacher who may very well have secrets of her own, tries to reassure her that she will not loose the roots that she established in Trinidad. "America have dey spirits, too, believe me" she tells her.
Meanwhile in Minneapolis, sixteen-year-old Mabel is struggling to decipher her emotions. She has just broken up with her (now ex) boyfriend, Terrell, and she can't decide how to feel about her friend, Jada...or that moment they shared in the woods. To make things even more confusing, she has felt vaguely ill all summer...and she's not sure why. But her thoughts are abruptly interrupted when her father announces that his best friend and newly-expat daughter from Trinidad are coming to dinner.
Mabel is quickly enthralled by Audre, and is determined to take care of her as she navigates American high school. But as their romance begins to bloom, the tables are suddenly turned when Mabel receives test results that explain why she has been feeling ill all summer: she has a life-threatening illness. Now Audre must care for her and learn to love boundlessly and completely in a very uncertain time.
Junauda Petrus (AKA Junauda Petrus-Nash) is a playwright, performance artist, amd creative activist, with her works commonly centering around black representation, spectacle, ancestral dynamics, and magic.
Junauda seems like a very magical being herself. In 2009, she began studying aerial circus arts with Kiebpoli Calnek in Brooklyn, New York, and in 2014, she received a Travel and Study grant from the Jerome Foundation so that she could study West-African and Afro-Caribbean dance and aerial circus art. The same year, she received the Many Voices Mentorship from the Playwright’s Center to study playwriting. In her play There are Other Worlds, she told the story of a mother and activist who spent most of her teenage girl's lives incarcerated through aerial arts and an all-black and all-female cast. Prior to this, in 2012, she co-founded Free Black Dirt, "creating original theatre and performance, hosting innovative events, organizing local artists, and promoting and supporting the emerging artists’ community in the Twin Cities" (junauda.com).
A recipient of the Coretta Scott Honor, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, with it's poetic diction, promises to be a stellar, electrifying novel.
17. American Street- Ibi Zoboi
Rating: YA
Best-selling and award-winning author, Ibi Zoboi, debuts with a "breathtaking story about contemporary America" (School Library Journal), entitled American Street (2017).
In a coming-of-age story, Fabiola Toussaint is just trying to lead a une belle vie (a good life), but a series of tragedies makes that seemingly impossible to do.
When Fabiola and her mother, Haiti, leave Port-au-Prince, her mother is quickly detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate a loud, strange, foreign America on her own with only her cousins to help her. But America isn't the only thing she will have to navigate. Fabiola will find herself thrust head-first into the "grittiness of Detroit", a new school, and an unexpected love interest.
But just as she is beginning to familiarize herself with America, her new home, she is reminded that freedom comes at a cost, and she may have to make an impossible choice in order to pay the fee.
Ibi Zoboi takes heavy inspiration from her own life when writing her novels. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Zoboi immigrated to New York with her mother when she was four-years-old. She claims that everything about her new home was "strange and magical", which explains her love for sci-fi, fantasy, and mythology. Later in life, she received her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her debut novel, American Street, received a National Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book. Zoboi is also the author of Pride (2018), My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich (2019), and Punching the Air (upcoming, 2020) .
"Brimming with culture, magic, warmth, and unabashed rawness“ (Jason Reynolds), America Street is an eye-opening novel for those seeking a story surrounding immigration, self-discovery, and familial ties.
18. Dear Martin-Nic Stone
Rating: YA
Deemed "a must-read" by #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, Nic Stone's best-known and debut novel, Dear Martin (2017), provides a raw, bracing, and gut-wrenching perspective into the relentless world of racism that continues to exist in America.
Justyce McAllister is the prime example of a good kid. He's an honors student at his predominantly white high school, he's empathetic, he's always willing to help a friend. But none of those things seem to matter to the off-duty cop who slaps a pair of handcuffs on him. The arrest catches the attention and dauntings of his classmates. As his world continues to be rocked, Justyce turns to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hoping they contain some answers. But do the civil rights activist' words still pertain to today's world? Justyce relinquishes these questions in the form of letters to the deceased March to Selma-leader.
But then comes the day that Justyce is riding in the car with his best friend, Manny, carefree with their windows rolled down and music blaring, which enrages an off-duty, white police officer. Shouting and exchanged words ensue. Then gunfire. Manny and Justyce are caught in the crosshairs. Infuriatingly, Justyce will have to escape another barrage; in the media fallout, he is the one under attack.
Nic Stone was inspired to write her 2017 Williams C. Morris Award finalist and New York Times Bestselling debut after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
Nic Stone is an African-American and openly-bisxeual woman who was born and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. She obtained a degree in psychology from Spelman College. After completing college, she worked in teen mentoring and lived in Israel for a few years. She later went on to write her debut novel, Dear Martin, and three other novels: Clean Getaway, Odd One Out, and a 2020 sequel to Dear Martin entitled Dear Justyce. In addition, in September 2019, it was announced that Stone would be working on a Black Panther novel centered around Marvel character, Shuri. The novel was published by Scholastic in 2020.
For those looking for book that challenges racism, progressivism over time, and old allocutions, Dear Martin is the perfect choice!
MALE AUTHORS
1. Between the World and Me-Ta-Nehisi Coates
Rating: A
In an award-winning, bestselling novel , Ta-Nehisi Coates writes an open letter to his adolescent son and to the entire world about race and understanding "nation's current crisis".
Named one of the most influential books of the decade by CNN, Between the World and Me (2015) attempts to answer some hard questions "about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son" with hard-hitting and uncensored responses. Combined with his own experiences (from Howard University to Civil War Battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home and mothers he witnessed grieving for their children who were taken far too soon), Ta-Nehisi Coates is not afraid to expose the experiences of black men and women in a nation that is still festering with injustice.
Vietnam War veteran, Ta-Nehisi Coates, is an author and journalist with an extensive and impressive portfolio behind him. Ta-Nehisi Coates was born in Baltimore, Maryland to a blended family. His father, a publisher who founded a company specializing in African-American titles, had seven children (five boys and two girls) amongst four women. Despite the division, the family remained tight-knot, and Coates even credits his mother with instilling him with the passion to write, as he was made to write essays when he misbehaved as a kid.
Coates later went on to attend Howard University, but he dropped out after five years to pursue a career in journalism. Evidently, the decision proved to be a good one. He wrote for The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, and Time. He also made contributions to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, O (The Oprah Magazine), and several other publications. He attained his widest readership when he wrote for The Atlantic, where he discussed social, political, and cultural crises mostly pertaining to the African-American population.
He later went on to write three non-fiction books, including Between the World and Me, which was a #1 New York Times Bestseller, recipient of the National Book Award, a Pulitzer's Prize Finalist, and a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist.
But aside from non-fiction, Coates has also written not one—but TWO— series for Marvel Comics: a Black Panther series as well as a Captain America series. He has also written his own fiction novel, his first, The Water Dancer, which was published in 2019.
For those looking for an eye-opening non-fiction novel, Between the World and Me is the perfect selection!
2. How we Fight for our Lives- Saeed Jones
Rating: YA-A
Proclaimed as a "raw and eloquent memoir"(Maureen Corrigan), How We Fight For Our Lives (2019) by Tennessee-born and Texas native, Saeed Jones is an honest and emotional coming-of-age memoir that provides insight into a heavily-stigmatized group of which Jones is a part of.
“I made myself a promise: Even if it meant becoming a stranger to my loved ones, even if it meant keeping secrets, I would have a life of my own" writes Jones. Saeed Jones', acclaimed poet, uses his award-winning memoir to recount his experiences as a young, gay, black man growing up in the South struggling through internal and external crises as he attempts to go against the tide and establish his own identity.
In brief vignettes that provide snapshots of his life and the American culture festering around him, Jones reveals vulnerable stories that take place in his childhood and adolescence—snippets of poetic diction in which Jones wades through an arduous series of relationships from family, to passing flings, to lovers, and friends, and strangers. Each story becomes part of a larger scope of realization and empathy—a window into the trials of love, queerness, race, identity, discrimination, and heart-felt grief. The memoir paints humanity a portrait, making the readers recognize "what we do for one another—and what we do to one another" (Simon & Schuster) in this great fight to exist wholly and truly as ourselves. In what has been One of the Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, Saeed Jones will charismatically present an eye-opening idea: how we all "fight" (in some and whatever capacity) for our lives.
3. Black Leopard, Red Wolf- Marlon James
Rating: YA-A
Promised as the first in a trilogy entitled The Dark Star Trilogy, Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2019) is a unique sci-fi and fantasy novel "drenched in African myth and folklore" (Entertainment Weekly).
The story, narrated through gripping flashbacks and non-chronological episodes, takes place in North and South Kingdoms of Africa as well as the surrounding tribes and focuses on a young man by the name of Tracker, who is renowned for his unmatched hunting abilities. As the people say, he "has a nose". It is that same nose that forces him to abandon his insistence to work alone when lands himself in a group of people who are on the search for a mysterious boy who disappeared three years prior in the North Kingdom. The group is an odd combination of people, composed of shape-shifting hunter named Leopard and a skin-shedding mercenary named Nyka (both of whom are former lovers of Tracker's); a divinatory healer who protects outcast children called The Sangoma (who also casts a protective charm over Tracker and teaches him minor spells; a centuries-old Moon Witch by the name of Sogolon; a giant (called an Ogo) that the group names Sadogo; and a handsome soldier named Mossi who "smells of myrrh" and seems to have an attraction towards Tracker.
As Tracker, followed by the gang of unusual people/creatures, follows the missing boy's scent into a dense and terrifying forest, he will soon learn that everything may not be entirely as it seems. As Tracker ventures further in his journey, he will find himself asking, "Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?"
A new York Times Besteller and winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize, Black Leopard, Red Wolf takes inspiration from African History and Mythology and Marlon James' own passion for fantasy and combines it in a breathtaking, thrilling novel that has been deemed the equivalent of "an African Game of Thrones".
Born of two police force members, Jamaican native, Marlon James has always been attracted to the whimsical and riveting. At the age of five, he was severely bullied by fellow classmates who called him meaning things like "sissy" and "Mary", and he retreated to the sanctity of fiction—notably, Greek mythology. He later left Jamaica to escape horrific homophobic violence and impecunious economic conditions that he felt would deplete his career. In a resonating quote, he later declared, "Whether it was in a plane or a coffin, I knew I had to get out of Jamaica".
James received a master's degree in creative writing from Wilkes University in Pennsylvania in 2006. Today, he has published three novels, excluding the beginning of his Dark Star trilogy: John Crow's Devil (2005), The Book of Night Women (2009), and A Brief History of Killings (2014), with Jamaica and the trials of the country being a common personal theme. He has also actively taught English and creative writing at the Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota since 2007, and he is a faculty lecturer at St. Francis Colleges' Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing. In February of 2019, he gave the annual Tolkien Lecture for Pembroke College, Oxford; and he 2020, he began co-hosting a literary-centered podcast with his editor called "Marlon and Jake Read Dead People" in which they casually discuss late authors.
For those looking to dabble in some more mature, myth-inspired fantasy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is the perfect choice.
4. Not so Pure and Simple- Lamar Giles
Rating: YA-A
Proclaimed as "Heartfelt and hilarious on every page" (Justin Reynolds), Not So Pure and Simple (2020), is a striking and contemporary novel about teens trying to navigate through a world full of conflicting messages about sexuality, pressure, toxic masculinity, and the anatomy of relationships.
Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. At last, in their junior year, she's single. Del is desperate to catch her attention, so, when he notices that Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del doesn't hesitate to follow her. But soon, he realizes he has unintentionally ensnared himself in a Purity Pledge. In an effort to impress Kiera, he takes it, but he's met with scrutiny from his friend, Qwan, who doesn't believe any girl is worth playing the"long game" for. That's where fellow pledger, Jamaar, comes in. He can put in a good word about Del to Kiera...at a price. In exchange, Del has to answer all of the pledgers' questions about...sex ed.
With other boys moving in fast, trying to get a piece of the love of his life before he can, Del must act fast. But in his erratic plotting, he neglects what all of his scheming was for : Kiera. What does she want? He can't dwell on those questions, too much, though. After all, once he gets the girl, the mess he has thrust himself into will unravel itself, right?
Lamar Giles is a well-accomplished author and a founding member of We Need Diverse Books, a grassroots organization whose mission is to ensure that all kids get to see themselves represented in the pages of a book. He is a two-time Edgar Award Finalist for the YA category with his YA thrillers, Fake ID (2014) and Endangered (2015). His book later release, Overturned (2017), received an excellent New York Times review and was named a Kirkus Review Best Book of 2017. Additionally, his 2020 release, Not So Pure and Simple has been nominated as An Indie Next List Pick.
Giles has an absolutely explosive beginning in YA and MG fiction, having written seven books between 2014-20, including one of TIME Magazine's Best Children's Books of 2019, The Last Last-Day-of-Summer. He has also made contributions to two YA anthologies, Three Sides of a Heart (2017) and Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America (2019).
For those looking for a rigorously funny and exploratory coming-of-age novel, Not So Pure and Simple should definitely be a contender.
5. The Black Flamingo- Dean Atta
Rating: YA-A
Acclaimed British poet, Dean Atta, returns with a "fierce coming-of-age verse novel" (Harper Collins) , Black Flamingo (2019), which centers around young boy trying to find his way in the world.
Michael is struggling with his identity...in more way than one. As a half-Jamaican, half-Greek Cyprian man, he constantly feels at war with himself, feeling as though he is never "black enough" or "Greek enough". To add to the endless juggle, he feels as though his sexuality is at odds with aspects of both of his ethnic backgrounds.
The poetic prose follows Michael in his coming-of-age, from the time his mother does not understand why he prefers to play with Barbies rather than Ninja Turtles to when he leaves for university, as he struggles and stumbles through the path of self-realization.
One of two Stonewall Award-winning books for the 2020 awards in the Children's and YA category, the Black Flamingo has been deemed by many as "beautiful", "poignant", and "heartbreaking".
It's author, Dean Atta, is an esteemed poet in UK. Of Greek and Caribbean descent as well as gay himself, Atta remained largely unknown until the wake of the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Lawrence when he wrote and posted a passionate poem about the use of racial slurs. He recorded the impromptu poem on his iPhone and posted it to Twitter, where it took the internet by storm. He now travels through the UK and internationally to deliver his poetry. Atta was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential LGBTQ+ in the UK by the Independent. He has been commissioned to write for museums and galleries in the past, including the Keats House Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, and Tate Modern. in 2018, he was invited to serve as a judge for the BBC Young Writers Award.
Eccentric and raw, Black Flamingo is the perfect choice for anyone on the hunt for a lyrical coming-of-age novel!
6. The Field Guide to the North American Teenager-Ben Philippe
Rating: MG
A William C. Morris Debut Award Winner, The Field Guide To The North American Teenager is a "refreshing, captivating read" (Toronto Star) by Ben Philippe.
Norris Caplan is a wise-cracking, clever French-Canadian seventeen-year-old living in Austin, Texas who may be "to smart for his own good" (Goodreads). When he joins his new high school in Texas, he quickly finds himself categorizing everyone he meets. Synonymous with the title, it is like a jungle out there. There's the cheerleaders, the jocks, the loners, and even "Manic Pixie Dream Girl".
Hanging on to the hope of returning to Canada, Norris isn't exactly obsessed with making friends. Besides, at least categorizing his classmates gives him something to laugh about. But then, his labels soon peel back and become people with influence in his life: a loner named Liam, a beta cheerleader named Madison, even a "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" named Aatari who may or may not develop into a love interest for Norris. He even begins to play hockey with these Texans. What has he become?
Yet, right as all of these people are starting to become meaningful figures in his life, on the night of prom, everything comes falling apart. Now the question remains: will Norris be able to pick up the pieces?
Ben Philippe is a Haiti native who was raised in Montreal, Canada. He received a B.A. from Columbia University in 2011 and an M.F.A from Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin in 2014. He went on to write for several publications, including Miscellaneous Fiction, The Observer, Buzzfeed-Culture, The Guardian, Thrillist, Inverse, A.V. Club, Buzzfeed-Humor, Vox, and Vanity Fair.His short stories have appeared in Five Quarterly, Louisiana Literature, Bookanista, and several others. He currently works at Barnard College in Manhattan, New York. He also shares his website's bio tab with his dog, Blue, who he claims would have an entire collage of pictures dedicated to him if "we were still in the MySpace heydays".
Proclaimed a "balance of snark, keen observation, and wry humor" (Ibi Zoboi), The Field Guide to the North American Teenager is perfect for advanced readers and those looking for a novel that centers around a new environment and less-than-typical high school life.
7. Opposite of Always- Justin A. Reynolds
Rating: MG-YA
Exulted as "as beautiful as it is funny, warm, and captivating" by #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Angie Thomas, the Opposite of Always (2019) is a stunning and resonate debut novel by Justin A. Reynolds (Not to be confused with Justin Reynolds, a fellow black author).
The Opposite of Always revolves around teenagers Jack King and Kate and the fateful night they meet at a party, connecting over their mutual love for Froot Loops and films. As they talk, Jack realizes he's falling—hard. He introduces her to his friends, Jillian and her boyfriend, Franny "Francisco", who she wins over just as instantly.
Jack and Kate seem like the perfect pair...until Kate is a no-show at Jack's high school prom. Jack soon learns that Kate has sickle cell disease and was in the hospital during prom. When Jack goes to visit her in the hospital, Kate tells her that there is a promising treatment available that could help her—but it's expensive. After talking with Kate for a bit longer, Jack heads home to get some rest. A few hours later, he is awakened by a phone call from Kate's mom telling him that Kate has passed away.
Jack, panicked, runs to his car, but falls down the stairs. He wakes up, back at the college party where he first met Kate. Now, Jake is stuck in a "time loop" of sorts, his life "cyclically reboot[ing]" (Desiree Thomas, School Library Journal) as he tries to save Kate from dying while maintaining his friendships.
As Jack learns that there are consequences and butterfly effects to everything he does, he must figure out for himself what he is willing to sacrifice for the ones he loves, or, worse still, the loved ones he is willing to sacrifice.
Justin A. Reynolds claims he has always wanted to be a writer. His debut novel, Opposite of Always, was an Indies Introduce Top Ten Debut and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2019. It has also been translated into an impressive 17 languages, and is currently being developed into a film by Paramount Player. His second book, Early Departures is due to come out in September 2020.
A "poignant, dizzying tale of love and loss" (Horn Book), the Opposite of Always ,has an intriguing premise and is perfect for those looking for a "struck by love" story with a twist!
8. Lot: Stories- Bryan Washington
Rating: A
Described as "brilliant" by author of Here Comes the Sun , Nicole Dennis-Benn, Lot: Stories (2019) by Bryan Washington is a collection of audacious and dynamic short stories that expose the "thrive and die in Houston's myriad neighborhoods" (Riverhead Books) .
With a kaleidoscope of interwoven and other times intermittent essays, Bryan Washington paints and authentic and dynamic portrait of fictitious people living in Houston— from a woman whose torrent affair detonates across her apartment complex, to an underdog baseball team, a gang of hustlers,several hurricane survivors, a local drug dealer who takes in a Guatemalan as a sort of apprentice, a "reluctant chupacabra" (Riverhead Books). All of these people revolve around and pass through the world of a young, black and Latino Houston teen who's working in his family's restaurant, enduring the blows of his father and resenting the absence of his sister all while realizing he may like boys. Intrigued, he records the "lot stories" that he witnesses.
Lot: Stories is an explosive debut novel, earning the tiles of One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year and One of the 10 Best Books From 2019 in the new York Times by Dwight Garner.
Bryan Washington is a fiction writer from Houston whose writing has been featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the New York Times Style Magazine, BuzzFeed, the BBC, Vulture, The Paris Review, Boston Review, The Cut, Tin House, One Story, Bon Appétit, MUNCHIES, American Short Fiction, GQ, FADER, The Awl, The Believer, Hazlitt, and Catapult. He is also the recipient of a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 award, Ernest J. Gaines Award, an International Dylan Thomas Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and a O. Henry Award. He was also a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize finalist, a National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize finalist .
Deemed "a profound exploration of the true meaning of borders", Lot: Stories is sure to provide powerful insight and provoke the emotions of all of its readers!
9. Loving Day- Mat Johnson
Rating: YA
Proclaimed as "hilarious and touching" (NPR), Mat Johnson describes his 2015 novel, Loving Day, as his "coming out as mulatto".
Loving Day follows Warren Duffy, who has returned to America for a multitude of depressing reasons: his marriage with a beautiful Welsh woman has fallen through, his comic shop in Cardiff was unprofitable; and his Irish father has recently passed away, bequeathing Warren with a possession left in his Will— a roofless, half-renovated, creaky mansion in the heart of "black Philadelphia". The crumbling house is already unsettling, but on his first night there, he sees two figures in the lawn outside. He musters up the courage to confront them only to find that they have disappeared the minute he steps outside.
But it's far from Warren's last cosmic encounter.
The next day at a comic convention, when staring into the face of a teenage girl, Warren sees the mingled features of his mother and father playing on her face like molten, reawakened ghosts. The girl, Tal, turns out to be his daughter whom he has not had any prior encounter with. And,in Warren's absence...she's been raised to believe she's 100% white.
Struck by these revelations, Warren must now figure out how to live with a daughter whose life he has had no involvement in until now, and together they must learn to combat ghosts, a haunted house, and racism. Eventually, after falling into utopian-style, mixed-race cult, they are inspired to assemble a riot on Love Day, an often overlooked holiday held each year on June 12th that reminisces the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision for Loving v. Virginia, which struck down all remaining anti-miscegenation laws, a massive win for interracial couples.
Called "giddy, biting . . . ferocious" and "grand metaphors, unsparing social commentary, sharp characters, and sharper humor" , Loving Day is a New York Times Notable Book; and was named One of the Best Books of the Year for 2016 by the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Men's Journal, The Miami Herald, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, San Antonio Express News, and Time Out New York.
Mat Johnson is a fiction writer in both prose and comic format born and raised in Philadelphia by his African-American mother and Irish-catholic father. He has written three other fiction books excluding Loving Day: Drop (2000), Hunting in Harlem (2003), and Pym (2011). His comics include Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnight (2006), Incognegro (2008), Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story (2008), and Right State (2012).
Precocious and explosive with pathos, Love Day, is the perfect novel for anyone searching for a story of adversity and forging bonds while discovering old ones.
10. Born a Crime- Trevor Noah
Rating: YA-A
"An engaging, fast-paced and vivid read" (The Guardian), Born A Crime (2016), is a compelling, comedic autobiography by renowned South-African comedian and political commentator, Trevor Noah.
The book, a New York Times Bestseller and titleholder as one of Paste's Best Memoirs of the decade, chronicles the life of the author, Trevor Noah, whose birth was a crime. Trevor was the incriminating offspring of a white, Swiss father and black, Xhosa mother, who would both receive five years in prison if their union was uncovered. The Daily Show star recounts his life from the time he was hidden behind closed doors in apartheid South Africa in a collection of stories centering around him and his fervently rebellious and religious mother, who is determined to give him the best future possible.
Trevor Noah is the current host of the Daily Show. He won a primetime Emmy Award, the result of six nominations and several years of hard work. In 2017 and 2018, he was named one of the "35 Most Powerful People in New York Media" by The Hollywood Reporter; and in 2018, he was named one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World' by TIME Magazine.
For those looking for a comedical memoir bursting with themes of adversity, Trevor Noah has spoken!
11. Babel-17- Samuel R. Delany
Rating: YA-A
Babel-17 (1967) is the oldest, but probably most influential, book on this list. Written by profound and elder sci-fi writer, Samuel R. Delaney, the book plays on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (a then-newer theory that was circulating at the time, which states that language influences thought and perception).
The Nebula Award-winning novel focuses on the tale of a famous poet, star-ship captain, and linguist named Rydra Wong, consumed with deciphering a secret code called Babel-17, which is the key to understanding the "enemy's deadly force".
After spending some time analyzing Babel-17, Rydra makes a seismic realization—Babel-17 is not a simple code designed to be deciphered with a "key", but rather, a complex and enigmatic language.
Rydra seeks the help of the crew, but, as she soons discovers, "they know nothing of the nature of language.” Rydra is left to decrypt Babel-17 on her own, perusing the vocabulary, phonemes, phonetics, and ambiguities in semiotics, semantics, and syntax of the sibylline language. Eventually, she understands Babel-17 well enough to pinpoint the location of the next attack. But she will soon learn that there still may be some uncovered undertones to Babel-17 that tie into the aforementioned Sapir-Whorf theory.
Babel-17 has been described as a stepping stone for modern sci-fi works.
Samuel R. Delany is quite a prolific figure in the sci-fi and regular scientific field. He was born in Harlem to his mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, a clerk for the New York Public Library, and his father and namesake. Delany has declared himself as gay since his adolescence, though, for a time, he was married to a woman named Marilyn Hacker, who was aware of Delany's orientation at the time of their marriage and came out as lesbian after their divorce. His works come in a wide range of genres, including (most prevalently) science fiction, memoirs, criticism, and essays about sexuality and society. He is the winner of four Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards, and, in 2002, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
For those looking for a sci-fi and fantasy work with impactful historical ties, Babel-17 is definitely worth the intrigue!
12. Heavy- Kiese Laymon
Called "gorgeous, gutting book...fueled by candor yet freighted with ambivalence" (New York Times), Heavy: An American Memoir (2018) is the Andrew Carnegie Medal-winning latest work by Kiese Laymon.
Resonating with the dull of "bone-deep crackle of authenticity", Heavy recounts stories from Kiese Laymon when he was younger—both personal and worldly. He describes American society and his own experiences with abuse, portraying juxtaposing feelings of joy, shame, confusion and beckons readers to consider: "the consequences of growing up in a nation wholly obsessed with progress yet wholly disinterested in the messy work of reckoning with where we’ve been".
Kiese Laymon is raw and more-than-vulnerable, living up to the novel's name. In a collection of short stories, Laymon relinquishes his experiences about growing up black in Mississippi, his exposure to sexual violence, his suspension from college, his time as a young New York college professor, his complex relationship with his mother and grandmother, his struggle with anorexia and obesity, and his love for writing and gambling.
Kiese Laymon is a native from Jackson, Mississippi. He attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before eventually graduating from Oberlin College. He additionally earned an MFA in Fiction from Indiana University Currently, he serves as the Ottilie Schillig Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. He has written two books excluding Heavy, the other novels being Long Division (2013) and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America (2013). Heavy has received wide-spread recognition. In addition to receiving an Andrew Carnegie Medal, it won an LA Times Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, it was named Audible's Audiobook of the Year, and was named One of the Best Books of 2018 by The Undefeated, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Library Journal , The Washington Post , Southern Living , Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times Critics. Laymon also received the 2019 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media.
Festering and endearing, Heavy promises to be a great memoir for anyone's list!
ANTHOLOGIES
. Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America-Ibi Zoboi, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Dhonielle Clayton, Kekla Magoon, Leah Henderson, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Ston , Liara
Rating: YA
With a long list of spectacular black-author contributors (some, which you may recognize from this list), Black Enough:Stories of Being Young and Black in America (2019) aims to answer the question "what does it mean to be black?" through ample perspectives and define the "black experience" in America.
According to the book's intriguing blurb on Harper Collins:
"Black is...sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson.
Black is…three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds.
Black is…Nic Stone’s high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of.
Black is…two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland.
Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more—because there are countless ways to be Black enough".
Each contributing author is highly-accredited and prominent in the literary world.
For those looking for a collection of narratives from black authors, there couldn't be a more perfect choice than Black Enough:Stories of Being Young and Black in America.
. Well-Read Black Girl-Glory Edim
Rating: YA-A
Nominated for a NAACP Image Award, Well-Read Black Girl is personal and resonate, shedding light on the experiences of several black women. The novel is comprised of a collection of essays by black women writers, selected and curated by Glory Edim, founder of the book club Well-read Black Girl, the novel's namesake.
The novel has accumulated astounding reviews, receiving a 5/5 score from Barnes & Noble and a 4.4/5 from Goodreads.
When writing a review of the book, Penguin Random House wrote: "the subjects of each essay remind us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation".
When writing about the individual essays, The Washington Post wrote that they were "monumental in their impact".
With a plethora of perspectives, Well-Read Black Girl is a must for those seeking insight into the experiences of black women.
Buy Here
. Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet-Jennifer L. Armentrout, Sara Shepard, Nicola Yoon, Dhonielle Clayton, Katie Cotugno, Jocelyn Davies, Huntley Fitzpatrick, Nina Lacour, Emery Lord, Katharine McGee, Kass Morgan, Julie Murphy, Meredith Russo, Ibi Zoboi
A play on the word meet-cute ("an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them" in a film or television), Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet tells the stories of budding romances beginning with the moment the characters first met through a series of short stories from today's top YA authors, including black authors Nicola Yoon, Dhonielle Clayton, and Ibi Zoboi.
For those looking for a bubbly, heartbreaking, and diverse anthology, Meet Cute:Some People are Destined to Meet is the perfect choice!
Thank you for reading, and remember: there is no specific time to support black authors! We should support black literature every day and forever!
DONATION AND SUPPORT LINKS
. Migizi
. Eat Okra
PETITIONS/LEARN HOW YOU CAN HELP
-(or text "ENOUGH" to 55156)
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-(Learn more about her and her fiancé's story here)
-(Learn more about their story here, at the American Civil Liberties Union blog )
-(Learn more about he and Malcolm Harsh's stories here)
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-(Learn more about the bill and its mission here)
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Female
. Candice Carty-Williams| http://www.candicecartywilliams.com/
. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche|https://www.chimamanda.com/
. Kiley Reid|https://kileyreid.com/
. Helen Oyeyemi|http://helenoyeyemi.com/
.Nicole Dennis-Benn|https://www.nicoledennisbenn.com/
. Sarah M. Broom|https://www.sarahmbroom.com/
.Terry McMillan|https://www.terrymcmillan.com/
.Angie Thomas|https://angiethomas.com/
.Elizabeth Acevedo|http://www.acevedowrites.com/
.Renee Watson|http://www.reneewatson.net/
.Tiffany D. Jackson|https://www.writeinbk.com/
. L.L McKinney|https://llmckinney.com/
. Bethany C. Morrow|https://www.bethanycmorrow.com/
.Dhonielle Clayton|https://www.dhonielleclayton.com/about/
. Junauda Petrus|https://junauda.com/about-author/
.Nic Stone|http://www.nicstone.info/
. Ibi Zoboi|http://ibizoboi.net/
Male
.Ta-Nehisi Coates|https://ta-nehisicoates.com/
.Saeed Jones|https://www.readsaeedjones.com/
. Marlon James|https://www.marlonjameswriter.com/
. Lamar Giles| https://www.lamargiles.com/about1
. Dean Atta|https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/11/dean-atta-stephen-lawrence-poem , https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41020406-the-black-flamingo
. Ben Philippe|http://benphilippe.com/about/ , https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36284785-the-field-guide-to-the-north-american-teenager
. Justin A. Reynolds|https://www.justinareynolds.com/about-1,
. Bryan Washington|https://brywashing.com/
. Mat Johnson|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_Johnson
.Trevor Noah|https://www.trevornoah.com/
.Samuel R. Delany|https://www.samueldelany.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany
. Kiese Laymon|https://www.kieselaymon.com/
Anthologies
. Black Enough:Stories of Being Young and Black in America|https://www.epicreads.com/blog/black-enough-authors/
. Well-Read Black Girl|https://www.instagram.com/wellreadblackgirl/
. Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet
FOR MORE WORKS BY BLACK AUTHORS
. 43 Books by Black Authors to Read 2020 Oprah Mag
TAGS
#bookrecommendationlist #blackliterature #africanamerican #blackculture #jamaiican #diversebooks #anthologies #novels #books #authors #authorreccomendation #shareblackstories #blacklivesmatter #support #writers #blackwriters
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