These 50 Books by Black Authors Are Essential Reads

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It's time to add some great books to your 2024 reading list! As Black History Month begins, it's an opportunity to learn more about the uniquely shaped Black American experience, revisit classic films and books, and check out the latest titles from outstanding Black authors. Whether you plan to enjoy a new book in your favorite reading nook at home with a cup of tea or when you catch a flight to a faraway destination to reset and relax, it's the perfect time to add a few more titles to your bookshelf or e-reader.

This list is in no way a complete compendium of Black Lit, which is American literature too. However, it is a diverse collection that includes something for every interest—from culinary curiosity and love-centered fiction to historical accounts and soul-stirring biographies. Our list includes creative titans like Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, and Maya Angelou, and newer writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yaa Gyasi, and Javacia Harris Bowser. From treasured cookbooks to historical tomes, this list beckons you to slow down, settle in for an engaging story, and get lost in the vibrant pages of skillful wordsmiths. Discover a new book or return to an old favorite on this list of must-have books by Black authors!

Learn more about the origins of Black History Month and more at the links below.

• Why We Celebrate Black History Month in February

• 29 Interesting Black History Month Facts for Each Day of February

• 42 Movies to Help You Celebrate Black History Month All Year Long

Stay informed about new releases from emerging and established Black authors by following Bookstagrammers like @AllwaysBlack, @MelanatedReader, @reggiereads, @spinesvines, @ablackmanreading, and more. Also don't miss an opportunity to support Black-Owned Bookstores in America and learn more about Black literary conferences like Black Writers Weekend and the National Black Writers Conference.

Bibliophile: Diverse Spines

As a precursor to the rest of this roundup, this vibrantly illustrated and inclusive compendium of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world is for book lovers that appreciate gorgeous packaging. Jamise Harper and Jane Mount's book is filled with over 150 colorful illustrations and reading recommendations from leading BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) literary influencers, and an inside look at diverse book stores. There's even a complementary 2024 Wall Calendar: Bibliophile Diverse Spines too!

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America

Acclaimed cookbook author Jessica B. Harris has spent much of her life researching foodways of the African Diaspora. This book examines the arduous journey from across the Atlantic to America by way of slavery, tracking the trials that people and food have undergone along the way. Ultimately, it chronicles a collective story of perseverance and culinary influence on everything from classic Southern fare to vegan soul food that's intricately woven into the fabric of America's culture and identity of African Americans.

The Neighbor Favor

Kristina Forest's heartwarming book centers on Lily Greene, a bookish young woman who dreams of becoming a children’s books editor despite being pigeonholed for years in her company's nonfiction division. She recruits her likable neighbor to assist with getting a date for her sister's wedding, not knowing he’s an obscure author and potential romantic interest she’s been emailing.

Stepping Out: The Unapologetic Style of African Americans over Fifty

New York Times best-selling author Connie Briscoe and photographer Milton Washington present a love letter to the vibrant style of African Americans from age 50 and up. The colorful volume includes in-depth profiles and commentary about "the cultural, spiritual, and historical influences on decades of Black style and testifies to this dynamic legacy for generations to come."

Erasure: A Novel

If you haven't watch the film adaptation of Percival Everett's book Erasure, add American Fiction to your list of must-see movies after finishing the novel. The page-turning satire follows the journey of Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, an acclaimed African American writer with a career on the decline who laments the literary community's gravitation toward books that highlight stereotypical narratives about race. He channels his frustration by writing My Pafology, a caricature of popular tropes and clichés in the publishing industry and other forms of media packaged for mass consumption. The joke may be on the reader and maybe even Monk when the book becomes the "next big thing" while he deals with personal and professional issues.

Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration

When Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts wrote an essay on Black joy for The Washington Post, she had no idea just how deeply it would resonate. But the outpouring of positive responses affirmed her own lived experience: that Black joy is not just a weapon of resistance, it is a tool for resilience. Detailing these instances of joy in the context of Black culture allows us to recognize the power of Black joy as a resource to draw upon, and to challenge the one-note narratives of Black life as solely comprised of trauma and hardship.

Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human

Cole Arthur Riley's newest book is a collection of prayers, letters, poems, meditation questions, breath practices, scriptures, and the writings of Black literary ancestors. It invites readers to dig into forty-three liturgies for personal practice or as a community. The poetic work encourages readers to "reflect on their shared experiences of wonder, rest, rage, and repair, and creating rituals for holidays like Lent and Juneteenth."

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Mildred D. Taylor's award-winning book is an intimate portrait of a Black family in Mississippi during the Great Depression. The moving story chronicles the family's efforts to maintain their faith, integrity, and ownership of their land during a time when most Black citizens were sharecroppers (often referred to as slavery rerouted) in the post-slavery South riddled with social barriers and blatant racism.

Family Meal: A Novel

Best-selling and award-winning author, Bryan Washington (of Memorial and Lot) offers readers Family Meal. The novel's protagonist returns to his hometown after the love of his life passes and reconnects with his past in more ways than expected. Los Angeles, Houston, and Osaka serve as the rotating backdrop for a story about "how people we know the longest can very often hurt us the most yet but how they also set the standard for love."

Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations

In the very first cookbook to celebrate Juneteenth, food writer and cookbook author Nicole A. Taylor draws on her decade of experiences observing the holiday. In Watermelon and Red Birds, Nicole puts jubilation on the main stage. As a master storyteller and cook, she bridges the traditional African-American table and 21st-century flavors in stories and recipes. These dishes and essays will inspire parties to salute one of the most important American holidays, as well as joyful moments to savor all year round.

The Bluest Eye

This classic tale from acclaimed Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison is a thought-provoking examination of society's obsession with beauty and conformity. It explores questions about race, class, and gender with a graceful and direct tone. The poetic story tells of Pecola Breedlove—an 11-year-old Black American girl who prays for her eyes to turn blue so people will view her as beautiful.

Seven Days in June

Authors Eva and Shane spend seven romance-filled days together in June and then don't see each other until they reconnect 15 years later during a steamy Brooklyn summer. This perfect-for-roadtrips read from Tia Williams is both laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreaking, and you'll be rooting for the couple's second chance at love.

Ebony: Covering Black America

In 1945, Ebony's founder John H. Johnson set out to create a magazine for Black America similar to the trailblazing Life. For the African American community, Ebony has been a refreshing magazine and medium that speaks on issues and events from the Black perspective, celebrates Black beauty, and elevates heroes of Black America. Ebony: Covering Black America, by Lavaille Lavette, is a celebration of the iconic magazine's rich history, glamorous covers, groundbreaking impact, and authentic coverage of Black American life.

Ours: A Novel

In Ours, Phillip B. Williams introduces readers to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjuror who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there. She brings the newly freed to a haven of her own creation: a town magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours. Set over over four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, the novel is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom by a writer of capacious vision and talent.

Ours was selected as the Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Oprah’s Book Club. It's available for pre-order and arrives on February 20, 2024.

Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement

Tarana Burke, the founder and activist behind one of the largest social movements of the 20th and 21st centuries, the "me too" movement, shares her inspiring story. This is a must-read book that sheds light on how a woman from the Bronx brought empathy back to the forefront for an entire generation and continues to move toward a path of healing and empowerment.

Transcendent Kingdom: A Novel

The follow-up to Yaa Gyasi's national bestseller Homegoing is a complex story about a Ghanaian family in Alabama. It's the intimate story of a young woman's family connections, loss of members to tragedy and addiction, road to redemption, faith, and science. It's a powerful tale that shows the intricate ways people often rebuild their lives from the trauma and lessons of the past.

All About Love: New Visions

All About Love is the first volume in bell hooks'"Love Song to the Nation"trilogy. The book reveals root causes of our polarized society and proposes proactive solutions to heal divisions. “The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb,” she writes in the beloved book. The renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist offers new guiding principles for a world filled with lovelessness—not a lack of romance, but the lack of care, compassion, and unity.

Black Cake: A Novel

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two estranged children: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. As a result, Byron and Benny unearth the secrets of their mother's life and discover betrayals, secrets, memories, a long-lost child, and even names that influenced the path of their family and connect to their mother's Caribbean black cake. Readers will wonder if their mother’s revelations will "bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?"

Charmaine Wilkerson's Black Cake has been adapted for the screen and the first season is available on Hulu.

Between the World and Me

"What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?" Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ beautifully written response to his adolescent son in letter form about some of a Black father's most intimate concerns. The book is a blend of personal narrative, reimagined history, and cultural reportage that shines a light to examine the past, cautiously works through the present, and presents an unbounded and hopeful path forward.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

World-renowned writer and poet Maya Angelou’s debut memoir tells her life story from early childhood through adulthood in a powerful and poetic voice. The modern American classic chronicles her life in a small Southern town with her grandmother and brother, racial discrimination, and a traumatic assault by an adult male that caused her to lose her voice. Maya emerges with a strong spirit after years of silence and learns that self-love, kindness, and the ideas of great writers can carry us to unimaginable heights—like a bird in flight.

Find Your Way Back: How to Write Your Way Through Anything

Award-winning freelance journalist, Javacia Harris Bowser, and founder of See Jane Write (a website and community for women who write and blog) believes that writing is a superpower. As a Black woman from the South, Javacia has used writing as a vehicle to dive deep into gender, race, and religious issues. Find Your Way Back is a collection of personal essays that highlights how she used writing to accomplish her wildest goals to become a public speaker, land a magazine column, and become self-employed. The inspirational book also explores how writing, self-love, and faith were pivotal in conquering her worst nightmare: a cancer diagnosis in 2020.

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

Culinary historian Michael W. Twitty offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry, both black and white, through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep—the power that food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together.

Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison's first book follows the life of a nameless narrator as he grows up in a Black community in the South, attends a Black college where is he is later expelled, moves to New York, becomes the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of a sociopolitical organization, and retreats amid social unrest and violence to the basement lair of the "Invisible Man" he imagines himself to be. The best-selling book was milestone in literature and sparked thought-provoking conversations about Black identity in America.

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted: A Novel

The first of a trilogy, Jayne Allen's novel explores the pressures on a thirtysomething Black woman living in America. Tabitha seems to have it all together (job, house, boyfriend) when an unexpected medical diagnosis that puts her fertility in jeopardy sends her reeling. The second and third books in the series, Black Girls Must Be Magic and Black Girls Must Have It All, are out now.

America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Narrative History, 1837-2009

Bobby L. Lovett paints a comprehensive picture of how Civil Rights movements, diverse philanthropic efforts, and governmental agencies spurred the development of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). From 1837 to present, HBCUs have been a driving force in higher education, providing opportunities for people from any background to get a post secondary education during the era of segregation and continuing to influence society today. Notable graduates include Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and numerous others.

Razorblade Tears: A Novel

Razorblade Tears became an instant New York Times bestseller when it was released in 2021. In this brutal novel, two fathers band together to seek vengeance for their murdered sons. This page-turner is S.A. Cosby's follow-up to his award-winning Blacktop Wasteland.

The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities

America’s nine African American fraternities and sororities celebrate the spirit of excellence in higher education, brotherhood, sisterhood, and community service. These organizations have produced American leaders in politics, sports, arts, and culture. This comprehensive books traces their pioneering work in the suffragette movement, progress during the Civil Rights era, and life-changing inner-city mentoring programs. Today, millions of members of these organizations share a proud tradition of brotherhood, sisterhood, and community service.

Becoming

With candor, humor, and lively wit, Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—describes her public and private triumphs and disappointments, telling her life story as she has lived it. From Obama's early years on the South Side of Chicago to her time as an executive balancing motherhood and work, and more. Becoming is a deeply personal account of a modern woman who has "steadily defied expectations," and whose story compels us to do the same.

Clap When You Land

If you think you're not a poetry person, let Elizabeth Acevedo prove you wrong. The award-winning Afro-Dominican writer tells the story of two teenage girls, one in the Dominican Republic and one in New York City, who unknowingly share a father. Everything changes with he dies in a plane crash and they discover each other. Acevedo's latest novel, Family Lore, was released in August 2023.

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

In South to America, Dr. Imani Perry shows that the meaning of "American" is undeniably tied to the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole. This is the story of a Black woman and native Alabaman returning to the region she has always called home and considering it with fresh eyes. The book offers an assertion that if we want to build a more humane future for the United States, we must center our concern below the Mason-Dixon Line.

A Day With No Words

A Day With No Words by Tiffany Hammond is a moving book that should be on the bookshelf of every home and classroom. It's an invitation into the life of an Autism Family who communicates just as the child does—without spoken language. The vibrantly illustrated book gives readers an inside view of life without verbal communication and how different tools like tablets can be used to develop a personalized method of "speaking."

If Beale Street Could Talk

Told through the eyes of Tish, a 19-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, James Baldwin’s story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name as they face an uncertain future. In a love story where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettable.

Until We Break

Matthew Dawkins'hauntly beautiful debut novel focuses on Naomi Morgan, a gifted dancer at a prestigious ballet academy and its lone Black student. Naomi struggles with feelings of isolation and the tragic loss of a close friend, which influences eventful consequences that impact her life in more ways than she imagines.

Queen Sugar: A Novel

Natalie Baszile's book follows Charley Bordelon, an African American woman and single mother, as she struggles to build a new life amid the complexities in the contemporary South. When she unexpectedly inherits 800 acres of sugarcane land, Charley says goodbye to Los Angeles and heads to Louisiana. Soon she learns that cane farming is a contentious business with many adversaries. As the sweltering summer unfolds, Charley learns how to balance the overwhelming challenges of managing a farm, family, and matters of the heart.

Native Son (Perennial Classics)

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be Black in America. Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. Native Son tells the story of a young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a woman in a brief moment of panic.

Maame: A Novel

Jessica George's Maame explores the intersectionality of dueling loyalties between two homes and cultures—in Ghana and London. The book examines complex issues like familial duty, racism, pleasure, love, and friendship with a refreshing air of intelligence, assertiveness, and humor that make the protagonist, Maddie, an endearing character to watch blossom throughout its pages.

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

This debut collection by Issa Rae, creator of the award-winning hit series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and the HBO hit shows Insecure and Rap Sh!t, is written in a witty and relatable tone, with Rae covering everything from dating in the digital age to work, friendships, self-love, natural hair, and even “rapping.” This must-read is a book no one—awkward or cool, black, white, or other—will want to miss.

In Pursuit of Flavor: The Beloved Classic Cookbook from the Acclaimed Author of The Taste of Country Cooking

Before Southern classics like shrimp and grits, peach cobbler, and cornbread were standard fare on menus everywhere, Edna Lewis celebrated seasonal American food. Lewis captured the spirit of the South through six illustrated chapters of food: From the Garden and Orchards; From the Farmyard; From the Lakes, Steams, and Oceans; For the Cupboard; From the Bread Oven and Griddle; and The Taste of Old-fashioned Desserts. In Pursuit of Flavor is a classic compendium of country cooking at its very best.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

Mikki Kendall's collection of essays offers a new perspective about the modern-day feminist movement, shaped by the author's personal experiences related to race, basic needs (food security, safety, and health), and observations about reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, and the stigma of mental health. It's a fervent call-to-action for "would-be feminists" to take action faithful to the ideals of the feminist movement—both in thought and in deed.

The Color Purple (Penguin Vitae)

Separated as girls in early 20th-century rural Georgia, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time and distance through a series of letters spanning 20 years. The Color Purple, broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Alice Walker's American classic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey toward redemption and love.

A new adaptation of The Color Purple is currently in theaters. The musical film blends the book, original film screenplay, and Broadway production. Find more information at thecolorpurplefilm.net.

The Vanishing Half: A Novel

In Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half, Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, Southern Black community and running away at age 16, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Years later, one sister lives with her Black daughter in the same Southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?

Their Eyes Were Watching God

One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong Black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become one the most widely read and acclaimed novels in American literature.

The Wedding Date

The New York Times best-selling author Jasmine Guillory is a mainstay among fans of romance novels. After attending Stanford Law School, she practiced law for more than a decade before switching career paths to become a fiction writer. Each of the six books in her Wedding Date series focuses on a different Black professional woman and her love story. Look for her latest, Drunk On Love.

The Thing Around Your Neck

In these twelve riveting stories, the award-winning Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explores the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map, with Adichie's signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.

Strength to Love

This classic collection of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermons fuse his Christian teachings with his radical ideas of love and nonviolence as a means to combat hate and oppression. Collectively they present King’s fusion of faith-based teachings and social consciousness and promote his vision of love as a social and political force for change.

Happily Ever Afters

Elise Bryant's books, Happily Ever Afters and the follow-up One True Loves, are marketed as young adult novels, but adult readers will fall for them too. Protagonist Tessa Johnson is a talented teen and romance fan who is accepted into a prestigious creative writing program, only to come down with a serious case of writer's block. Will finding her own Prince Charming help her get back to writing her own stories?

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

The Watson family—10-year-old Kenny, Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron—sets out on an unforgettable road trip during one of the most important times in the civil rights movement. As the family packs up to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama, they don’t realize that they’re heading toward one of the darkest moments in America’s history. Christopher Paul Curtis's book reminds us that even in the hardest times, laughter and family can help us get through anything.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

In this lyrical memoir, the son of a Black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama, the 44th U.S. President, learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey, first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and reconciles his divided inheritance.

The Cutting Season: A Novel

Attica Locke's debut novel, Black Water Rising, won acclaim from major publications and respected crime fiction masters like James Ellroy and George Pelecanos. Her follow-up book, The Cutting Season, is a heart-pounding thriller that interweaves two murder mysteries: one on Belle Vie, a historic landmark in the middle of Louisiana’s Sugar Cane country, and one involving a slave gone missing more than a hundred years earlier.

My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future

Alice Randall, award-winning professor at Vanderbilt University, songwriter, and author, offers a lyrical, introspective, and unforgettable account of her past and an earnest search for the first family of Black country music.

Country music brought Randall and her activist mother together and even gave her a singular distinction in American music history: she is the first Black woman to cowrite a number one country hit, Trisha Yearwood’s “XXX’s and OOO’s”. Randall found comfort in the first family of Black country music: DeFord Bailey, Lil Hardin, Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Herb Jeffries who, together, made up a community of Black Americans rising through hard times to create beautiful, joyful, and sometimes profoundly eccentric art.

In a nutshell, My Black Country is a celebration of the most American of music genres and the radical joy in realizing the power of Black influence on the cultural landscape.

This title will be released on April 9, 2024 and it's available for pre-order.

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