Black Authors

Great reads by Black authors.

Updated March 19, 2024
W
Winnipeg Public Library
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1

Out there screaming : an anthology of new Black horror
Peele, Jordan
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling...
Also available in eBook format.

2

The undefeated
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
Winner of the 2020 Caldecott Medal A 2020 Newbery Honor Book Winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award The Newbery Award-winning author of THE CROSSOVER pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time...
Also available in eBook format.

3

Inheritance : a visual poem
Acevedo, Elizabeth
Paper Book
They tell me to "fix" my hair. And by fix, they mean straighten, they mean whiten; but how do you fix this shipwrecked history of hair? In her most famous spoken-word poem, author of the Pura Belpré-winning novel-in-verse The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo embraces all the...
Also available in eBook format.

4

I rise
Arnold, Marie
Ebook
"A love letter to Harlem and hope. I Rise is smart and funny and full of heart.*" Fourteen-year-old Ayo who has to decide whether to take on her mother's activist role when her mom is shot by police. As she tries to find answers, Ayo looks to the wisdom of her ancestors and her Harlem...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

5

Black girls must die exhausted : a novel
Allen, Jayne
Paper Book
"It's a good thing that this is only the first book of a trilogy, because after getting to know Tabitha, you won't want to leave her at the end. . . . Written intimately as if you're peering into the mind of a close friend, this book is a true testament to the stresses on women today and how...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

6

L'autre moitiĂŠ de soi
Bennett, Brit, author.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE * VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR New York Times<...

Des jumelles inseparables choisissent de vivre dans deux mondes etrangers : celui des Blancs et celui des Noirs.

Aussi disponible en format numerique et large vision.

7

Between the world and me
Coates, Ta-Nehisi.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST * ONE OF OPRAH'S "BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH" * NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT...
Also available in Audiobook, eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

8

The skin we're in : a year of Black resistance and power
Cole, Desmond
Ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE 2020 TORONTO BOOK AWARD A bracing, provocative, and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. The Skin We're In will spark a national conversation, influence policy, and...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

9

Butter honey pig bread : a novel
Ekwuyasi, Francesca
Ebook

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

10

Queenie : a novel
Carty-Williams, Candice
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY WOMAN'S DAY, NEWSDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BUSTLE, AND BOOK RIOT! "[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking." --Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You<...
Also available in Audiobook and eBook formats.

11

Victory. Stand! : raising my fist for justice
Smith, Tommie
Paper Book
On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon...
Also available in eBook format.

12

Petit pays : roman
Faye, Gae?l
Paper Book
Already an international sensation and prize-winning bestseller in France, an evocative coming-of-age story of a young boy, a lost childhood and a shattered homeland.   SHORTLISTED FOR THE ALBERTINE PRIZE * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE<...

Burundi, 1992. Gabriel a dix ans et vit dans un confortable quartier d'expatries avec son pere francais entrepreneur, sa mere rwandaise et sa petite soeur Ana. Alors que le jeune garcon voit ses parents se separer, la guerre civile se profile et, par vagues successives, la violence envahit le quartier.

13

Small country : a novel
Faye, Gaël
Paper Book
Already an international sensation and prize-winning bestseller in France, an evocative coming-of-age story of a young boy, a lost childhood and a shattered homeland.   SHORTLISTED FOR THE ALBERTINE PRIZE * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE<...
Also available in eBook format.

14

House of whispers. Volume one, The power divided
Hopkinson, Nalo
Ebook
One of four books expanding Neil Gaiman's acclaimed Sandman Universe. Welcome to the House of Dahomey, the houseboat of Erzulie Fréda, where the souls of Voodoo followers go when they sleep but even the fearsome Erzulie is powerless when her dream river turns sour, tossing her house from one realm...
Canadian author.

15

King and the dragonflies
Callender, Kacen
Paper Book
A 2021 Coretta Scott King Honor Book! Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature! Winner of the 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry! In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

16

Yesterday is history
Jackson, Kosoko
Paper Book
One of PopSugar's Best New YA Novels of 2021 A Buzzfeed Top LGBTQ+ YA Book A Lambda Literary YA Book to Add to Your TBR Pile A Goodreads Pride Month Pick An epic, heartfelt romance about a boy torn between two loves, one in his present ......

17

Even though I knew the end
Polk, C. L.
Paper Book
A USA Today Bestseller! Winner of the Nebula Award! Finalist for the Hugo Award! Finalist for the World Fantasy Award! A New York Times Best Romance of 2022! C. L. Polk turns their...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author

18

The sleeping car porter
Mayr, Suzette
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD WINNER OF THE 2022 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE WINNER OF THE 2023 GEORGES BUGNET AWARD FOR FICTION FINALIST FOR THE 2023 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD FOR ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FICTION PUBLISHERS WEEKLY...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats, and as a Book Club Kit.

Canadian author.

19

Finding Edward
Murray, Sheila.
Ebook

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

20

The son of the house
Onyemelukwe-Onuobia, Cheluchi
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED for the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2021 * WINNER of the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2021 * SHORTLISTED for the Chinua Achebe Prize for Nigerian Writing 2021 * WINNER of the SprinNG Women Authors Prize 2020 * WINNER of the Best International Fiction Book Award, Sharjah International Book...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

21

La plus secrète mémoire des hommes : roman
Mbougar Sarr, Mohamed
Ebook
A Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times and The New Yorker and Longlisted for the National Book Award A gripping literary mystery in the vein of Bolaño's Savage Detectives, this coming-of-age novel unravels the fascinating life of a maligned Black author,...

22

In the Upper Country: A Novel
Thomas, Kai
Paper Book
Winner of the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The fates of two unforgettable women--one just beginning a journey of reckoning and self-discovery and the other completing her life's last vital act--intertwine in this sweeping, powerful novel set at the...

Also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

Canadian author.

23

Ain't burned all the bright
Reynolds, Jason
Paper Book
A Caldecott Honor winner! Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds....
Also available in eBook format.

24

Sincerely Sicily
Burgess, Tamika
Paper Book
From debut author Tamika Burgess comes the captivating and empowering story of Sicily Jordan--a Black Panamanian fashionista who rocks her braids with pride--who learns to use her voice and take pride in who she is while confronting prejudice in the most unexpected of places. ...
Also available in eBook format.

25

Une cole?re noire : lettre a? mon fils
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST * ONE OF OPRAH'S "BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH" * NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT...

« Voila ce qu'il faut que tu saches : en Amerique, la destruction du corps noir est une tradition, un heritage. Je ne voudrais pas que tu te couches dans un reve. Je voudrais que tu sois un citoyen de ce monde beau et terrible a la fois, un citoyen conscient. J'ai decide de ne rien te cacher. ». Dans cette lettre adressée a son fils de 15 ans, Ta-Nehisi Coates revient sur la condition de l'homme noir aux Etats-Unis. Une ode a l'humanite, un cri de colere contre ce mal qui gangrene la societe americaine depuis des siecles.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

26

They said this would be fun : race, campus life, and growing up
Martis, Eternity
Ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A powerful, moving memoir about what it's like to be a student of colour on a predominantly white campus. A booksmart kid from Toronto, Eternity Martis was excited to move away to Western University for her undergraduate degree. But as one of the...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

27

The vanishing half
Bennett, Brit
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE * VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR New York Times<...
Also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

28

The wretched of the earth
Fanon, Frantz
Ebook
Frantz Fanon was one of the twentieth century’s most important theorists of revolution, colonialism, and racial difference, and this, his masterwork, is a classic alongside Orientalism and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The Wretched of the Earth is a brilliant...
Also available in eBook format.

29

Work with what you got
Clark, Zion
Ebook
"Clark is living proof that if you put in the work, you never know where the world may take you."-Booklist (starred review) When a baby named Zion was born in 1997 to an imprisoned, drug-addicted mother, his future seemed bleak. Born without legs due to a rare condition...

30

Black girl rising
Barnes, Brynne
Paper Book
This enduring anthem for Black girls celebrates their power, potential, and brilliance--for themselves and for the world. You are a thousand curls unfurling in your hair. You are a thousand fists standing proudly in air. You are the song of...
Also available in eBook format.

31

Black girls
Furukawa, Dominique
Paper Book
A joyful love letter to every Black girl everywhere. In an upbeat and rhythmic ode, Dominique Furukawa and Erika Lynne Jones celebrate Black girls in all their beauty and joy. Black Girls uplifts girls of every shade, size, and walk of life, reminding them that they are perfectly...

32

We are here
Charles, Tami
Paper Book
An empowering follow-up to New York Times bestselling picture book All Because You Matter that celebrates the rich history of Black and brown men and women throughout history with soaring language and stunning illustration. Lyrical, affirmational, and bursting with love,...
Also available in eBook format.

33

Just right Jillian
Collier, Nicole D.
Paper Book
In this heartfelt middle grade novel from debut author Nicole D. Collier, fifth grader Jillian must learn to speak and break free of her shell to enter her school's academic competition and keep her promise to her grandmother.  Fifth grader Jillian will do just about anything to blend...
Also available in eBook format.

34

Dreamer
Aliu, Akim
Paper Book
This honest, engrossing graphic memoir tells the story of professional athlete and activist Akim Aliu's incredible life as a hockey prodigy in Canada. Akim Aliu -- also known as "Dreamer" -- is a Ukrainian-Nigerian-Canadian professional hockey player whose career took him all around the world and...

35

It's not bragging if it's true
Avant-garde, Zaila
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Kids will be inspired to embrace their inner weirdness and persevere through obstacles after reading this empowering collection of true stories from teenage Scripps National Spelling Bee champ and Guinness World Record holder Zaila Avant-garde! Includes 8...

Also available in eBook format.

36

Young, gifted and black, too
Wilson, Jamia
Paper Book
In this timely follow-up to the best-selling, genre-defining Young, Gifted and Black, you can meet 52 more Black icons from around the world - this time spanning even more countries and including inspiring figures from as far back as the 1500s right up to present-day heroes....

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