Black Authors

Great reads by Black authors.

Updated January 14, 2025
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1

Out there screaming : an anthology of new Black horror
Peele, Jordan
Paper Book
A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes in place of the headlights of cars that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the watery depths in search of the...
Also available in eBook format.

2

So long a letter
Bâ, Mariama
Paper Book
Mariama Bâ's pioneering debut, So Long a Letter, captures the private lives of women in 1970s Senegal. Recently widowed, Ramatoulaye is required to take sole responsibility for the long mourning process of her late husband. A husband she has not seen in over four years...

28 lettres que la narratrice, Ramatoulaye Fall, adresse a sa meilleure amie, Aissatou Ba. Elles decrivent la condition des femmes en Afrique en abordant des sujets tels que la polygamie, le difficile effacement de certaines traditions, l'absence de droits pour les femmes, leur place en politique, l'education sexuelle des filles et l'affirmation de la valeur de leur corps.

3

The vanishing half
Bennett, Brit
Paper Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo, winner...

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.

4

The sleeping car porter
Mayr, Suzette
Paper Book
FEATURED ON MICHELLE OBAMA'S INSTAGRAM 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...

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

Canadian author.

5

The son of the house
Onyemelukwe-Onuobia, Cheluchi
Paper Book
In Igboland, the lives of two Nigerian women change forever...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

6

The vanishing half
Bennett, Brit
Paper Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo, winner...
Also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

7

The Most Secret Memory of Men
Sarr, Mohamed Mbougar.
Paper Book
Paris, 2018. Diegane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book titled The Maze of Inhumanity. It has an immediate hold over him. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, who was accused of plagiarism, his reputation destroyed by the critics. ...

En 2018, Diegane Latyr Faye, jeune ecrivain senegalais, decouvre a Paris un livre mythique, paru en 1938 : Le labyrinthe de l’inhumain. On a perdu la trace de son auteur, qualifie en son temps de « Rimbaud negre », depuis le scandale que declencha la parution de son texte. Diegane s’engage alors, fascine, sur la piste du mystérieux T.C. Elimane, se confrontant aux grandes tragedies que sont le colonialisme ou la Shoah. Du Senegal a la France en passant par l’Argentine, quelle verite l’attend au centre de ce labyrinthe ?

Aussi disponible en formats numeriques.

8

In the upper country
Thomas, Kai
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD COSMOPOLITAN'S 10 BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 'Fresh and propulsive . . . a veneration of those whose tales are...

Also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

Canadian author.

9

Out of the sun : essays at the crossroads of race
Edugyan, Esi
Paper Book
Two-time Booker Shortlistee and internationally bestselling author Esi Edugyan delivers a searing analysis of the relationship between race and art.

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

10

We are here
Charles, Tami
Audiobook
Also available in eBook format.

11

The Most Secret Memory of Men
Sarr, Mohamed Mbougar.
Paper Book
Paris, 2018. Diegane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book titled The Maze of Inhumanity. It has an immediate hold over him. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, who was accused of plagiarism, his reputation destroyed by the critics. ...

12

Son of elsewhere : a memoir in pieces
Abdelmahmoud, Elamin
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * A "funny and frank" (The New York Times) collection of essays on Blackness, faith, pop culture, and the challenges--and rewards--of finding one's way in the world, from a BuzzFeed editor and podcast host. "A memoir...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

13

How to be a (young) antiracist
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller that sparked international dialogue is now a book for young adults! Based on the adult bestseller by Ibram X. Kendi, and co-authored by bestselling author Nic Stone, How to be a (Young) Antiracist will serve as a guide for teens seeking a way forward...

Also available in eBook format, and a Book Club Kit.

14

Caste : the origins of our discontents
Wilkerson, Isabel
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * "An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far."--Dwight Garner, The New York Times

Also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

15

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....

Also available in eBook format.

16

The reckoning
Hudson, Wade
Paper Book
A powerful contemporary novel about an aspiring 12 year-old filmmaker whose world is turned upside down when his grandfather is slain in a senseless and racist act of violence. From the author of the award-winning memoir, Defiant- Growing Up in the Jim Crow South and co-editor of...

Also available in eBook format.

17

Queenie
Carty-Williams, Candice
Paper Book
*NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES* *ONE of NPR's and TIME's BEST BOOKS of the YEAR * NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK of the YEAR by WOMAN'S DAY, NEWSDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BUSTLE, and BOOK RIOT!* "A book that sneaks up on...

Also available in eBook and Audiobook formats.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

18

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.


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