African American Fiction

Updated January 14, 2026
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Things fall apart
Achebe, Chinua.
Paper Book
"A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world." --Barack Obama "African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe." --Toni Morrison "A...
If Beale Street could talk : a novel
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
James Baldwin's timeless, bestselling novel of love and solidarity in the face of injustice--the beloved classic that inspired the major motion picture directed by Barry Jenkins "One of the best books James Baldwin has ever written--perhaps the best of all."--The...
Ruby : a novel
Bond, Cynthia
Paper Book
The newest Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection The epic, unforgettable story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her--this beautiful and devastating debut heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction.   Ephram...
Fledgling : a novel
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
"A master storyteller, Butler casts an unflinching eye on racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance and lets the reader see the terror and beauty of human nature." -- The Washington Post This is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and...
Kindred
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
Experience the novel that redefined American literature by the New York Times bestselling author of Parable of the Sower, MacArthur "Genius," and Nebula and Hugo award winner Selected by The Atlantic as one of the "most consequential novels of the past 100 years"...
Parable of the sower
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
From a celebrated, award-winning author, a modern classic about a young girl fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, perfect for fans of N.K. Jemisin and Margaret Atwood. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and...
The catch : a novel
Daley-Ward, Yrsa
Paper Book
Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. As infants they were adopted into different families, Clara sent to live with a successful, upper-class couple, and Dempsey with a sullen, unaffectionate city...
Needy little things
Desamours, Channelle
Paper Book
In this debut speculative YA mystery, a Black teen with premonition-like powers must solve her friend's disappearance before she finds herself in the same danger, perfect for fans of Ace of Spades. Sariyah Lee Bryant can hear what people need--tangible things, like a...
The business of lovers
Dickey, Eric Jerome
Paper Book
Unlike their younger brother Andre, whose star as a comedian is rising, neither Dwayne nor Brick Duquesne is having luck with his career - and they're unluckier still in love. Dwayne has just been fired from his latest acting role and barely has enough money to get by after paying child support to...
The son of Mr. Suleman
Dickey, Eric Jerome
Paper Book
From Memphis to L.A. and back again, Eric Jerome Dickey takes readers on an intense and sensual journey as Professor Pi Suleman deals with sexual assault and racism, fights being changed by his father's truths, and also discovers untruths his new partner Gemma Buckingham has hidden for her own...
Bad men and wicked women
Dickey, Eric Jerome.
Paper Book
As a low-level enforcer in Los Angeles, Ken Swift knows danger - especially in his tangled romances. Divorced from one woman, in love with another, and with a strong desire to get to know a third, his life is far from perfect, and it becomes all the more complicated when his troubled daughter...
Junie : a novel
Eckstine, Erin Crosby
Paper Book
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * As the Civil War looms, a young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister's ghost in this "poignant story of love, family and friendship [that] celebrates the power of liberation" (People). "An...
Invisible man
Ellison, Ralph.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. One of The Atlantic<...
Drunk on love
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
An intoxicating and sparkling new romance by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory. Margot Noble needs some relief from the stress of running the family winery with her brother. Enter Luke: sexy, charming, and best of all in the too-small world of Napa, a...
The proposal
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick "There is so much to relate to and throughout the novel, there is a sharp feminist edge. Loved this one, and you will too."--New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay ...
The wedding date
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in this fun and flirty multicultural romance debut by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory--author of the Resse Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick The Proposal....
Transcendent kingdom
Gyasi, Yaa
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! * Finalist for the WOMEN'S PRIZE Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama...
A raisin in the sun
Hansberry, Lorraine
Paper Book
"Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of Black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959. This edition presents the fully restored, uncut...
Blues in stereo : the early works of Langston Hughes, 1921-1927
Hughes, Langston
Paper Book
Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Fall 2024 Poetry Books From Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, a stunning collection of early works written from 1921-1927 curated by award winning poet and National Book Award finalist, Danez Smith. Hanif Abdurraqib...
I, too, am America
Hughes, Langston
Paper Book
Winner of the Coretta Scott King illustrator award, I, Too, Am America blends the poetic wisdom of Langston Hughes with visionary illustrations from Bryan Collier in this inspirational picture book that carries the promise of equality. I, too, sing America. ...
The selected letters of Langston Hughes
Hughes, Langston
Paper Book
This is the first comprehensive selection from the correspondence of the iconic and beloved Langston Hughes. It offers a life in letters that showcases his many struggles as well as his memorable achievements. Arranged by decade and linked by expert commentary, the volume guides us through Hughes...
Their eyes were watching God
Hurston, Zora Neale.
Paper Book
Their Eyes Were Watching God, a luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern black woman in the 1930s whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance, continues to inspire the next generation of students. Freshman Common Read:...
Black leopard, red wolf
James, Marlon
Paper Book
One of TIME's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time Winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award The New York Times Bestseller Named a Best Book of 2019 by The Wall Street...
Zeal : a novel
Jerkins, Morgan
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love. Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the...
Deacon King Kong
McBride, James
Paper Book
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction   Winner of the Gotham Book Prize One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year" Oprah's Book Club Pick New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
The art of desire
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
One doomed love affair after another has made lovely Alex Walton swear off men. Now, she's determined to try something that maybe she can succeed at: a writing career. Little does she know that a chance meeting with a strikingly handsome stranger, a mysterious obelisk, and a lost kingdom will change...
Never tell
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
From popular national leader and #1 New York Times bestseller Stacey Abrams writing under the name Selena Montgomery comes Never Tell a novel of spinetingling romance and unforgettable suspense. Criminal psychologist Dr. Erin Abbott wants nothing more than to...
Rules of engagement
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
Dr. Raleigh Foster, an operative for a top-secret intelligence organization, knows that her work has its risks. So she doesn t hesitate when asked to infiltrate terrorist group Scimita. But when she's assigned a partner - brooding, sexy Adam Grayson - to pose as her lover, Raleigh discovers that the...
Beloved : a novel
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This "powerful, mesmerizing story" (People) is an unflinching look into the abyss of slavery, from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner. With an afterword by the author and a new introduction by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers....
The bluest eye : a novel
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME * From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner--a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtlety and grace. * With a new introduction by Jacqueline...
Jazz
Morrison, Toni
Paper Book
From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner, a passionate, profound story of love and obsession based on the hopes, fears, and deep realities of Black urban life. With a foreword by the author. "As rich in themes and poetic images as her Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved.......
Love
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner--a spellbinding symphony of passion and hatred, power and perversity, color and class that spans three generations of Black women in a fading beach town. "A marvelous work, which enlarges our conception not only of love but of racial...
Paradise
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
"Rumors had been whispered for more than a year. Outrages that had been accumulating all along took shape as evidence. A mother was knocked down the stairs by her cold-eyed daughter. Four damaged infants were born in one family. Daughters refused to get out of bed. Brides disappeared on their...
Trouble is what I do
Mosley, Walter
Paper Book
Morally ambiguous P.I. Leonid McGill is back -- and investigating crimes against society's most downtrodden -- in this installment of the beloved detective series from an Edgar Award-winning and bestselling crime novelist. Leonid McGill's spent a...
Bad Boy Brawly Brown
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
Easy Rawlins is out of the investigation business and as far away from crime as a black man can be in 1960s Los Angeles.But living around desperate men means life gets complicated sometimes.When an old friend gets in enough trouble to ask for Easys help, he finds he cant refuse. Young Brawly Brown...
Fortunate son
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Walter Mosley's novel about two boys, one ensconced in a life of privilege and the other in a life of hardship, explores the true meaning of fortune.In spite of remarkable differences, Eric and Tommy are as close as brothers. Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a...
Little green : an Easy Rawlins mystery
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
When Walter Mosley burst onto the literary scene in 1990 with his first Easy Rawlins mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress--a combustible mixture of Raymond Chandler and Richard Wright--he captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of readers (including future president Bill Clinton). Eleven...
Riot baby
Onyebuchi, Tochi
Paper Book
Winner of the 2021 World Fantasy AwardWinner of an 2021 ALA Alex Award Winner of the 2020 New England Book Award for FictionWinner of the 2021 Ignyte AwardWinner of the 2021 AABMC Literary Award A 2021 Finalist for...
Happy land
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen
Paper Book
A 2026 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction A woman learns the incredible story of a real-life American Kingdom--and her family's ties to it--in this enthralling novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Take...
The color purple : a novel
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Alice Walker's iconic modern classic, now in a beautiful 40th anniversary Penguin Vitae edition with a foreword by Kiese LaymonA Penguin Classic Hardcover A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The...
Good dirt : a novel
Wilkerson, Charmaine
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick "Engrossing . . . Wilkerson...

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