Science Fiction and Fantasy by BIPOC Authors

Read fantastic fiction by authors of color for creative visions and strange new worlds!

Updated June 5, 2023
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Light from uncommon stars
Aoki, Ryka
Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts. Hugo...
Sweep of stars
Broaddus, Maurice
Maurice Broaddus's Sweep of Stars is the first in a trilogy that explores the struggles of an empire. Epic in scope and intimate in voice, it follows members of the Muungano empire - a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretches from O.E. (original earth) to Titan - as it faces...
Parable of the sower
Butler, Octavia E.
Forced to flee an America where anarchy and violence have completely taken over, empath Lauren Olamina--who can feel the pain of others and is crippled by it--becomes a prophet carrying the hope of a new world and a new faith christened "Earthseed". A stirring portrait of 21st-century America by the...
A beginning at the end
Chen, Mike
From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Brotherhood Four survivors come together as the country rebuilds in the aftermath of a devastating pandemic. A character-driven postapocalyptic suspense with an intimate, hopeful look at how people can move...
Black water sister
Cho, Zen
A finalist for the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel One of BookPage's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021 One of Tor.com Reviewers' Choice Best Books of 2021 One of Book Riot's Best SFF Standalones of 2021 "Ghosts. Gods....
The unbroken
Clark, C. L.
On the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire, two women--a princess and a soldier--will haggle over the price of a nation in this richly imagined, breath-taking sapphic epic fantasy filled with rebellion, espionage, and assassinations.   ...
A master of djinn
Clark, P. Dje?li?
Included in NPR's Favorite Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade (2011-2021) A Nebula Award Winner A Ignyte Award Winner A Compton Crook Award for Best New Novel Winner A Locus First Novel Award Winner A RUSA Reading List:...
The inheritance of Orqui?dea Divina : a novel
Co?rdova, Zoraida
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, and Sarah Addison Allen, a family searches for the truth hidden in their past in this "expertly woven tale of family power, threaded with as much mystery as magic" (V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times...
The Water Dancer: A Novel
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
In his boldly imagined first novel, Ta-Nehisi Coates, the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me, brings home the most intimate evil of enslavement: the cleaving and separation of families. Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his...
The good house : a novel
Due, Tananarive
*From the author of The Reformatory--A New York Times Notable Book of 2023* Award-winning author Tananarive Due's critically acclaimed story of supernatural suspense, as a woman searches for the inherited power that can save her hometown from evil forces.
American war
El Akkad, Omar
"Powerful . . . As haunting a postapocalyptic universe as Cormac McCarthy [created] in The Road, and as devastating a look as the fallout that national events have on an American family as Philip Roth did in The Plot Against America. . . . Omar El Akkad's debut novel,...
Brother, sister, mother, explorer : a novel
Figueroa, Jamie
Shortlisted for the Reading the West Book Award   A fableistic, "beautifully crafted, poetic" debut novel of enormous power and grace about a sister trying to hold back her brother from the edge of the abyss for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Tommy Orange (The New York...
Master of poisons : a novel
Hairston, Andrea
"This is a prayer hymn, a battle cry, a love song, a legendary call and response bonfire talisman tale. This is medicine for a broken world." --Daniel José Older Named a Best of 2020 Pick for Kirkus Review's Best Books of 2020 Award-winning author Andrea...
Cyber mage : a novel
Hossain, Saad Z.
"Hossain's giddy new novel, another inventive blend of mythology and cyberpunk gizmology... puts a clever spin on both high fantasy and hard science tropes as ancient djinns wield futuristic technology to go head-to-head with humans empowered with their own technowizardry. Fans of both genres...
Dread nation
Ireland, Justina
New York Times bestseller * Six starred reviews At once provocative, terrifying, and darkly subversive, Dread Nation is Justina Ireland's stunning vision of an America both foreign and familiar--a country on the brink, at the explosive crossroads where race, humanity, and survival meet.<...
Klara and the sun
Ishiguro, Kazuo
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is "an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a...
Black leopard, red wolf
James, Marlon
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...
The fifth season
Jemisin, N. K.
At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times) This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time. ...
The vanished birds
Jimenez, Simon
A "highly imaginative and utterly exhilarating" (Thrillist) debut that is "the best of what science fiction can be: a thought-provoking, heartrending story about the choices that define our lives" (Kirkus Reviews, Best Debut Fiction and Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of...
The space between worlds
Johnson, Micaiah
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens the very fabric of the multiverse in this stunning debut, a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging. WINNER OF THE...
The hunger
Katsu, Alma
As featured in The New York Times Book Review Summer Reading Issue "Supernatural suspense at its finest...The best thing about The Hunger is that it will scare the pants off you."--The New York Times Book Review "Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to...
The poppy war
Kuang, R. F.
"I have no doubt this will end up being the best fantasy debut of the year [...] I have absolutely no doubt that [Kuang's] name will be up there with the likes of Robin Hobb and N.K. Jemisin." -- Booknest A Library Journal, Paste Magazine, Vulture, BookBub, and ENTROPY Best...
Phoenix extravagant
Lee, Yoon Ha
Dragons. Art. Revolution. Gyen Jebi isn't a fighter, or a subversive. They just want to paint. One day they're jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government's...
The three-body problem
Liu, Cixin.
The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem! WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL Over 1 million copies sold in North America "A mind-bending epic."--The New York Times * "War of the Worlds for...
Invisible planets : contemporary Chinese science fiction in translation
Liu, Ken
Invisible Planets, edited by multi award-winning writer Ken Liu--translator of the bestselling and Hugo Award-winning novelThe Three Body Problem by acclaimed Chinese author Cixin Liu--is his second thought-provoking anthology of Chinese short speculative fiction....
The low, low woods
Machado, Carmen Maria
From New York Times bestselling author Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body And Other Parties, In The Dream House) comes a story so horrifying you won't dare to forget! There's something in the woods... Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, has been on fire for...
The memory librarian : and other stories of dirty computer
Mona?e, Janelle
New York Times bestseller! In The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, futurist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums,...
The daughter of Doctor Moreau : a novel
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. "This is...
Noor
Okorafor, Nnedi
From Africanfuturist luminary Okorafor comes a new science fiction novel of intense action and thoughtful rumination on biotechnology, destiny, and humanity in a near-future Nigeria. Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial...
Son of the storm
Okungbowa, Suyi Davies
"Fantastical beasts and forgotten magic propel a story about ambition and conspiracy." --Fonda Lee "Everything I love to see in a fantasy story. Masterful." --Jenn Lyons "[A]mbition and intrigue cause surprises on...
The mimicking of known successes
Older, Malka
"Every once in a while, a book comes along that is both a comfort read and a rousing, fist-pumping adventure, and The Mimicking of Known Successes absolutely is both of those things. An utter triumph."--Charlie Jane Anders Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best...
Boy, snow, bird : a novel
Oyeyemi, Helen.
As seen on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was described as "gloriously unsettling... evoking Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Angela Carter, Edgar Allan Poe, Gabriel García Márquez, Chris Abani and even Emily Dickinson," and already one of the year's most...
Black sun
Roanhorse, Rebecca
NOMINATED FOR THE 2021 HUGO AWARDS AND THE 2020 NEBULA AWARDS FOR BEST NOVEL From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn comes the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian...
New suns : original speculative fiction by people of color
Shawl, Nisi
Winner of the 2020 Locus, World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Ignyte, and Brave New Words Awards. "There's nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns," proclaimed Octavia E. Butler. New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color...
Chilling effect
Valdes, Valerie
"Jam-packed with weird aliens, mysterious artifacts, and lovable characters... a tremendous good time and an impressive debut." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) A hilarious, offbeat debut space opera that skewers everything from pop culture to video games and features an irresistible foul...
Zone one : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys: A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. * "One of the best...
Love after the end : an anthology of Two-spirit & Indigiqueer speculative fiction
Whitehead, Joshua (Writer)
Lambda Literary Award winner A bold and breathtaking anthology of queer Indigenous speculative fiction, edited by the author of Jonny Appleseed. This exciting and groundbreaking fiction collection showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer)...
How to live safely in a science fictional universe
Yu, Charles
National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award winner Charles Yu delivers his debut novel, a razor-sharp, ridiculously funny, and utterly touching story of a son searching for his father . . . through quantum space-time. nbsp; Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of...

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