10 Thought-Provoking Books by Black Authors
I used to pat myself on the back for how many books by black authors I had read (or, more honestly, that I read books by black authors at all). But once I was hired to write for Book Riot (and I wrote this list of books to help combat racism, xenophobia, and anti-semitism), I realized how many wonderful books were still out there.
The books I have read have been astounding; well-written, moving, powerful, funny, and raw. This is not a comprehensive list of every book by a black author, but they have propelled me mightily forward in perspective.
Also, go ahead and follow some black bookworms on your platform of choice (2 of my favorite are @thereadingchemist and @booksandbrownsugar on Instagram). They’re doing the hard work of thoughtful education every day.
Fiction
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
This is a classic novel by a Nigerian author, written from the perspective of a local leader (Okonkwo) who watches his community and culture vanish under the weight of colonialism. The book trembles with Okonkwo’s impotent rage, his arrogant surety, his righteous indignation. Okonkwo is an imperfect narrator for an imperfect story that stands in direct opposition of the disempowering “pitiable slave” narrative that so much American media revolves around.
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
When I tell you this book has it all…it has it all. Mental health, friendship, relationships, work, racism, the whole nine. Carty-Williams brilliantly showcases both the diversity and commonalities of the black experience in a short-ish book, with a first person limited narrator, and a highly digestible writing style. This novel reads like something from Meg Cabot or Jennifer Weiner, and yet it portrays multitudes with great sensitivity and nuance. The myriad micro-aggressions that Queenie experiences at work, as well as the horrific treatment she suffers from romantic partners, may be triggering for many black readers, so please read with caution.
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
This debut is a doozy - it will swirl around in your brain long after you finish reading it (I finished it years ago and it’s still rolling around up here). Emezi’s writing explores the liminal space (threshold) between two realities through the eyes of a young Nigerian woman named Ada when she emigrates to the U.S. to attend university. The book is rife with tension; tension between the many worlds that exist inside her mind, between “reality” and those worlds, between the cultural differences used to put Ada in different boxes. The writing is delicious and deep, difficult and new. This book is truly unforgettable.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
If one were to ask me to pinpoint the origin of my understanding of systemic racism (paltry though it still is), I would point to this play by Lorraine Hansberry. The story of a black family in Chicago who have defied slumlords, generational poverty, and shameful wages, and saved up enough to own their own home for the first time in the family’s history - only to fight for their right to reside there. The complex machinations of the family will be familiar to anyone with a sibling, uncle, or grandmother, but the real staying power of the play is how, through a brief glimpse into a family’s life, we watch as the weight of systemic oppression bows their shoulders before our very eyes.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
This is perhaps the most heartbreaking book ever written. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a love story like you have never read before. Instead of a meet cute, we watch a protagonist painfully grow her way through difficult relationships. Instead of a perfect dreamboat, we get a flawed but deeply lovable man. Instead of happily ever after, we get a hurricane. This book should be required reading at every school in the U.S.; it did more for me than Emma ever will.
Non-Fiction
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou has a unique talent as a poet for cutting straight to the truth in a way that no one’s ever thought to say before. Her uncanny ability to find what matters and cut it like an emerald has captured millions of readers. It’s interesting, then, that her childhood should be so unfathomable. Marred by sexual assault, racism, and neglect, Angelou’s memoir is often difficult to read. She shows the measure of herself in the book, the truest, tenderest parts, and it will touch the tenderest parts of you.
Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay
This book of essays was my introduction to Gay’s brilliant writing, and I wish I could say, “nice to meet you!” over and over again. Gay has this sly deftness to her writing, she can be outrageously funny and self-deprecating, then swiftly turn to examination and process without your having ever noticed it happened. She handles her own faults and conflicts delicately, but honestly; she gives space to examine your faults without judgment, too. If I am not ready to read something Gay has written, I know I only need to read it once and come back to it (she’s usually right).
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Oluo takes systemic racism and micro-aggressions and lays them out cleanly on the table, up close and undeniable. Oluo’s writing is engaging and easy to read, never pandering or condescending, just real. Your heart breaks for the experiences she’s endured, the many “well-meaning” people who have denied her immediately lived experiences so glibly as to be brutal. This should be required reading for any white person who is intimidated by the language of anti-racism work, but wants to do better; it’s like a very honest conversation with a good friend who loves you, but wants you to start doing better.
So Close to Being the Shit, Y’all Don’t Even Know by Retta
I’ll admit: I’m a sucker for a celebrity memoir. I love Parks and Recreation and Good Girls, and Retta makes both of them. Her book is a fun read, full of hilarious anecdotes and relatable moments, but she also includes some moments that push the memoir from “fun celebrity tell-all” to “deep personal narrative.” She tells the story of going to an audition and seeing precisely the same people at each, joking that everyone knew Mo’Nique would get the part anyway. She talks about her stern but fierce Nigerian immigrant parents, who sacrificed prosperous careers in Africa to offer their children more opportunity. She discusses weight and fashion, typecasting and invisibility, and racist stereotypes with characteristic affability. If you didn’t love her already, you will by the end of this book.
The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
As a practicing progressive Christian, when I stumbled on this book, I knew immediately it was required reading. Through meticulous research, Tisby excoriates the protestant evangelical tradition of excluding blackness in Church, and of “othering” black worship. Even more so, he fills in the missing picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. that the white church has co-opted to sell a message of peace, civility…and inaction. This book is a searing indictment of “reasonablism” in the face of monstrous atrocities and wrongs, and flagrant racism.
There are literally hundreds of books by black authors on my to-be-read list (how does one choose between A Promised Land by Barack Obama and The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee?!) and I hope I have added a few to yours. Black history month may help us add significantly to our reading lists, but we should celebrate black, native, latine, asian, and LGBTQ+ stories all year long.
