Brilliant Black LiteratureLike this list

24 items

• Death of the Author

  Okorafor, Nnedi,

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  Paraplegic Zelu feels overlooked in her large Nigerian American family, but her life changes forever when her Afrofuturist robot novel (which unfolds alongside Zelu's story) rockets her to stardom. However, success comes with its own troubles.

• Minor Black Figures

  Taylor, Brandon (Brandon L. G.),

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  A Black painter strikes up a meaningful friendship, discusses God, sex and art, and investigates a forgotten Black artist. He must reckon with his own desire to create and make himself heard in an often unwelcoming world.

• Jamaica Ginger

  and Other Concoctions

  Hopkinson, Nalo,

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  From a cyborg pig to nanotech fashion, Hopkinson's latest collection of short stories showcases her unrivaled talent for world-building and her brilliant prose. Many deal with issues of race, sexuality, feminism and the impacts of climate change.

• The Underground Railroad

  a Novel

  Whitehead, Colson, 1969-

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  Cora and Caesar set out on the Underground Railroad to escape enslavement, but their oppressors have no intention of letting them go peacefully. Full of showstopping prose that never quite overshadows the rich character work. Tense and thrilling.

• Family Meal

  Washington, Bryan, 1993-

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  Haunted by the ghost of his late boyfriend, Cam reconnects with his former best friend, TJ, but his grief has turned self-destructive and threatens everything around him. A tender, gorgeously written ode to the value of community.

• The Water Dancer

  a Novel

  Coates, Ta-Nehisi,

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  Hiram gains a mysterious power and seeks to use it to free himself and his loved ones from slavery. His journey takes him all over antebellum America, but he cannot shake his commitment to his family.

• Parable of the Sower

  Butler, Octavia E.,

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  This apocalyptic tour de force follows perceptive, psychically gifted (or cursed) Lauren Olaimina through a crumbling America as she seeks to spread her self-created religion of Earthseed. Wise, gorgeous, haunting and disturbingly prescient.

• James

  a Novel

  Everett, Percival,

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  This reimagining of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" follows Jim as he navigates his escape. As brilliantly written and sharply hilarious as the original, this retelling foregrounds Jim's full humanity as Twain never did. Action-packed,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Razorblade Tears

  Cosby, S. A.,

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  Ike and Buddy are men with dark pasts. When their sons are murdered, sons whose marriage to one another they were never able to accept, they join forces on a bloody, thrilling quest to see justice done.

• The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

  a Novel

  Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne, 1967-

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  When a young Black woman begins retracing her family’s history, she confronts a legacy of great loss, cruelty and unexpected grace. A tender, richly researched and redemptive family epic of the finest kind.

• Beloved

  a Novel

  Morrison, Toni

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  During Reconstruction, the brutal legacy of slavery haunts an isolated woman and the remnants of her crumbling family. A mysterious stranger might offer redemption, or only further grief. This haunting classic still has the power to shock and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Sleeping Car Porter

  Mayr, Suzette,

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  Sleep-deprived and harboring secrets about his own dreams and desires, train porter Baxter must deal with unruly white passengers and a stranded train in the midst of the Great Depression. Hallucinatory, wickedly funny and utterly unique.

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

  Philyaw, Deesha,

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  In these masterful short stories, Philyaw explores the bonds, struggles, expectations and love that live within Black communities, as well as the pain that comes from not quite fitting into them, with clear-eyed wit, warmth and humanity.

• The City We Became

  Jemisin, N. K,

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  Jemisin's love letter to New York City follows different characters across the different boroughs as they discover new powers stemming from their connection with the city. A fresh, vivid and richly imagined contemporary fantasy.

• Sorrowland

  Solomon, Rivers,

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  Vern flees the cult where she was raised to give birth to her twins and raise them in the woods. But the cult isn't willing to let her go, and something else seems to be lurking in the forest. A tense, yet beautiful horror story.

• Go Tell It on the Mountain

  Baldwin, James, 1924-1987,

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  A young boy suffers under the tyranny of his preacher stepfather and seeks his own way to a different kind of manhood. Religion, race and abuse are just a few of the themes Baldwin explores with his signature insight and grace in this classic.

• Don't Cry for Me

  a Novel

  Black, Daniel,

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  A dying Black man writes a series of letters to the gay son he's never managed to fully accept or connect with, describing his own life and upbringing and seeking redemptive understanding at the end of his troubled life. Gutting and unforgettable.

• Harlem Rhapsody

  Murray, Victoria Christopher,

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  In 1919, brilliant, ambitious Jessie is the first Black woman editor of a prominent magazine, but her secret affair with her legendary employer, W.E.B. Du Bois, threatens everything she's accomplished. Vividly brings to life the Harlem literary…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Prophets

  a Novel

  Jones, Robert, Jr., 1977-

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  Two enslaved young men find refuge in their love for one another, but as Christianity takes root among the other slaves, betrayal threatens to shatter their union. Told from multiple lyrically written, richly imagined perspectives.

• The Reformatory

  a Novel

  Due, Tananarive, 1966-

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  In the Jim Crow South, young Robbie is sentenced to a menacing reformatory. His ability to see ghosts shows him that this school is even more dangerous than it seems. But will it help him escape? Riveting historical horror.