Happy Black History Month, let’s celebrate some Black authors! (Let this be a little reminder that it’s important to be reading, watching and consuming content from BIPOC creators year-round and February is an extra special month to be celebrating Black history, creators and culture.) So, here’s ten of the best Black authors currently writing!
- Hanif Abdurraqib
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Best known for his essay collections The Little Devil in America and They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (which I’m currently reading and cannot recommend enough), Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist and cultural critic. His works primarily use music to examine the broader culture and society within which it exists. His writing is lyrical and thought provoking, and incredibly unique; plus, as an added bonus if you can’t get enough of his work, he’ll be speaking at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh on April 17, 2023 at 7:30 about The Little Devil in America, click here for more details!
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian author with a multitude of incredible books and two of the most popular TED Talks of all time (“The Danger of a Single Story” & “Why We Should All Be Feminists”). Adichie currently divides her time between the United States and Nigeria; her works (which consists of literary fiction, short stories, essays and longer nonfiction) often focus on feminism, Nigerian life and split identities. Some of Adichie’s most popular works include Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah.
- Colson Whitehead
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A writer of fiction, essays and reviews, Whitehead has won the Pulitzer Prize for two of his books–The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. One of the most influential and award-winning writers of today, Whitehead’s work often focuses on racism and other social themes, with fantastical elements also often being incorporated.
- Roxane Gay
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Roxane Gay is truly a jack of all trades, her description on her website reads, “Roxane Gay is the New York Times Bestselling author of The Bad Feminist and other books and publications, a professor, editor, and social commentator.” Gay has written short fiction, essay collections, opinion columns, comic books and everything in between–her creativity and her brilliance truly know no bounds.
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Writing both historical fiction and non-fiction, Ta-Nehisi Coates is a force to be reckoned with. His book Between the World and Me, which was written as a letter about what it means to have a Black body to his adolescent son, and his other book The Water Dancer are both New York Times #1 Bestsellers. Coates also has a memoir, an essay collection and a multiple year run of writing Black Panther and Captain America comics for Marvel.
- N.K. Jemisen
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One of the most celebrated fantasy and science fiction writers, N.K. Jemisen has written more than 10 books as well as some short stories and graphic novels; she is most well known for her books The Fifth Season, The City We Became and The Inheritance Trilogy. Jemisen has already written many great works, and she doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
- Ibram X. Kendi
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A historian, professor, and writer, Kendi is the acclaimed author of books like Stamped From the Beginning, How to Be Antiracist and Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019. Working primarily with non-fiction, Kendi seeks to provide greater depth for history that has been skipped over, and to help create a more anti-racist world. Additionally, Kendi has multiple children’s books including Magnolia Flower and The Making of Butterflies (which is based on one of Zora Neale Hurston’s folktales).
- Jason Reynolds
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The author of Long Way Down, Ghost, Stamped: Racism, Anti Racism and You (with Ibram X. Kendi), and many other works; Reynolds is an important voice in the YA world. Reynolds is not just a writer though, he is also on faculty at Lesley University and has a short film that he worked with multiple collaborators on about YA Lit & representation called “Dear, Dreamer.”
- Britt Bennett
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Britt Bennett, an incredibly successful literary fiction writer currently has two books published–The Mothers and The Vanishing Half–both of which were New York Times Best Sellers. She has also written multiple essays that have been featured in Vogue, The New York Times and The Paris Review Daily.
- Amanda Gorman
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A poet and activist, best known for her poem “The Hill We Climb” which was read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Gorman’s work focuses primarily on feminism, oppression, race, marginalization and the African diaspora. Her debut poem collection, The Hill We Climb and Other Poems includes the inaugural poem plus many more. Gorman also has a forthcoming children’s book called Change Sings.
I hope this list gave you some authors to look into and books to add to your TBR (I know it definitely did for me!). Happy reading!