Some of the books on this list will teach you about Black history, while others will just make you laugh out loud. Read books by people who are and aren’t Christians, because if you really want to know about and engage Indigenous cultures, you have to read from a variety of voices. When asked by Christians who they should read by Indigenous theologians, this is my answer: read everything. And I have Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist sitting in a pile by my bed. These are books by people of many different tribes. As I write this, I'm still thinking about the phenomenal book I last read: Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age.
Whether you gravitate towards a murder-y thriller (consider Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer) or you're more in a self-help kind of mood (check out Elaine Welteroth's More Than Enough), a great read by a Black writer is here for you. It's not hard to change that, so let's get started. But perhaps you glanced over at your bookshelf and realized that you haven't read a single thing from the Black perspective recently. Maybe your mode is more nonchalantly perusing a book store on a Saturday afternoon or scrolling through Amazon's bestseller's list until you find a title that piques your interest. Maybe you've never even taken into account an author's race when choosing a book.
Because like many things in American society, the cultural contributions of Black people often get overlooked-or worse, appropriated-in favor of the works of white people. This is a list of excellent books written by Black authors. Reading African American literature inspires pride in Black readers and admiration in others.This is not an anti-racist reading list. and to the top of the Science book favourites list. What these fine authors reflect is the beauty of their heritage, the power of their past, and the strength of their people. Call me Ishmael is one of the most famous opening sentences of any novel. With one foot in mainstream America and another in the African American subculture, they can invite readers on the outside to visit this world and experience it like a native.
Poems by Black authors are able to call on this rich heritage for word play and complex poetic syntax often lacking in other traditions.įamous Black authors and poets, like those of other nationalities, are always part of the culture that has nurtured them. These stories explore the human condition in sometimes direct and sometimes abstract ways. Mind you, this is by no means an exhaustive list. This batch of twelve short stories spans multiple states and types of people across the US. So, without much further ado, I’m honored to share with you a list of 33 black authors of crime fiction everyone needs to read. These stories, handed down over generations, have cadence and rhythm to make it easy to remember and pass them along, and to accompany work while setting a certain pace. His book Damned If I Do is one of the most striking and entertaining collections of short stories by black authors you’ll find in print today. This is shared to some extent with people from Appalachia, but the Black voice is distinctive. Unlike most people of European heritage, Black Americans have a rich oral tradition. These poems are powerful, compelling and touch the heart of most readers, not just people of color. A rich tapestry of understanding awaits those willing to look at the world through the eyes of others. Famous Black authors and poets likeĪnd dozens of others bring their unique perspective alive for the reader. Layla Kareem Abdel-Hafiz Hussein is the greatest Sudanese Australian. A wealth of different voices awaits, all steeped in the Black experience. A picture of a selection of books by black authors on a bright orange background. Family dynamics, work opportunities, and religious expression are all different and exciting to uncover. While these writers have grown up in America, it is a different America than the one nurturing citizens who are not part of a minority group. Two of his most controversial books were, Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (1945). There is so much depth and wisdom to be found in poems by Black authors and other writing from this tradition. Richard Wright (1908-1960) Writer of the famous four-part series, Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), Wright is remembered for fearlessly writing about the black man’s struggle against and suffering in a heavily racist society. Your literary knowledge is incomplete if it does not include the African American genre.