Black Books Matter: Fiction Reading List
In the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade (among so many others), anti-racist nonfiction has been in high demand. Two weeks ago we curated a Black Lives Matter reading list that featured our Black feminist nonfiction titles, but we also want to take this time to lift up our fiction titles by Black authors. As Athena Kugblenu said on Twitter, “Please read happy Black books too. We don’t just write about slavery and colonialism. Consume Black history and art about everything. It all helps to decenter whiteness.” We couldn’t agree more. Here’s a list of some of our favorite FP fiction, plus staff picks from other presses (available through Loyalty Bookstore; a Black-owned bookstore in Washington, DC).
Continue to amplify Black voices, support Black-owned businesses, and donate. Here are just a few of the places you can support this week:
FP Classics
Louise Meriwether
"[A] tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling toward womanhood."
Dorothy West
An insightful, witty novel set in early twentieth-century black Boston by the Harlem Renaissance's youngest member.
Paule Marshall
A vivid and bittersweet classic coming-of-age tale, set in immigrant Brooklyn.
Alice Childress
A woman's odyssey explores the black American experience between 1900 to 1950.
June Jordan
The only young adult book by June Jordan, rediscovered and introduced by Sapphire.
Sarah E. Wright
Classic novel of an African American woman's survival amidst poverty.
New Favorites
Camille Acker
The stories in this debut collection shatter monolithic assumptions of black womanhood.
Bridgett M. Davis
A novel about sisters, the legacy of the Black Power Movement, and the troubled bond between African Americans and Africans.
Brontez Purnell
He’s a slut. He's a nerd. He’s a waiter, bored at work. This is his diary.
Brontez Purnell
An uninhibited exploration of growing up gay in 1980s Alabama.
Works In Translation
Gerty Dambury
A young girl's curiosity about her teacher's sudden disappearance sets the stage for a resonant analysis of 1960s Pointe-à-Pitre.
Books by African Authors
Ama Ata Aidoo
A love story in a world where the working lives of women have changed, but cultural assumptions have not.
Zoe Wicomb
The South African novel of identity that "deserves a wide audience".
Zoe Wicomb
"A tremendous achievement and a huge step in the remaking of the South African novel."
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
A novel that pays tribute to the lives of seven aging women.
Werewere Liking
Noma Award-winning novel called "a deeply felt presentation of the female condition in Africa."
