It’s only a couple days until Black History Month, and Goodreads has put together a list of 100 Essential New Works of Fiction by Black Authors to help build your TBR for February! This list is only fiction, including novels and short stories, but not nonfiction or poetry. The introduction doesn’t specify whether this is the first of several themed lists or the only one, but either way, it’s a great start to adding more Black authors into your reading!
These books range from this year to ten years ago, and they include modern classics as well as less well-known titles. They’re separated by genre, so you can easily find your next favorite book. Here are some of the books included.
Historical Fiction
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Contemporary Fiction
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Romance
Rebel by Beverly Jenkins
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Mystery
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Young Adult
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Horror
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by Jordan Peele
Short Story Collections
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston
Lot by Bryan Washington
You can see all 100 books at Goodreads.
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