Best of Young Black Literary Fiction
Discover the best young Black literary fiction with our curated list of must-read books. Explore powerful stories, emerging voices, and award-winning novels by Black authors.
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Small Island
by Andrea Levy
Told in four distinct voices, the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2004 is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, encapsulating …
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Walk Through Darkness
by David Anthony Durham
When he learns that his pregnant wife has been spirited off to a distant city, William responds as any man might—he drops everything to pursue …
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Angel of Harlem
by Kuwana Haulsey
Traces the life of Dr. May Chinn, a woman who broke the barriers in the medical profession in th 1920's and became a leading specialist …
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Leaving Atlanta
by Tayari Jones
An award-winning author makes her fiction debut with this coming-of-age story of three young black children set against the backdrop of the Atlanta child murders …
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Drop
by Mat Johnson
A passionate and original new voice of the African-American literary tradition. Chris Jones has a gift for creating desire-a result of his own passionate desire …
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Hunting in Harlem
by Mat Johnson
Lester Baines hires three ex-cons to help him build his real-estate business in Harlem, a task that includes clearing the neighborhood of undesirable elements. By …
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Song of the Water Saints
by Nelly Rosario
This vibrant, provocative début novel explores the dreams and struggles of three generations of Dominican women. Graciela, born on the outskirts of Santo Domingo at …
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Purple Hibiscus
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Fifteen-year-old Kambili's world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, …
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John Henry Days
by Colson Whitehead
From the bestselling, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a novel that is "funny and wise and sumptuously written" …
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A Place Between Stations
by Stephanie Allen
George Mattie, loner and reluctant guide, leads a misfit nineteenth-century circus caravan on an ill-fated journey through the northern Connecticut woods. In A Place between …
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Upstate
by Kalisha Buckhanon
A powerful coming-of-age novel, in the vein of "The Color Purple," is filled with tragedy, struggle, love, and triumph.
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GraceLand
by Chris Abani
Born into poverty in the chaotic capital city of Nigeria, Elvis is tempted by the underworld and enters a life of crime, encountering beggers, musicians, …
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Third Girl from the Left
by Martha Southgate
From the acclaimed author of "The Fall of Rome" comes a bold, breakout novel about the lives of three generations of African-American women, linked across …
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Gigantic
by Marc Nesbitt
An extraordinary collection of dynamic stories by an exciting new voice in American fiction, Gigantic features ten powerful stories of emotional stagnation and personal transformation, …
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The Second Life of Samuel Tyne
by Esi Edugyan
A young man of great promise when he emigrated from Ghana by way of Oxford University to the New World in 1955, Samuel Tyne was …
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River Woman
by Donna Hemans
Set in Jamaica and New York, this acclaimed first novel explores the ties that bind mother to child and weaves a mesmerizing tale of promises …
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The Farming of Bones
by Edwidge Danticat
Memorializing the forgotten victims of ethnic cleansing in Haiti in the 1930s, this novel revolves around a Haitian-born servant girl and her lover, an itinerant …
