In honor of Black History Month, here is my list of books by contemporary black female authors – brilliant works by fierce women that everyone should read.
About a year ago, I saw a tweet from bestselling Black female author Tayari Jones that has stuck with me ever since.
On Twitter, Tayari tells of a white woman who approached her at a book signing. This woman raved about how Jones’s book An American Marriage was the first time she had ever read a book by a Black female author (it actually might have just been by a Black author, which is even more astounding). In the story, Jones was understandably not particularly amused by this woman’s self-congratulations.
Upon hearing this story, I was shocked. How could you not read books by Black women? You are missing out on so many amazing books by Black authors.
In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to highlight books by contemporary Black female authors. No, you shouldn’t just read them because they are Black or female, though those are parts of their identities that should not be denied. You should read them because they are fierce and brilliant and the most incredible writers.
Black Female Authors: Bestsellers in Fiction
Behold the Dreamers
Imbolo Mbue
The American Dream. Many hope for it, but how many truly find it? Imbolo Mbue’s debut novel details the lives of Cameroon immigrants living in New York City: Jende Jonga, who is trying to apply for legal status under a false asylum claim; his wife Neni, struggling to finish schooling in hopes of becoming a pharmacist; and their son Liomi, trying to balance his American-ness with his Cameroon side. In the days preceding the Great Recession, Jende gets lucky enough to get a job as chauffeur to Clark Edwards, a Lehman Brothers executive. Mbue brilliantly paints a fascinating look at immigrant life – the struggles with the immigration system, the desire for a better life, the balancing of cultural differences and the financial burden that comes with being poor in America. Embodying the spirit of Black urban authors, Mbue asks you to ponder: What really brings happiness? and Is the American dream all it’s cracked up to be?
Such a Fun Age
Kiley Reid
Topping the list of Black female authors in 2020 to keep your eye on, Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age is getting tons of notice right now. Blogger Alix Chamberlain has built herself a brand empowering women. When she moves to Philadephia, she feels overwhelmed by her two young daughters and comes to rely on her babysitter, Emira Tucker. While watching Alix’s two-year-old, Emira is shocked one day to be stopped by a grocery store clerk, only because she is a Black woman with a white toddler. Reid certainly sparks a conversation about racism and privilege, as both Alix and Emira’s boyfriend have completely different views on the same event. If you are willing to forgive the writing a bit, you’ll find it a thought-provoking read.
An American Marriage
Tayari Jones
If you are looking for bestsellers by Black female authors, An American Marriage was one of the top fiction books of 2018. At first glance, newlyweds Celestial and Roy seem like the perfect American couple. He’s a young executive, and she’s an emerging artist. However, as life comes into play and Roy is unjustly imprisoned, their marriage begins to fall apart. Discussing love, marriage, and race, this thought-provoking read is one to add to any reading list.
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Jesmyn Ward
Thirteen-year-old Jojo is trying to figure out life as a half-white half-Black teen in Mississippi. When his family learns his father is being released from prison, his mom Leonie, a struggling drug addict, packs up Jojo and his little sister for a drive up to the state penitentiary where Jojo encounters the ghost of a boy who was killed as an inmate. Combining a dysfunctional family character study with a haunting ghost story, Sing, Unburied, Sing has won rave reviews from critics and placed Ward as one of the top contemporary Black female authors. What impressed me most was how much everything about the book was expertly crafted to convey the story that Ward wanted to tell, not necessarily the story you want to read.
Americanah
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Young lovers Ifemelu and Obinze depart Nigeria for a life of freedom in the West. Although, Ifemelu achieves academic success she is also confronted with what it means to be Black in America. On the other hand, Obinze is denied entry to the US and must settle into a shadowy undocumented life in London. Eventually, they make their way back to Nigeria, finding a renewed love for each other and their country. With her insightful writing, Adichie has become one of the top contemporary Black female authors to read.
The Girl with the Louding Voice
Abi Daré
This debut novel from up-and-coming author Abi Daré highlights the coming-of-age of a Nigerian woman. All Adunni wants to do is get an education, so that she can craft her own future. When her father sells her as the third wife to a local man, Adduni runs away to the city, only to become a servant to a wealthy family. Yet, Adunni finds that no matter her circumstances, she can still speak out for herself and all the other girls just like her.
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
Any list of the top Black female writers of the 21st century would not be complete without N. K. Jemisin. No one else has ever won three Hugo Awards for Best Novel in three consecutive years for each book in the same trilogy. In a world rocked frequently by catastrophic earthquakes over the millennia, Jemisin tells a story of three women – a young girl just coming into her magical powers, a young woman learning of the injustice of the current system, and a grieving mother hunting for her child as the world collapses around her. While way too weird for me, I know that I am in the minority in not liking this book.
Best Books by Black Female Authors 2022
Take My Hand
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Take My Hand is inspired by the true story of government overreach in the forced sterilization of poor Black girls. In 1973, Civil Townsend is excited to use her new nursing degree to make a difference in the lives of her African-American community in Montgomery, Alabama. However, Civil is shocked to find her first patients are two young Black girls (ages 11 and 13) on birth control and begins to question the ethics of her work. Take My Hand is a thought-provoking historical novel that informs you while keeping you gripped by an emotional story and would be an excellent book to read in 2022.
The Light We Carry
Michelle Obama
In an uncertain world, former First Lady Michelle Obama teaches strategies to help you find hope and balance. Instead of cliche affirmations, Obama digs deep into the conversation about difficult topics and finds practical wisdom to help readers cope. With insightful stories and usable tools, Obama hopes to empower readers to find connections in an ever-changing world, making it one of the top book club books in 2023.
On the Rooftop
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
In 1950s San Francisco, Vivian is ecstatic when her three daughters begin to make a name for themselves as the singing girl group, The Salvations. Although Vivian has arranged a once-in-a-lifetime chance for The Salvations, her daughters have begun to grow up and have desires of their own. As the neighborhood begins gentrifying, Vivian struggles to maintain control even when her past comes back to threaten her.
Honey & Spice
Bolu Babalola
Kiki Banjo, the host of a popular student radio show, has one mission: to keep the women of the Afro-Caribbean society at Whitewell University from falling from players. But when she kisses Malakai Korede, who she just denounced as the worst player of all, they are forced to fake a relationship to salvage their reputations. But the more Kiki gets to know Malakai, the more she wonders if her presumptions about him were wrong.
Memphis
Tara M. Stringfellow
When she was ten years old, Joan and her mother and sister fled her father’s explosive temper to settle with her mother’s family in Memphis. Fifty years earlier, her grandfather was lynched after becoming Memphis’s first black detective. As she grows, Joan finds healing in painting portraits of the community in Memphis and comes to understand the impossible decisions the women of her family have been forced to make.
Best New Books by Black Female Authors
Seven Days in June
Tia Williams
Trying to do it all as a single mom, bestselling erotica author Eva Mercy is starting to feel the pressure. When sparks fly between Eva and Shane Hall, a reclusive bestselling novelist, at a literary event, the Black literati takes note. What they don’t know is that, as teenagers, Eva and Shane spent one torrid week in love before Shane broke her heart, and they’ve been writing to each other ever since.
Sankofa
Chibundu Onuzo
Feeling lost in her 40s, Anna feels lost now that her daughter is grown up and her mother is dead. Going through her mother’s things, Anna finds some clues to the identity of her African father she never knew. Surprisingly, Anna discovers he became the leader (or dictator, depending on whom you talk to) of a small African country and is still alive today.
What’s Mine and Yours
Naima Coster
In Piedmont, North Carolina, a county initiative to bring Black kids from the west side of town into a predominantly white school on the east side sparks fierce debate. To help with the integration, the school puts on a play which Gee and Nicole both join. Both of their mothers are determined that their daughters get the best in life, consequently leading to choices that will last decades.
The Other Black Girl
Zakiya Dalila Harris
Tired of being the only Black woman at Wagner Books, Nella Rogers is thrilled when Harlem-born Hazel moves into the cubicle next to her. When Hazel becomes the office darling, Nella starts receiving threatening notes. Could Hazel be trying to force out Nella, or is there much more going on in their workplace?
Honey Girl
Morgan Rogers
As a queer Black woman, Grace Porter has always had to work twice as hard as everyone else to be accepted. After receiving her PhD in astronomy, Grace takes a celebratory trip to Las Vegas, where she ends up drunkenly marrying a woman she just met. With the staggering weight of her parents’ expectations, Grace decides to spend the summer in New York City getting to know her new wife and figuring out what she wants her future to look like.
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Dawnie Walton
In her debut novel, Dawnie Walton writes the oral history of a fictional rock & roll duo who rose to fame in the 1970s. Coming of age in Detroit, Opal knows she can be a star despite her unusual Afro-punk style and teams up with British singer Nev. When another band on the label uses a Confederate flag, Opal’s vehement protests have lasting repercussions. As Opal and Nev contemplate a reunion in 2016, dark secrets about their past start to surface.
Oprah’s Book Club Picks
Becoming
Michelle Obama
If you are looking for bestsellers from Black female authors, Michelle Obama’s memoir is easily one of the top-selling books of the decade. Detailing her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her success as a working mother and her years in the White House, Michelle Obama shows how her past has shaped her into who she has become today. A poignant memoir of a woman trying to do her best for her family while balancing the greater good of having a husband in politics, Obama’s story is a remarkable tale no matter what your political affiliation.
Nightcrawling
Leila Mottley
Kiara and her brother Marcus are barely scraping by in Oakland. While Marcus unsuccessfully tries to launch a career as a rap artist, Kiara must support them and an abandoned boy next door with no degree and no resume. When their rent is doubled, Kiara takes up nightcrawling. Working the streets as a prostitute, Kiara becomes ensnared in a massive scandal with the Oakland Police Department.
Finding Me
Viola Davis
The powerful memoir from actress and producer Viola Davis about finding herself. From her roots in a rundown apartment in Rhode Island to center stage in New York, Davis constantly had to find the courage to forget the judgment of the world and fall in love with herself.
The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Although raised in a Northern city, Ailey Pearl Garfield spent summers in a small Georgia town where her mother’s ancestors were slaves. As Ailey fights for belonging, the burdens of trauma and the heavy expectations of her family weigh her down. While figuring out her own identity, she dives into her family’s history, uncovering a legacy of bondage and resilience that parallels the story of America.
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Ayana Mathis
December 2012: In 1923, Hattie Shepherd leaves Georgia in search of a better life in Philadelphia. Instead, she ends up in a disappointing marriage. Hattie goes on to have 11 children, whom she raises with strength, but not much tenderness. Through the narratives of her children, you see the legacy inherited by the children of the Great Migration.
Nonfiction By Contemporary Black Female Authors
Ordinary Light
Tracy K. Smith
Best known for her award-winning poetry, poet Tracy K. Smith, former Poet Laureate of the United States, pens a deeply personal memoir in Ordinary Light. Growing up in California, Smith had a fairly typical upbringing with parents who loved her. After spending a summer with her grandparents in Alabama, Smith learns a completely different side of being Black in America. Contemplating the difficulties of mother/daughter relationships and trying to find your own path, Smith has been a lyrical story that will draw you in and make you realize why she is one of the top contemporary Black female authors.
Hidden Figures
Margot Lee Shetterly
Hidden Figures captivated move audiences when it came out and propelled Margot Lee Shetterly onto the list of must-read Black female authors of the 21st century. Can I admit that I have not read this book or watched the movie? Telling the true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians, this book should be right up my alley, since I studied mathematics in college. Segregated from their white colleagues, these fierce women used pencil and paper to calculate the physics needed to launch men to the moon. I’ve heard complaints that the writing is dry but the characters are fascinating.
Somebody’s Daughter
Ashley C. Ford
A coming-of-age memoir about growing up a Black girl with an incarcerated father and the path to truly understand and overcome our origins. While Ashley idolized her father she barely knew, her life was shaped by her quick-tempered and emotionally detached mother. As she ages, she eventually learns why her father is in prison and must reconcile her own identity with her family’s past.
Hunger
Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay has made a name for herself among contemporary Black female authors with her bestselling collection of essays, Bad Feminist. In her poignant memoir, Gay focuses on her weight and self-image. After being raped as a child, Gay used food and an overweight body as a shield. Speaking with candor on the realities of being obese in America and the conflict between self-love and self-care, Gay’s opinions are raw and honest and complicated.
Year of Yes
Shonda Rhimes
Similar to Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, this celebrity memoir/self-improvement book chronicles one women’s year of self-improvement: in this case, of saying yes. Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and literally all of ABC’s Thursday night lineup, realized that, though at the top of her career, she wasn’t happy. When her sisters observed, “You never say yes to anything,” Shonda discovers her sister is correct. She has let fear hold her back. You’ll find Rhimes’ account at times hilarious and at the time deeply touching. It makes you wonder what you are letting hold you back and belongs at the top of the list of great books by Black female writers in the 21st century.
Well-Read Black Girl
Glory Edim
Glory Edim, the founder of the popular book club Well-Read Black Girl, has compiled this motivating collection of essays from contemporary Black female authors. With such big names as Jesmyn Ward, N. K. Jemisin, Tayari Jones among others, you won’t find any better nonfiction books with strong female leads anywhere. Telling of how they found themselves in literature, these fierce females will inspire you to remember the value of a story.
YA Books by Black Female Authors
The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
No list of bestsellers by Black female authors would be complete without Angie Thomas’s young adult take on a police shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter works hard to find balance in her life between her poor neighborhood and the elite suburban prep school she attends. Yet, when Starr is the only witness to the fatal police shooting of her best friend, she finds herself in the middle of a national headline. With all the recent coverage of police shootings, Thomas’s novel adds a new layer to the conversation on this important topic.
Dear Martin
Nic Stone
Another excellent entry in fiction discussing Black Lives Matter, Stone has penned an instant bestseller. Justyce McAllister has left his rough neighborhood behind to become top of his class at his private school. Though even an acceptance letter to Yale doesn’t stop him from his classmates’ scorn and racism. Just trying to get through his senior year, he starts a journal to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to help cope. Yet when he and his best friend encounter an off-duty police officer one day when they are just out for a drive, Justyce’s whole life is affected.
The Sun is Also a Star
Nicola Yoon
Nicola Yoon has had two books turned into successful movies: Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star. Telling the unlikely romance of Natasha, desperately struggling to prevent her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and Daniel, the perfect Korean son burdened by his parents’ expectations, it’s a teen romance even adults will love.
Children of Blood and Bone
Tomi Adeyemi
The book world was abuzz recently with excitement for this fantasy Young Adult novel, and rightfully so. Zélie Adebola watched as a ruthless king ordered the death of her mother and all the other maji in an effort to rid the world of magic. With one last chance, Zélie must use the help of a rogue princess to restore magic before the crown prince manages to eradicate magic for good. Beautifully blending Nigerian mythology, symbols from the Yoruba religion, and young adult fantasy, Tomi Adeyemi shines in her debut novel and the perfect example of Black YA fantasy books.
Red at the Bone
Jacqueline Woodson
Appearing twice on my list of contemporary Black female authors, I wanted to showcase Woodson’s versatility in both adult and children’s literature. Woodson’s story opens with sixteen-year-old Melody coming-of-age ceremony in Brooklyn. From there, the narrative jumps into the past to tell all that has led the family to this moment – the struggles her parents and grandparents have faced. Covering racism, gentrification, education, class, and ambition, Red at the Bone leaves you plenty to discuss in fewer than 200 pages.
The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
Xiomara Batista feels trapped and confused as she grows into adulthood. Instead of letting her fists fly, Xiomara begins to record her thoughts into a little leather notebook. When she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she realizes the power in expressing her own emotions even if against her family’s disapproval.
Middle Grade Fiction by Modern Black Female Authors
Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson
Growing up as an African-American in both South Carolina and New York during the 1960-70s, Jacqueline Woodson never truly felt at home in either place. Caught between the highly urban New York and the Southern views of South Carolina, she learned to find a place in the world balancing the best of each. Told in enchanting verse, the story of her childhood is poignant and moving. I’m not usually one for poetry, but Woodson’s eloquent lines bring her story to life.
Blended
Sharon M. Draper
One week at her mom’s. One week at her dad’s. Not only is Isabella’s life split in half by her parents’ divorce, but also she feels as if her own identity is divided in two. Half-white and half-Black, Isabella’s split custody parallels her split racial identity. Sharon M. Draper’s middle grade bestseller explores Isabella’s need to figure out how a blended girl bridges the gap in a world full of duality. Not nearly as light-hearted as the pink striped color suggests, Blended is a more serious discussion on important topics for kids today – divorce, racial profiling, and blended families. A great explanation of Black Lives Matter for middle schoolers from one of the best contemporary Black female authors.
Genesis Begins Again
Alicia D. Williams
There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself, and she can list every single one for you. When her gambling-addict father loses the rent money again, Genesis and her mom must move in with her grandma. Genesis begins to like her new school, and her teachers even urge her to try out for the talent show. By how could a girl with as dark skin as hers ever stand in front of an audience? Discussing self-loathing and verbal abuse, Genesis Begins Again is a great modern tale for middle schoolers.
What are your favorite books by contemporary Black female authors?
Sarah says
This is an excellent list of books. I have read a couple of these and a few others are on my TBR. However, I will have to make an effort to read them all. I’m always looking for new authors to read and this list has quite a few of them. Thank you so much for sharing this, it allowed me to discover new books.
Rachael says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the list. I absolutely love helping others discover new books!
Rachel @ Never Enough Novels says
My husband didn’t like The Fifth Season either! I still really want to read it to see what its all about. Such A Fun Age is high on my list too. I’ve heard from a lot of readers who really enjoyed it.
Amalia says
Wonderful list! “Beloved” and “A Mercy” by Toni Morrison are also excellent books. I’ve only read those two by her, but she’s wrote many other books that I bet are just as great.
Rachael says
Yes, this list is by no means comprehensive of black female authors. I decided to focus on more modern works, so wonderful writers like Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler don’t appear on this specific list.
Shellie Thomas says
Thank you for sharing this list. I will definitely get the books that I don’t have. I love to read, and I’m keeping busy with reading books.
Lisa Beard says
I was glad to see that I have read 4 of these books; and in the process of reading the 5th book; “Well-Read Black Girl”. Thank you for the List.
Steve says
From this list, I’ll be reading BLENDED by Sharon M. Draper. It sounds very good… and is a banned book in some schools! I’ve just received BROWN GIRLS (2022) by Daphne Palasi Andreades. I sounds fun and will be a welcome change. Toni Morrison… I loved her early books but not those that followed until I came across GOD HELP THE CHILD (2015) and loved it as much as I did her early books. In case anyone has overlooked it, her 1983 short story RECITATIF will be released tomorrow, February 3, 2022!
Rachael says
Oh, Blended is such a good book! It really does a great job of talking to middle grade children about important topics like Black Lives Matter, divorce, and being mixed race.