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100 Must-Read New Books by Black Authors

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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 Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett book cover

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

Cover of An Extraordinary Union

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

My Sister, The Serial Killer cover

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

cover of Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark; illustration of raised Black hands in front of a KKK hood

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.

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.