What’s on your reading list this year? If you are looking for something to read, check out these 25 Must-read Books by Black Authors that are a must read!
Every February( for Black History Month), I share a list of books by black authors that I think we should read. Some of the books on the list this year, haven’t been released but that’s OK! There are plenty on here to read until they come out! Just pin this post so you can refer back to it later.
So today I’m going to share 25 Must-Read Books by Black Authors coming out this year. Some of these books are fiction, some essays and some nonfiction/historical. All interesting and worth a look.
This isn’t a definitive list. There are a few books that I thought about including but didn’t and a few that I know are coming, but that I’m waiting to see if they make it out this year.
But these 25 books will keep you reading this year! Maybe even help you if you are doing a Goodreads Book Challange. ( hint hint) So, without further ado, let’s get to this wonderful list!
This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Read more here.
25 Must-Read Books by Black Authors Coming Out this Year
Saving Savannah
From acclaimed author, Tonya Bolden comes the story of a teen girl becoming a woman on her own terms against the backdrop of widespread social change in the early 1900s.
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
From “one of the greatest writers of our time” (Toni Morrison)—the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God—a collection of remarkable stories, including eight “lost” Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time.
Such a Fun Age
A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.
Remembrance
Family is at the core of Remembrance, the breathtaking debut novel by Rita Woods." -- The Boston Globe. This breakout historical debut with modern resonance is perfect for the many fans of The Underground Railroad and Orphan Train.
Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We're Taking Back Our Power
In Stop Telling Women to Smile, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh uses her arresting street art portraits to explore how women experience hostility in communities that are supposed to be homes. She addresses the pervasiveness of street harassment, its effects, and the kinds of activism that can serve to counter it. The result is a cathartic reckoning with the aggression women endure, and an examination of what equality truly entails.
The Last Negroes at Harvard: The Class of 1963 and the 18 Young Men Who Changed Harvard Forever
Release Date: February 11th
The untold story of the Harvard class of ’63, whose Black students fought to create their own identities on the cusp between integration and affirmative action
Real Life: A Novel
Release date February 18, 2020
Named one of the most anticipated books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Paste, Bookriot, and Library Journal.A novel of startling intimacy, violence, and mercy among friends in a Midwestern university town, from an electric new voice.
Trouble is What I Do (Leonid Mcgill Book 6)
To be Released February 25, 2020
Morally ambiguous P.I. Leonid McGill is back -- and investigating crimes against society's most downtrodden -- in this installment of the beloved detective series from an Edgar Award-winning and bestselling crime novelist.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
Coming February 25, 2020
A potent and electrifying critique of today's feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism
It's Not All Downhill From Here: A Novel
Coming March 3, 2020
After a sudden change of plans, a remarkable woman and her loyal group of friends try to figure out what she’s going to do with the rest of her life—from Terry McMillan, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale
Deacon King Kong: A Novel
Coming March 3, 2020
From James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird, comes a wise and witty novel about what happens to the witnesses of a shooting
The Only Black Girls in Town
Coming March 10, 2020
Award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert's debut middle-grade novel about the only two black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past
Lakewood: A Novel
Coming March 24, 2020
A startling debut about class and race, Lakewood evokes a terrifying world of medical experimentation—part The Handmaid’s Tale, part The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Wow, No Thank You.: Essays
Coming March 2020
A new rip-roaring essay collection from the smart, edgy, hilarious, unabashedly raunchy, and bestselling Samantha Irby.
I Don't Want to Die Poor: Essays
coming April 7, 2020
From the New York Times bestselling author of I Can’t Date Jesus, which Vogue called “a piece of personal and cultural storytelling that is as fun as it is illuminating,” comes a wry and insightful essay collection that explores the financial and emotional cost of chasing your dreams.
Clap When You Land
Coming May 2020
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
Party of Two
Coming June 2020
A chance meeting with a handsome stranger turns into a whirlwind affair that gets everyone talking.
The Vanishing Half: A Novel
Coming June 2020
From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
Coming July 2020
A chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her former stepfather, and the moving, intimate story of a poet coming into her own in the wake of a tragedy
Transcendent Kingdom: A novel
Coming September 2020
Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabam
Hopefully, this list of books gets you started with your reading goals this year! So are you planning to read any of these books by black authors this year? Which one are you going to read first?
The Vanishing Half Book Review - Everyday Eyecandy
Tuesday 12th of January 2021
[…] This book had a LOT of hype. It was on every Must Read booklist this year, including my own. […]
My Summer Reading List - Everyday Eyecandy
Thursday 2nd of July 2020
[…] been waiting for this book ALL YEAR!! I originally included it on a book list earlier this year, and I've been waiting impatiently ever since. I usually don't read that many memoirs, but […]
Activism on Instagram: How to Use Instagram for Social Good. - Everyday Eyecandy
Saturday 20th of June 2020
[…] 25 Must Read Book by Black Authors Coming Out this Year […]