Black Books Matter: Fiction Reading List

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In the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade (among so many others), anti-racist nonfiction has been in high demand. Two weeks ago we curated a Black Lives Matter reading list that featured our Black feminist nonfiction titles, but we also want to take this time to lift up our fiction titles by Black authors. As Athena Kugblenu said on Twitter, “Please read happy Black books too. We don’t just write about slavery and colonialism. Consume Black history and art about everything. It all helps to decenter whiteness.” We couldn’t agree more. Here’s a list of some of our favorite FP fiction, plus staff picks from other presses (available through Loyalty Bookstore; a Black-owned bookstore in Washington, DC).

Continue to amplify Black voices, support Black-owned businesses, and donate. Here are just a few of the places you can support this week:

 

FP Classics

Daddy Was a Number Runner
$16.95

Louise Meriwether
"[A] tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling toward womanhood."

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The Living Is Easy
Quick View
The Living Is Easy
$19.95

Dorothy West
An insightful, witty novel set in early twentieth-century black Boston by the Harlem Renaissance's youngest member.

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Brown Girl, Brownstones
$16.95

Paule Marshall
A vivid and bittersweet classic coming-of-age tale, set in immigrant Brooklyn.

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A Short Walk
$16.95

Alice Childress
A woman's odyssey explores the black American experience between 1900 to 1950.

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His Own Where
$11.95

June Jordan
The only young adult book by June Jordan, rediscovered and introduced by Sapphire.

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This Child's Gonna Live
$16.95

Sarah E. Wright
Classic novel of an African American woman's survival amidst poverty.
 

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Reena and Other Stories
$13.95

Paule Marshall
Including the novella "Merle"
 

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New Favorites

Training School for Negro Girls
$17.95

Camille Acker
The stories in this debut collection shatter monolithic assumptions of black womanhood.

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Into the Go-Slow
$16.95

Bridgett M. Davis
A novel about sisters, the legacy of the Black Power Movement, and the troubled bond between African Americans and Africans.

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Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger
$17.95

Brontez Purnell
He’s a slut. He's a nerd. He’s a waiter, bored at work. This is his diary.

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Since I Laid My Burden Down
$17.95

Brontez Purnell
An uninhibited exploration of growing up gay in 1980s Alabama.

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Works In Translation

La Bastarda
$15.95

Trifonia Melibea Obono
A teenage orphan’s quest of self-discovery.

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The Restless
$16.95

Gerty Dambury
A young girl's curiosity about her teacher's sudden disappearance sets the stage for a resonant analysis of 1960s Pointe-à-Pitre.

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Books by African Authors

Changes
$16.95

Ama Ata Aidoo
A love story in a world where the working lives of women have changed, but cultural assumptions have not. 

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No Sweetness Here
$16.95

Ama Ata Aidoo
And Other Stories

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You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town
$15.95

Zoe Wicomb
The South African novel of identity that "deserves a wide audience".

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David's Story
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David's Story
$18.95

Zoe Wicomb
"A tremendous achievement and a huge step in the remaking of the South African novel."

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The Present Moment
$15.95

Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
A novel that pays tribute to the lives of seven aging women.

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The Amputated Memory
$24.95

Werewere Liking
Noma Award-winning novel called "a deeply felt presentation of the female condition in Africa."

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Waiting
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Waiting
$13.95

Goretti Kyomuhendo
Remote Ugandans survive the end of Idi Amin's rule.

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Out of stock
 

Staff picks from other presses (all available from
Loyalty Bookstore)

 

What are you reading this week? Tweet at @FeministPress and let us know!

Lucia Brown