Eight New Releases by Black Writers to Add to Your TBR ASAP

The late Virginia Hamilton, author of The People Could Fly once stressed the importance of stories in their power to speak for Black lives. She stated that “storytelling was the first opportunity for Black folks to represent themselves as something other than property.”

In the wake of the death of George Floyd in the Spring of 2020, my social media timelines flooded with book recommendations. This occurrence wasn’t particularly unique in and of itself—as an avid reader and book blogger of eight years, I almost exclusively followed book-related social media accounts. 

What was remarkable about these recommendations, however, is that they all appeared quite homogenous. I was seeing the same books recommended over and over again. Non-fictional recommendations often consisted of So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo and White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. Fictional recommendations often included the works of award-winning writers and thinkers such as Toni Morrison and James Baldwin.

The reality is, in their commitment towards anti-racism, many people around the world looked towards books to better inform themselves of the Black experience. While this may be a tremendous amount of weight and pressure to place on a single medium, I can sympathise with the notion in theory. After all, books are vessels that allow us to better understand the perspective of another, experiencing the world in an engaging way—albeit temporarily—through their shoes.

The works of Baldwin and Morrison are spectacular and acclaimed for a reason; they weave words together to paint pictures and offer insight in ways that seem endlessly meaningful. But culturally, our discourse around these works often centres around Black trauma. This discussion is vital to have (I did include a collection of Hurston essays below!), but in learning to be an ally to the Black community, we cannot allow a single story or narrative to dominate the discussion.

Every month, there are tons of interesting, diverse, and contemporary reads by incredible Black authors that deserve greater recognition and celebration.

So, with that being said, here are eight new releases by Black writers that you need to add to your reading lists ASAP:

You Don’t Know Us Negroes & Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston (January 4)

Bound together for the first time in a collection, You Don’t Know Us Negroes & Other Essays features some of author and activist Zora Neale Hurston’s sharpest essays. The works span the course of 35 years, from the Harlem Renaissance to the early beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, and explore subjects such as Hurston’s point of view on African-American art and her experiences during the Jim Crow era. The essays paint a beautiful mosaic of the legendary Hurston’s experience.

Wahala by Nikki May (January 17)

Wahala—meaning “trouble” in Yoruba—is a novel centred around three best friends whose bond rivals that of the girls from Sex and the City. Ronke is an idealist who’s suffered from a slew of bad boyfriends; Boo is a mother and wife that feels unfulfilled; and Simi is the golden girl debilitated by imposter syndrome. Everything changes when Isobel interrupts the group dynamic; at first, the positive implications of her presence seem endless, but things quickly go astray and the girls’ friendship fissures. Wahala is a thriller about friendship, culture and betrayal.

Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black (February 1)

In Don’t Cry for Me, Jacob writes letters on his deathbed, attempting to make amends with his estranged gay son, Isaac. He hopes to share with him their family history in Arkansas, one that traces back to times of enslavement, his rocky relationship with his mother, and the experiences which informed his reaction to Isaac coming out to him. Recommended for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Don’t Cry for Me is a hard-hitting story about family, love, and forgiveness.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (February 1)

Black Cake follows Byron and Benny, siblings who, in the wake of their mother’s death, inherit her recipe for a traditional Caribbean Black cake and a voice recording that sends them on a journey from London to the Caribbean to San Francisco in pursuit of a long-lost sibling. On the journey, they learn more about their mother, family, culture and history.

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen (February 8)

Written by a current student at Emory University, You Truly Assumed is a YA novel about three Black Muslim women who begin an online journal called “You Truly Assumed” as a mechanism of coping with a recent terrorist attack and a resultant wave of Islamaphobia. The novel explores race, what it means to be Black and Muslim in the United States, and the consequences which must be faced after speaking one’s truth.

Cherish Farrah by Bethany C Morrow (February 8)

Described as a social horror for fans of the film Get Out, Cherish Farrah follows two teenage Black girls in an otherwise white country club whose lives become entangled in unsettling ways. 17-year-old Farrah is jealous of Cherish Whitman, who has been raised and spoiled by her adoptive white parents. Despite her own parents’ warnings, Farrah draws closer to Cherish and the Whitmans, discovering that between debilitating illnesses, fever dreams, and a self-writing journal, things really aren’t how they seem.

Happy reading!

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to a later version where a quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is removed and a quote by Virginia Hamilton is included.