Books By Black Authors!
Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog! Today I am bringing you a post in honor of February being Black History Month, and that is a list of my favorite books by black authors. It is super important to make sure you and I as readers are consuming diverse books and supporting black authors, so as to hopefully inspire you, here are some wonderful books by wonderful authors!
Everything Everything, Nicola Yoon
Maddy is a smart, curious and imaginative 18-year-old who is unable to leave the protection of the hermetically-sealed environment within her house because of an illness. Olly is the boy next door who won't let that stop them from being together. Gazing through windows and talking only through texts, Maddy and Olly form a deep bond that leads them to risk everything to be together, even if it means losing everything.
The Black Flamingo, Dean Atta
Written in verse, this tells the story of Michael, a half Jamaican, half Greek-Cyprian boy, who prefers to play with barbies over Ninja Turtles. He's always known he was different and through these poems, he explores what that meant growing up, trying to find his tribe, the heartbreaks and betrayals and expression. The Black Flamingo is, at its core, a love letter to the differences in you that make you stand out. That makes you unique and irreplaceable.
The Upper World, Femi Fagduba
The Upper World is a brilliantly fast paced debut YA novel from Femi Fadugba that interweaves the gritty realities of London life with the theory of time travel. Vividly told through dual perspectives and set in Peckham, South London, we meet Esso and Rhia. Esso, who in the present day is having a hard time balancing the normal difficulties of life as a teenage boy, on top of the pressures of street rivalries. Rhia 15 years in the future is a rising football star living in the foster care system. She is looking for any clues to what happened to her parents and when she meets her new physics tutor, they may both have the answers the other is searching for.
Seven Days in June
Brooklynite Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer, who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone's surprise, shows up in New York. When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York's Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can't deny their chemistry - or the fact that they've been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.
Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva's not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart. With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual.
Maame, Jessica George
Maddie's overbearing mother spends a lot of time in Ghana managing a hostel, and her brother has been of little help, as she takes care of her father, suffering from advanced-stage Parkinson's. Upon the return of her mother, Maddie takes the opportunity to leave home and finally begin to start living life, moving into a flatshare, eager to experience all that she can, both at work and in her personal life. Maddie finds herself going through life's natural ups and downs, including betrayal until she is hit by a tragedy that immerses her in a world of guilt as she hits rock bottom. Through the story, Maddie examines how being 'Maame' has shaped expectations of her, of being a 'woman' before her time, of how her family sees her and her relationships, and perhaps more importantly how she has let it mold her sense of identity. It is time for things to change and for Maddie to be who and what she wants to be.
And that wraps up this list! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you found a new read to check out soon. Once again, happy Black History Month and I'll see you in the next post!
Xoxo,
Opal
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