Black Authors

James

By: Percival Everett

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND THE BOOKER PRIZE • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg • ... Read more

Parable of the Sower

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen

Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler paints a stunning portrait of an all-too-believable near future. As with Kindred and her other critically-acclaimed novels, Parable of the Sower skillfully combines startling visionary and socially realistic concepts. God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose... Read more

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

By: James McBride

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

Length: 12 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

WINNER OF THE 2024 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRIZE FOR AMERICAN FICTION

FROM ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND... Read more

The Vanishing Half

By: Brit Bennett

Narrated by: Shayna Small

Length: 11 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • THE WASHINGTON POST • NPR • PEOPLE • TIME MAGAZINE • VANITY FAIR • GLAMOUR

New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

2021 WOMEN'S PRIZE FINALIST

“Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and... Read more

Caste (Oprah's Book Club)

By: Isabel Wilkerson

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 15 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the... Read more

How to Be an Antiracist

By: Ibram X. Kendi

Narrated by: Ibram X. Kendi

Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society and in ourselves—now updated, with a new preface.

“The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.”—The... Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama

Narrated by: Barack Obama

Length: 29 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND PEOPLE

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post •... Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi

Narrated by: Jason Reynolds

Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

The #1 New York Times bestseller and a USAToday bestseller!
A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep... Read more

Parable of the Talents

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Sisi Aisha Johnson, Patricia R. Floyd & Peter J...

Length: 15 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Best-selling author Octavia E. Butler's acclaimed novels have won numerous awards, and she is a recipient of a "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Parable of the Talents was selected as one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. Environmental devastation and economic chaos have turned America into a land of horrifying... Read more

The Fifth Season

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 15 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times)

This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time.

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent,... Read more

Get a Life, Chloe Brown

By: Talia Hibbert

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Length: 10 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

“Absolutely charming... a flawless balance of humor, heat, sweetness, and depth, and I loved every page.” – Helen Hoang, USA Today bestselling author of The Bride TestTalia Hibbert, one of contemporary romance’s brightest new stars, delivers a witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her... Read more

Hood Feminism

By: Mikki Kendall

Narrated by: Mikki Kendall

Length: 6 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“The fights against hunger, homelessness, poverty, health disparities, poor schools, homophobia, transphobia, and domestic violence are feminist fights. Kendall offers a feminism rooted in the livelihood of everyday women.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of  How to Be an Antiracist, in The... Read more

The City We Became

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 16 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a "glorious" story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.

In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But... Read more

The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

By: Colson Whitehead

Narrated by: JD Jackson & Colson Whitehead

Length: 6 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. • "One of the most gifted novelists in America today." —NPR

Nickel Boys, soon to be a major motion... Read more

There's Always This Year

By: Hanif Abdurraqib

Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib

Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “powerful” (The Guardian) reflection on basketball, life, and home—from the author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America

“Mesmerizing . . . not only the most original sports book I’ve ever read but one of the most moving books I’ve ever read,... Read more

All the Sinners Bleed

By: S. A. Cosby

Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White

Length: 13 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner of the 2024 Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense!

"Lazarre-White masterfully portrays people of multiple races, old and young. He also delivers Cosby's reflections on family, grief, and faith with genuine introspection and without distracting from the tense plotlines...This is a gripping, timely tale—beautifully told." —AudioFile (Earphones... Read more

Chain Gang All Stars: A Read with Jenna Pick

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Narrated by: Shayna Small, Aaron Goodson, Michael Crouch & L...

Length: 13 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York... Read more

Kindred

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Kim Staunton

Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

The first science fiction written by a Black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of Black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably... Read more

Legendborn

By: Tracy Deonn

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Length: 18 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

An Instant New York Times Bestseller!
Winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe for New Talent Author Award

Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy reinvents the King Arthur legend and “braids together Southern folk traditions and Black Girl Magic into a searing modern tale of grief,... Read more

Becoming

By: Michelle Obama

Narrated by: Michelle Obama

Length: 19 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States
 
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WATCH THE EMMY-NOMINATED NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment,... Read more

Lovely One

By: Ketanji Brown Jackson

Narrated by: Ketanji Brown Jackson

Length: 18 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her “vulnerable, tender, and infinitely inspirational” (Oprah Daily) memoir, the first Black woman to ever be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States chronicles her extraordinary life story.

“A billowingly triumphant American tale.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

With this... Read more

Such a Fun Age: Reese's Book Club

By: Kiley Reid

Narrated by: Nicole Lewis

Length: 9 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

A Best Book of the Year:
The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • NPR • Vogue • Elle • Real Simple • InStyle • Good Housekeeping • Parade • Slate • Vox • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal • BookPage

Longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

A Reese's Book Club Pick 

"The most provocative page-turner of the year."... Read more

Between the World and Me

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT

Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal... Read more

The Light We Carry

By: Michelle Obama

Narrated by: Michelle Obama

Length: 9 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

2024 Grammy® Award Winner • #1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.
 
There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big... Read more