Black Authors

A More Perfect Union

By: Tammye Huf

Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Chanté McCormick & Patryce Williams

Length: 9 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

Inspired by true events, A More Perfect Union is an epic story of love and courage, desperation and determination, and three people whose lives are inescapably entwined…

Henry O’Toole sails to America in 1848 to escape the famine in Ireland, only to face anti-immigrant prejudice. Determined never to starve again, he changes his surname to Taylor... Read more

Star Child

By: Ibi Zoboi

Narrated by: Ibi Zoboi & Robin Miles

Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

Abridged: No

From the New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist, a biography in verse and prose of science fiction visionary Octavia Butler.

Acclaimed novelist Ibi Zoboi illuminates the young life of the visionary storyteller Octavia E. Butler in poems and prose. Born into the Space Race, the Red Scare, and the dawning Civil Rights... Read more

The Beach House

By: Rochelle Alers

Narrated by: Shari Peele

Length: 8 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

In Rochelle Alers’ thoughtful, heartwarming series set on a picturesque North Carolina island, one woman’s seemingly perfect life unravels—and a new chapter begins …

It’s been almost a year since Leah Berkley Kent left her lavish Richmond home to spend two months on Coates Island, North Carolina. There she found friendship with two extraordinary... Read more

America on Fire

By: Elizabeth Hinton

Narrated by: Shayna Small

Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

What began in spring 2020 as local protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police quickly exploded into a massive nationwide movement. Millions of mostly young people defiantly flooded into the nation’s streets, demanding an end to police brutality and to the broader, systemic repression of Black people and other... Read more

Augusta Savage

By: Marilyn Nelson

Narrated by: Marilyn Nelson & Grace Angela Henry

Length: 2 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

A powerful biography in poems​ about a trailblazing artist and a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance—with an afterword by the curator of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Augusta Savage was arguably the most influential American artist of the 1930s. A gifted sculptor, Savage was commissioned to create a portrait bust of W.E.B. Du... Read more

The Gift of Black Folk

By: W. E. B. Du Bois

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

“The Negro worked as farm hand and peasant proprietor, as laborer, artisan, and inventor and as servant in the house, and without him, America as we know it, would have been impossible.”—W. E. B. Du BoisAlthough the Civil War marked an end to slavery in the United States, it would take another fifty years to establish the country’s civil rights... Read more

The Fugitivities

By: Jesse McCarthy

Narrated by: Corey Allen

Length: 10 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A singular and powerful debut novel about a young black American learning the difficulties of forming your own identity when society has already assigned you one.

Like most recent college graduates, Jonah Winters is unsure of what’s next. A young black American raised in France and living in New York City, he tries on a couple of careers only to... Read more

Yoke

By: Jessamyn Stanley

Narrated by: Jessamyn Stanley

Length: 4 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

Finding self-acceptance both on and off the mat.
In Sanskrit, yoga means to “yoke.” To yoke mind and body, movement and breath, light and dark, the good and the bad. This larger idea of “yoke” is what Jessamyn Stanley calls the yoga of the everyday—a yoga that is not just about perfecting your downward dog but about applying the hard lessons... Read more

Music Is History

By: Questlove & Ben Greenman

Narrated by: Questlove

Length: 11 hours

Abridged: No

A New York Times bestseller, Music Is History combines multi–Grammy Award winner Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years.

Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapestry, whether investigating how the blaxploitation... Read more

Unprotected

By: Billy Porter

Narrated by: Billy Porter

Length: 12 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: No

“This is not a coming-out story. It’s not a down-low story either. I never could have passed for straight, even if I’d wanted to, and so I never had the dubious luxury of living a lie.”

From the incomparable Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner, a powerful and revealing autobiography about race, sexuality, art, and healing

It’s easy to be yourself... Read more

Read Until You Understand

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Narrated by: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Length: 7 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

A BRILLIANT SCHOLAR IMPARTS THE LESSONS BEQUEATHED BY THE BLACK COMMUNITY AND ITS REMARKABLE ARTISTS AND THINKERS.

Farah Jasmine Griffin has taken to her heart the phrase “read until you understand,” a line her father, who died when she was nine, wrote in a note to her. She has made it central to this book about love of the majestic power of... Read more

Rethinking Sex

By: Christine Emba

Narrated by: Christine Emba

Length: 5 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

Part searing examination, part call to arms—a bold case against modern sexual ethics, from young Washington Post columnist Christine Emba.

For years now, modern-day sexual ethics has held that “anything goes” when it comes to sex—as long as everyone says yes, and does so enthusiastically. So why, even when consent has been ascertained, are so... Read more

I'm So (Not) Over You

By: Kosoko Jackson

Narrated by: Timothy Bell Reese

Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

"Shine[s] with a beautiful, blooming sense of wonder.”—New York Times Book Review

A 2023 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER!

One of...
Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best LGBTQ+ Romance Novels of the Last Five Years
Essence's New Books We Can’t Wait To Read In 2022
Oprah Daily’s Most Anticipated Romance Novels of 2022
Buzzfeed’s Highly Anticipated LGBTQ... Read more

Right Where I Left You

By: Julian Winters

Narrated by: Giordan Diaz

Length: 9 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

"Some books are downright fun, and Right Where I Left You is one . . . Winters sends a quiet but important message that queer Black and brown kids deserve to live happily ever after too. . . Winters weaves all of these threads—the romance, the relatable anxiety, the message — into a book that, like a crush, you won’t be able to get out of your... Read more

Dream Street

By: Tricia Elam Walker

Narrated by: Justin Nicholas-Elam Ruff

Length: 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Caldecott Honor, three time Coretta Scott King Award winner, and New York Times bestselling illustrator and her author cousin pay gorgeous homage to the street they grew up on and the loving community that made their childhood special.

Welcome to Dream Street--the best street in the world! It's where love between generations rules, everyone is... Read more

Daddy Speaks Love

By: Leah Henderson

Narrated by: Leah Henderson

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

A moving tribute to the joy and grounding that fathers bring to their children's lives.

What does a daddy do? From day one, this daddy speaks love to his little one. And along with that love, his words and actions speak many other things, too: like truth, joy, comfort, and pride. Like many dads, he answers a million questions and tries to make... Read more

How to Talk to Your Boss About Race

By: Y-Vonne Hutchinson

Narrated by: Y-Vonne Hutchinson

Length: 6 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

An indispensable practical toolkit for dismantling racism in the workplace without fear

Reporting and personal testimonials have exposed racism in every institution in this country. But knowing that racism exists isn’t nearly enough. Social media posts about #BlackLivesMatter are nice, but how do you push leadership towards real anti-racist... Read more

The Real Santa

By: Nancy Redd

Narrated by: Torian Brackett

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Join one Black family on their journey to discover what the real Santa looks like in this joyous tale celebrating identity, family and holiday cheer, from the New York Times bestselling author of Bedtime Bonnet.

It’s not Christmas without Santa! But what does Santa truly look like? Does he match the figurines on the mantel, or the faces on our... Read more

Freewater

By: Amina Luqman-Dawson

Narrated by: Cary Hite & Sisi Aisha Johnson

Length: 9 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

Debut author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children’s escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.

Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he... Read more

Mirror Girls

By: Kelly McWilliams

Narrated by: Deanna Anthony, Carmen Jewel Jones & Robin Eller

Length: 7 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

A thrilling gothic horror novel about biracial twin sisters separated at birth, perfect for fans of Lovecraft Country and The Vanishing Half As infants, twin sisters Charlie Yates and Magnolia Heathwood were secretly separated after the brutal lynching of their parents, who died for loving across the color line. Now, at the dawn of the Civil... Read more

Black Like Who?

By: Rinaldo Walcott

Narrated by: Nigel Williams

Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Rinaldo Walcott’s groundbreaking study of black culture in Canada, Black Like Who?, caused an uproar upon its publication. With its incisive readings of hip-hop, film, literature, social unrest, sports, music, and electronic media, Walcott’s book not only assesses the role of black Canadians in defining Canada, it also argues strenuously... Read more

This Is Not for You

By: Richard Brown

Narrated by: Emmett Wheatfall

Length: 11 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

A long-time activist in the Black community of Portland, Oregon, reflects on his accomplishments and the work still to be done.This Is Not for You tells the story of activist and photographer Richard Brown, a Black Portlander who has spent decades working to bridge the divide between police and the Black community. His memoir brings listeners... Read more

Race After Technology

By: Ruha Benjamin

Narrated by: Mia Ellis

Length: 6 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce White supremacy and deepen social inequity.



Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen... Read more

Illogical

By: Emmanuel Acho

Narrated by: Emmanuel Acho

Length: 4 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by the author.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man comes a call to break through our limits and say yes to a life of infinite possibility.

You may know Emmanuel Acho as the host of groundbreaking video series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.” Or as a New York... Read more