Black Authors

Operation Sisterhood

By: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Narrated by: Kristen Ariza

Length: 8 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

Fans of the Netflix reboot of The Babysitters Club will delight as four new sisters band together in the heart of New York City. Discover this jubilant novel about the difficulties of change, the loyalty of sisters, and the love of family from a prolific award-winning author.

An Operation Sisterhood stage adaptation is coming soon to the John F.... Read more

Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman

By: Kristen R. Lee

Narrated by: Kacie Rogers

Length: 7 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

A striking debut novel about a college freshman grappling with the challenges of attending an elite university with a disturbing racist history, which may not be as distant as it seems.

"A searing debut.” –Entertainment Weekly

Savannah Howard thought everyone followed the same checklist to get into Wooddale University:
Take the hardest classesGet... Read more

Bedtime Bonnet

By: Nancy Redd

Narrated by: Nancy Redd

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

This joyous and loving celebration of family is the first-ever picture book to highlight Black nighttime hair traditions--and is perfect for every little girl who knows what it's like to lose her bonnet just before bedtime.

In my family, when the sun goes down, our hair goes up!
My brother slips a durag over his locs.
Sis swirls her hair in a wrap... Read more

Glory

By: NoViolet Bulawayo

Narrated by: Chipo Chung

Length: 16 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

2022 BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST

“Manifoldly clever…brilliant… ‘Glory’ is its own vivid world, drawn from its own folklore. This is a satire with sharper teeth, angrier, and also very, very funny.” —Violet Kupersmith, The New York Times Book Review

"Genius."—#1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds

From the award-winning author of the... Read more

Business Not As Usual

By: Sharon C. Cooper

Narrated by: Marcella Cox

Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

A woman learns the hard way about mixing business with pleasure in this hilarious new romantic comedy by USA Today bestselling author Sharon C. Cooper.

I am beautiful. I am confident. I am lovable. I am a lottery winner.

This is the mantra that will get Dreamy Daniels through each day until she makes it big. So what if she lives in a seedy part of... Read more

The Sun Does Shine (Young Readers Edition)

By: Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin & Olugbemi...

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

Length: 7 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times, now adapted for younger readers.

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed... Read more

The Black Joke

By: A.E. Rooks

Narrated by: Leon Nixon

Length: 9 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

A groundbreaking history of the Black Joke, the most famous member of the British Royal Navy’s anti-slavery squadron, and the long fight to end the transatlantic slave trade.

The most feared ship in Britain’s West Africa Squadron, His Majesty’s brig Black Joke was one of a handful of ships tasked with patrolling the western coast of Africa in an... Read more

Return to Sweetheart Lake

By: Evelyn Jordan

Narrated by: Will Damron & Robin Eller

Length: 9 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

They were from opposite sides of the tracks: the wealthy Nortons and the working-class Michaels. Yet Gray Norton and Charlie Michaels had become the unlikeliest of best friends, thick as thieves and utterly inseparable. Consumed with guilt after Charlie's untimely death, Gray fled his hometown to work as a doctor in a war zone. But Charlie's... Read more

Murder on Principle

By: Eleanor Kuhns

Narrated by: Pat Grimes

Length: 8 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

November 1800, Maine. After helping their long-time friend Tobias escort his wife, along with a liberated slave and her child, from the Great Dismal back to Durham, Will and Lydia Rees’s lives are interrupted when a dead body is found near their home. The body is that of Mr. Gilbert, a slaveholder from the Great Dismal. Was he murdered in... Read more

The Romantic Agenda

By: Claire Kann

Narrated by: Adrienne Walker

Length: 9 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

One of...
Parade's Best Romance Books of All Time
NPR's Books to Celebrate Pride Month
Buzzfeed's Most Anticipated LGBTQ Reads of 2022
Goodreads' Most Anticipated April Romances
Betches' Books To Add To Your Spring 2022 Reading List

Joy is in love with Malcolm.
But Malcolm really likes Summer.
Summer is in love with love.
And Fox is Summer’s... Read more

We Are Bridges

By: Cassandra Lane

Narrated by: Cassandra Lane

Length: 8 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

When Cassandra Lane finds herself pregnant at thirty-five, the knowledge sends her on a poignant exploration of memory to prepare for her entry into motherhood. She moves between the twentieth-century rural South and present-day Los Angeles, reimagining the intimate life of her great-grandparents Mary Magdelene Magee and Burt Bridges, and Burt’s... Read more

Tough

By: Terry Crews

Narrated by: Terry Crews

Length: 9 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

From Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews, the deeply personal story of his lifelong obsession with strength—and how, after looking for it in all the wrong places, he finally found it

Terry Crews spent decades cultivating his bodybuilder physique and bravado. On the outside, he seemed invincible: he escaped his abusive father, went pro in the NFL,... Read more

Letters to the Sons of Society

By: Shaka Senghor

Narrated by: Shaka Senghor

Length: 6 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

The New York Times bestselling author of Writing My Wrongs invites men everywhere on a journey of honesty and healing through this book of moving letters to his sons—one whom he is raising and the other whose childhood took place during Senghor's nineteen-year incarceration.
 
“A visceral and visual journey for the ages . . . the perfect road... Read more

How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days

By: K.M. Jackson

Narrated by: Tyla Collier

Length: 8 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

USA Today bestselling author K.M. Jackson delivers a hilarious road-trip rom-com perfect for fans of Meet Cute and When Harry Met Sally. Bethany Lu Carlisle is devastated when the tabloids report actor Keanu Reeves is about to tie the knot. What?! How could the world's perfect boyfriend and forever bachelor, Keanu not realize that making a move... Read more

They Can't Take Your Name

By: Robert Justice

Narrated by: J. D. Jackson

Length: 7 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother's Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue... Read more

The New Negro

By: Alain Locke

Narrated by: York Whitaker, Robin Eller, Charon Normand-Widm...

Length: 13 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

This anthology edited by the American writer, philosopher, and patron of the arts Alain Locke brings together some of the most influential pieces of African American works from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Featuring the voices of Zora Neale Thurston, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes, Locke included commentary on the... Read more

Behind the Scenes

By: Elizabeth Keckley

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 6 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Born in Virginia in 1818, Elizabeth Keckley grew up enslaved until she was able to purchase her and her son's freedom with money made from working as a seamstress. As she continued to perfect her craft, her styles caught the attention of the elite in Washington D.C. It wasn't until the day of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration that she crossed paths... Read more

Hair Story

By: NoNieqa Ramos

Narrated by: Victoria Rodriguez & Eboni Flowers

Length: 25 minutes

Abridged: No

Preciosa has hair that won’t stay straight, won’t be confined. Rudine’s hair resists rollers, flat irons, and rules. Together, the girls play hair salon! They take inspiration from their moms, their neighbors, their ancestors, and cultural icons. They discover that their hair holds roots of the past and threads of the future. Read more

Life, I Swear

By: Chloe Dulce Louvouezo

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Length: 5 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Foreword by Elaine WelterothIn this stunning essay collection inspired by the popular podcast Life, I Swear, prominent Black women reflect on self-love and healing, sharing stories of the trials and tribulations they’ve faced and what has helped them confront pain, heal wounds, and find connection. 
With essays by Eniafebiafe Isis Adewale •... Read more

Level Up

By: Stacey Abrams, Lara Hodgson & Heather Cabot

Narrated by: Lara Hodgson, Heather Cabot & Stacey Abrams

Length: 6 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

An inspiring and revelatory guide to starting and scaling a small business, from powerhouse duo Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson

Like many business owners, renowned politician and activist Stacey Abrams didn’t start a business because she dreamed of calling herself an entrepreneur. Her part-time post (and its $17,310 annual salary) as a member of... Read more

Crowned with Glory

By: Dorena Williamson

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

An ode to Black hair and Black girl joy, this joy-filled rhyming picture book invites young readers into the world of a young Black girl as she rocks her God-given beauty.

Hello, world! I’m a gift from above.
I already know that I am loved.

Gazing around with a great big grin—
there’s a whole wide world for me to take in.
 
From the hair on her head... Read more

The Garden of Broken Things

By: Francesca Momplaisir

Narrated by: Jade Wheeler, Karen Chilton & Francesca Momplaisir

Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

A novel about one family wading through the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010, from the acclaimed author who has been compared to Toni Morrison “at the height of her power” (Harper’s Bazaar)—a haunting and astonishing story of restoration and disaster, motherhood, and the bonds that carry through generations.  

Genevieve,... Read more

Harlem Sunset

By: Nekesa Afia

Narrated by: Shayna Small

Length: 8 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

Named a 2022 People Magazine best book of the summer!

A riveting Harlem Renaissance Mystery featuring Louise Lloyd, a young Black woman working in a hot new speakeasy when she gets caught up in a murder that hits too close to home...

Harlem, 1927. Twenty-seven-year-old Louise Lloyd has found the perfect job! She is the new manager of the Dove, a... Read more

Twice as Perfect

By: Louisa Onomé

Narrated by: Yinka Ladeinde

Length: 10 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

A Young Adult novel by Louisa Onomé, Twice As Perfect follows a Nigerian Canadian girl dealing with an estranged older brother, helping her cousin plan a big Nigerian wedding, and pressure from her parents about her future.

She thinks the only things worth doing are those that will lead to success.

For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is... Read more