Black Authors

Honey Girl

By: Morgan Rogers

Narrated by: York Whitaker

Length: 10 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Named Most Anticipated of 2021 by Oprah Magazine * Marie Claire * Ms. Magazine * E! * Parade Magazine * Buzzfeed * Cosmo * The Rumpus * GoodReads * Autostraddle * Brit & Co * Refinery29 * Betches * BookRiot and others!

A LibraryReads Pick
 
“HONEY GIRL is an emotional, heartfelt, charming debut, and I loved every moment of it.”
— Jasmine... Read more

Harlem Shuffle

By: Colson Whitehead

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 10 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, this gloriously entertaining novel is “fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny ... about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).

"Ray Carney was only... Read more

Four Hundred Souls

By: Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha N. Blain

Narrated by: Various

Length: 14 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

A chorus of extraordinary voices comes together to tell one of history’s great epics: the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present—edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.

The story begins in 1619—a year before the Mayflower—when the White Lion... Read more

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By: Zora Neale Hurston

Narrated by: Ruby Dee

Length: 6 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie SmithOne of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love... Read more

The Trees

By: Percival Everett

Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn

Length: 7 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone



Percival Everett's The Trees is a must-listen that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance... Read more

So You Want to Talk about Race

By: Ijeoma Oluo

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 7 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a revelatory examination of race in AmericaA current, constructive, and actionable exploration of today’s racial landscape, offering straightforward clarity that readers of all races need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divideIn So You Want to Talk about Race,... Read more

Freedom is a Constant Struggle

By: Angela Y. Davis

Narrated by: Angela Y. Davis & Coleen Marlo

Length: 5 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.



Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's... Read more

Just Mercy

By: Bryan Stevenson

Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson

Length: 11 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.

“[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice... Read more

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

By: Marlon James

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 23 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

One of TIME’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

Winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize 

Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award

The New York Times Bestseller

Named a Best Book of 2019 by The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, GQ, Vogue, and The Washington Post

"A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made." --Neil Gaiman... Read more

Rest Is Resistance

By: Tricia Hersey

Narrated by: Tricia Hersey

Length: 5 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy by connecting to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice. Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to elevate rest as a form of resistance and a divine human right.

What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too... Read more

How We Fight For Our Lives

By: Saeed Jones

Narrated by: Saeed Jones

Length: 5 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

From award-winning poet Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives—winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Book Award—is a “moving, bracingly honest memoir” (The New York Times Book Review) written at the crossroads of sex, race, and power.

One of the best books of the year as selected by The New York Times; The Washington Post; NPR; Time; The... Read more

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins

By: P. Djèlí Clark

Narrated by: Lynnette R. Freeman

Length: 7 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins—resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories—have only three unbreakable vows.First, the contract must be... Read more

A Little Devil in America

By: Hanif Abdurraqib

Narrated by: JD Jackson

Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A sweeping, genre-bending “masterpiece” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) exploring Black art, music, and culture in all their glory and complexity—from Soul Train, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Whitney Houston, and Beyoncé

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Tribune, The... Read more

Amari and the Night Brothers

By: B. B. Alston

Narrated by: Imani Parks

Length: 11 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

New York Times bestseller! Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this exhilarating debut middle grade fantasy, the first in a series filled with #blackgirlmagic. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor. Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not... Read more

Seven Days in June

By: Tia Williams

Narrated by: Mela Lee

Length: 10 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

The instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon book club pick is "a heady combination of book love and between-the-sheets love.” (Ruth Ware)

“Tia Williams’s book is a smart, sexy testament to Black joy, to the well of strength from which women draw, and to tragic romances that mature into second chances. I absolutely loved it.”
—JODI... Read more

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

By: Tia Williams

Narrated by: Mela Lee & Preston Butler

Length: 11 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

In this sexy modern-day fairytale from the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, a free-spirited florist and an enigmatic musician share a soul mate connection told through the history, art, and the magic of Harlem.

The daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, Ricki Wilde is the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. In her... Read more

Maame

By: Jessica George

Narrated by: Heather Agyepong

Length: 10 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

A Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick

One of BookPage's Best Audiobooks of 2023

"The patchwork elements cooperate with one another both on the page and in the audiobook, thanks to Heather Agyepong’s elegant narration." —New York Times

"Maame is a deeply funny yet emotional novel that comes alive with narration. A great pick for the... Read more

Black Cake

By: Charmaine Wilkerson

Narrated by: Lynnette R. Freeman & Simone Mcintyre

Length: 12 hours

Abridged: No

NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past—and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake—in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time).... Read more

Take My Hand

By: Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Narrated by: Lauren J. Daggett

Length: 10 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction

“Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gaze…an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption.”—Celeste Ng

Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a searing and compassionate new novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the... Read more

Wow, No Thank You.

By: Samantha Irby

Narrated by: Samantha Irby

Length: 10 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

A new rip-roaring essay collection from the smart, edgy, hilarious, unabashedly raunchy, and bestselling Samantha Irby.

Irby is forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and... Read more

The Will to Change

By: bell hooks

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

Length: 6 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

From New York Times bestselling author, feminist pioneer, and cultural icon bell hooks, a timelessly necessary treatise on how patriarchy and toxic masculinity hurts us all, with a new introduction by poet Ross Gay.

Feminist writing did not tell us about the deep inner misery of men.

Everyone needs to love and be loved—including men. But to know... Read more

The Bluest Eye

By: Toni Morrison

Narrated by: Toni Morrison

Length: 7 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.

It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so... Read more

Bluebird, Bluebird

By: Attica Locke

Narrated by: J. D. Jackson

Length: 9 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

A "heartbreakingly resonant" thriller about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from a writer and producer of the Emmy-winning Fox TV show Empire (USA Today).

"In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke had both mastered the thriller and exceeded it."-Ann Patchett

When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules -- a... Read more

My Grandmother's Hands

By: Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW & SEP

Narrated by: Cary Hite

Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"My Grandmother's Hands will change the direction of the movement for racial justice."— Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility

In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.

The body... Read more