Black Authors

This Is Supposed to Be Fun

By: Myisha Battle

Narrated by: Myisha Battle

Length: 6 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

A certified clinical sexologist’s radically inclusive guide to sex and dating 

Swipe. Match. Get ghosted. Repeat. Modern dating can quickly start to feel like an overwhelming slog. It’s easy to forget the point of it all: this is supposed to be fun. Enter professional sex and dating coach Myisha Battle. Drawing on an engaging and diverse... Read more

Big Girl

By: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts

Length: 12 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Exquisitely compassionate and witty, Big Girl traces the intergenerational hungers and desires of Black womanhood, as told through the unforgettable voice of Malaya Clondon.



In her highly anticipated debut novel, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan explores the perils—and undeniable beauty—of insatiable longing.



Growing up in a rapidly changing Harlem,... Read more

It's Always Been Ours

By: Jessica Wilson MS, RD

Narrated by: Jessica Wilson MS, RD

Length: 6 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

This “necessary book” (Roxanne Gay, New York Times bestselling author, Bad Feminist and Hunger) shares an essential look at the ways in which Black women are left out of conversations about “diet culture,” health, and wellness. In It’s Always Been Ours, eating disorder specialist and storyteller Jessica Wilson challenges us to rethink the... Read more

Why Fathers Cry at Night

By: Kwame Alexander

Narrated by: Kwame Alexander

Length: 3 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

This powerful memoir from a #1 New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medalist features poetry, letters, recipes, and other personal artifacts that provide an intimate look into his life and the loved ones he shares it with. In a powerfully intimate and non-traditional (or "new-fashioned") memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man... Read more

Enslaved

By: Sean Kingsley & Simcha Jacobovici

Narrated by: Cary Hite

Length: 11 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

A riveting and illuminating exploration of the transatlantic slave trade by an intrepid team of divers seeking to reclaim the stories of their ancestorsFrom the writers behind the acclaimed documentary series Enslaved, starring Samuel L. Jackson, comes a rich and revealing narrative of the true global and human scope of the transatlantic slave... Read more

They Said This Would Be Fun

By: Eternity Martis

Narrated by: Eternity Martis

Length: 7 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

A booksmart kid from Toronto, Eternity Martis was excited to move away to Western University for her undergraduate degree. But as one of the few Black students there, she soon discovered that the campus experiences she'd seen in movies were far more complex in reality. Over the next four years, Eternity learned more about what someone like her... Read more

Being Clem

By: Lesa Cline-Ransome

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 4 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home—and himself.... Read more

William Still and His Freedom Stories

By: Don Tate

Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White

Length: 32 minutes

Abridged: No

William Still’s parents escaped slavery but had to leave two of their children behind, a tragedy that haunted the family. As a young man, William went to work for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, where he raised money, planned rescues, and helped freedom seekers who had traveled north. And then one day, a strangely familiar man came into... Read more

The Youngest Marcher

By: Cynthia Levinson

Narrated by: Tyla Collier

Length: 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks intended to go places and do things like anybody else. So when she heard grown-ups talk about wiping out Birmingham’s segregation laws, she spoke up. As she listened to the preacher’s words, smooth as glass, she sat up tall. And when she heard the plan—picket those white stores! March to protest those unfair... Read more

Roar

By: Natavia Stewart

Narrated by: Cary Hite & Eboni Flowers

Length: 11 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

Sy’noba, a young female lioness with roots in the African savanna, finds herself battling with her true identity now that she is living in civilization among non-shifters. The pride’s king, Koja, who already has two wives, has his eyes set on Sy’noba, the little sister of his first wife, Asha. With jealousy brewing in the pride, will Asha turn... Read more

Feed Your Mind

By: Jen Bryant

Narrated by: David Sadzin

Length: 52 minutes

Abridged: No

August Wilson (1945–2005) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who had a particular talent for capturing the authentic everyday voice of Black Americans. As a child, he read off soup cans and cereal boxes, and when his mother brought him to the library, his whole world opened up. After facing intense prejudice at school from both... Read more

Crossfire

By: Staceyann Chin

Narrated by: Staceyann Chin

Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Crossfire collects Staceyann Chin's empowering, feminist-LGBTQ-Caribbean, activist-driven poetry for the first time in a single book. According to The New York Times, Chin is “sassy, rageful and sometimes softly self-mocking.” The Advocate says that her poems “combine hilarious one-liners with a refusal to conform” and note “Chin is out to... Read more

In Search of the Color Purple

By: Salamishah Tillet

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 6 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

Alice Walker made history in 1982 when she became the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, both for The Color Purple. Published in the Reagan Era amid a severe backlash to civil rights, the jazz-age novel tells the story of an African-American woman haunted by domestic and sexual violence. Prominent academic... Read more

Educated for Freedom

By: Anna Mae Duane

Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price

Length: 9 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

In the 1820s, few Americans could imagine a viable future for black children. Even abolitionists saw just two options for African American youth: permanent subjection or exile. Educated for Freedom tells the story of James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet, two black children who came of age and into freedom as their country struggled to... Read more

Always Another Country

By: Sisonke Msimang

Narrated by: Sisonke Msimang

Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Born in exile, in Zambia, to a guerrilla father and a working mother, Sisonke Msimang is constantly on the move. Her parents, talented and highly educated, travel from Zambia to Kenya and Canada and beyond with their young family. Always the outsider, and against a backdrop of racism and xenophobia, Sisonke develops her keenly perceptive view of... Read more

Winning in Reverse

By: Bill Lester & Jonathan Ingram

Narrated by: Cary Hite & Bill Lester

Length: 8 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

NASCAR has traditionally been a southern white man’s sport, but it was knocked off its axis when Bill Lester entered the playing field. He had not grown up in the sport as so many other drivers had. Instead, he enjoyed racing as a side hobby while he worked as an engineer at Hewlett-Packard. Then, at age forty, while standing on the brink of... Read more

Hollywood Homicide

By: Kellye Garrett

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 10 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Dayna Anderson doesn't set out to solve a murder. All the semi-famous, mega-broke actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. So after witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she pursues the fifteen-grand reward. But Dayna soon finds herself doing a full-on investigation, wanting more than just money—she wants justice for the victim. She... Read more

The Confession of Copeland Cane

By: Keenan Norris

Narrated by: Roberto Antonio Martin, Adenrele Ojo, Keenan No...

Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Copeland Cane V, the child who fell outta Colored People Time and into America, is a fugitive... He is also just a regular teenager coming up in a terrifying world. A slightly eccentric, flip-phone loving kid with analog tendencies and a sideline hustling sneakers, the boundaries of Copeland’s life are demarcated from the jump by urban toxicity,... Read more

Muhammad Ali Was a Chicken?

By: Dan Gutman

Narrated by: Jesús E. Martínez & Tyla Collier

Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Did you know that Muhammad Ali was so terrified of flying on planes that he would bring a parachute? Or that he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Bet you didn’t know that he had an official sweat-taster to determine how salty his sweat was after each match! Siblings Paige and Turner do?and they’ve collected some of the most unusual and... Read more

Walking in Tall Weeds

By: Robin W. Pearson

Narrated by: Robin Eller

Length: 10 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

From award-winning author Robin W. Pearson comes a new Southern family drama about one family who discovers their history is only skin-deep and that God’s love is the only family tie that binds.

Paulette and Fred Baldwin find themselves wading through a new season of life in Hickory Grove, North Carolina. Their only son, McKinley, now works... Read more

The Black Guy Dies First

By: Robin R. Means Coleman & Mark H. Harris

Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smith

Length: 9 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

A definitive and surprising exploration of the history of Black horror films, after the rising success of Get Out, Candyman, and Lovecraft Country from creators behind the acclaimed documentary, Horror Noire.

The Black Guy Dies First explores the Black journey in modern horror cinema, from the fodder epitomized by Spider Baby to the... Read more

Black Panther

By: Jesse J. Holland & Marvel

Narrated by: J. D. Jackson & Joy Sunday

Length: 17 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

T'Challa faces the gods of his parents. Vampires stalk Shuri and a Dora Milaje in voodoo-laced New Orleans. Erik Killmonger grapples with racism, Russian spies, and his own origins. Here are eighteen brand-new tales of Wakanda, its people, and its legacy. The first mainstream superhero of African descent, the Black Panther has attracted fans of... Read more

Aniana del Mar Jumps In

By: Jasminne Mendez

Narrated by: Jasminne Mendez

Length: 4 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Pura Belpré Author Honor Award
** Four starred reviews!**

A powerful and expertly told novel in verse, by an award-winning poet, about a twelve-year-old Dominican American swimmer who is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis.

Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden... Read more

Jackson

By: LaQuette

Narrated by: Eboni Flowers

Length: 11 hours

Abridged: No

Aja Everett longs to turn her old family ranch into a place where anyone can find rest and healing. But her big heart's bound to get her in trouble if she's not careful—someone wants her gone, and they'll do whatever it takes to drive her away from the land that's her lifeblood. Whether she's willing to admit it or not, she needs help. She needs... Read more