Black Authors

The Yellow Wife

By: Sadeqa Johnson

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

From the New York Times bestselling author of House of Eve—a 2023 Reese’s Book Club Pick!

*A Best Book of the Year by NPR and Christian Science Monitor*

Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this “fully immersive” (Lisa Wingate, #1 bestselling author of Before We Were Yours) story follows an enslaved... Read more

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

By: Kimberly Lemming

Narrated by: Hazel Addison

Length: 7 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Spice trader Cinnamon's quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon in this irreverently quirky rom-com fantasy that is sweet, steamy, and funny as hell—perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and The Dragon's Bride. 

All she wanted to do was live her life in peace—maybe get a cat, expand the family spice... 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

The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Read with Jenna Pick

By: Abi Daré

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Length: 12 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK! 

“Brave, fresh . . . unforgettable.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A celebration of girls who dare to dream.”—Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers (Oprah’s Book Club pick)
 
Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and recommended by The New York... Read more

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

By: Hanif Abdurraqib

Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib

Length: 8 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

*2018 "12 best books to give this holiday season" TODAY Show*Best Books of 2018* Rolling Stone"A Best Book of 2017" NPR, Buzzfeed, Paste Magazine, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, CBC, Stereogum, National Post, Entropy, Heavy, Book Riot, Chicago Review of Books, The Los Angeles Review, Michigan Daily*American Booksellers Association... Read more

Don't Cry for Me

By: Daniel Black

Narrated by: Daniel Black

Length: 7 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

Don't miss Daniel Black's next novel Isaac's Song coming January 2025

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK IN ESSENCE MAGAZINE, THE MILLIONS AND BOOKISH


"Don't Cry for Me is a perfect song."—Jesmyn Ward

A Black father makes amends with his gay son through letters written on his deathbed in this wise and penetrating novel of empathy and forgiveness, for... Read more

Where Shadows Meet

By: Patrice Caldwell

Narrated by: Alexis Campbell, Khaya Fraites & Melinda Sewak

Length: 9 hours 50 minutes

Abridged: No

This dark and thrillingly romantic debut vampire fantasy, which features multicast narration, questions what it truly means to sacrifice for love.

"This is a lush, intoxicating read, packing tender romance alongside vicious twists. My new obsession!" - Mark Oshiro, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anger is a Gift and Into the Light

You have... Read more

The Princess Trap

By: Talia Hibbert

Narrated by: Cornell Collins

Length: 8 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

From bestselling author Talia Hibbert comes a story of wicked royals, fake engagements, and the fed-up office worker trapped in the midst of it all . . .



Cherry Neita is thirty, flirty, and done with men. As far as she can tell, they're overrated, overpaid, and underperforming—in every area of life. But a girl has needs, and the smoking-hot... Read more

One of Us Knows

By: Alyssa Cole

Narrated by: Susan Dalian

Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

From the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching comes a riveting thriller about the new caretaker of a historic estate who finds herself trapped on an island with a murderer—and the ghosts of her past. Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical... Read more

Rosewater

By: Tade Thompson

Narrated by: Bayo Gbadamosi

Length: 13 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

Rosewater is the start of an award-winning trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction's most engaging voices.

*Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, winner
*Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel, winner

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents... Read more

Cobalt Red

By: Siddharth Kara

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 11 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

This program includes an author's note read by the author.

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all.

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the... Read more

The Violin Conspiracy

By: Brendan Slocumb

Narrated by: JD Jackson & Brendan Slocumb

Length: 12 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! • Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world.

“I... Read more

Black on Both Sides

By: C. Riley Snorton

Narrated by: C. Riley Snorton

Length: 8 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

The story of Christine Jorgensen, America's first prominent transsexual, narrated trans embodiment in the postwar era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives. Their erasure from trans history masks the ways race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. In Black on... Read more

Fledgling

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 12 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little black girl with traumatic amnesia and near-fatal wounds. But Shori is a fifty-three-year-old vampire with a ravenous hunger for blood, the lost child of an
ancient species of near-immortals who live in dark symbiosis with humanity. Genetically modified to be able to walk in... Read more

The House of Hidden Meanings

By: RuPaul

Narrated by: RuPaul

Length: 7 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

***An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!***From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date--a deeply intimate memoir of discovery, found family, and self-acceptance. The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing... Read more

Heavy

By: Kiese Laymon

Narrated by: Kiese Laymon

Length: 6 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

*Selected as One of the Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times*

*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, BuzzFeed (Nonfiction), The Undefeated, Library Journal (Biography/Memoirs), The Washington Post (Nonfiction), Southern Living (Southern), Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Times... 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

Jackal

By: Erin E. Adams

Narrated by: Sandra Okuboyejo & William DeMeritt

Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

RECOMMENDED BY GILLIAN FLYNN ON THE TODAY SHOW • A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she's not the first—and she may not be the last. . . .

“I read this thriller that is Get Out meets The Vanishing Half in one night.”—BuzzFeed

“Extraordinary . . . A terrifying tale of fears and hatreds generated by... Read more

Sister Outsider

By: Audre Lorde

Narrated by: Robin Eller

Length: 7 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action... Read more

Will

By: Will Smith

Narrated by: Will Smith

Length: 16 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the... Read more

Congratulations, The Best Is Over!

By: R. Eric Thomas

Narrated by: R. Eric Thomas

Length: 6 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The beloved author of Here for It returns with a collection of “funny and compulsively readable” (Vogue), “hilarious and incisive” (Time) essays about what happens after happily ever after.

“How is it possible that I liked this book even more than his last one? Phenomenal.”—Jenny Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of... Read more

Big Friendship

By: Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman

Narrated by: Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman

Length: 5 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

A close friendship is one of the most influential and important relationships a human life can contain. Anyone will tell you that! But for all the rosy sentiments surrounding friendship, most people don’t talk much about what it really takes to stay close for the long haul.

Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their... Read more

The Book of (More) Delights

By: Ross Gay

Narrated by: Ross Gay

Length: 6 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

From bestselling author of The Book of Delights and award-winning poet, a book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us.

Ross Gay’s essays have been called “exquisite” (Tracy K. Smith), “imperative” (the New York Times Book Review), and “brilliant” (Ada Limón). Now,... Read more

Washington Black

By: Esi Edugyan

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 12 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • “A gripping historical narrative exploring both the bounds of slavery and what it means to be truly free.” —Vanity Fair

Eleven-year-old George Washington Black—or Wash—a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is... Read more