I Read Black Authors 2025
At Books Are Magic, we read Black authors all year round! Here are some of our favorites that we haven’t been able to stop thinking about long after we’ve closed the book!
Challenging you to add some to your tbr not just for this month but moving forward! Come share your reads with us by participating in our I Read Black Authors Challenge!
Jackal, Erin E. Adams
Think Jordan Peele’s Get Out meets Stephen King’s It, but completely women centered! This story tackles racism, domestic violence, fear & so much more. This is horror, community & deeply emotional.
— Tiffany
James, Percival Everett
There is a reason why Percival Everett’s James was on every “Best Of” list at the end of 2024. This novel flips every scene from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of the most significant pieces of American literature, on its head by shifting narrative perspective. In James we follow Jim, the black character who flees a crime in the night and rides down the Mississippi River with young Huck Finn. Through this change of perspective, James turns Huck’s boyhood misadventures into a story of true terror and Jim into a rich and compelling hero. Percival Everett is also married to Danzy Senna, whose work, Colored Television, also appears on this list.
– Aatia
wow, no thank you. Samantha Irby
Samantha Irby is hilarious and profane and absolutely gets me every single time. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, please meet your new best friend, Sam.
— Emma
If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin
If you have not read this novel you are really missing out. It is the iconic Baldwin NY novel that everyone should be required to read as it makes one a better person.
— Nick
Honey Girl, Morgan Rogers
This book is written so well that at times it feels like poetry. It all starts when the main character goes to Vegas and gets married while she’s drunk (Oops!) This WLW romance is everything I have ever wanted in a queer story. The characters are exploring their identities in their thirties, changing their careers and questioning educational paths in relatable and empowering ways.
— Nicole
Swift River, Essie Chambers
This debut novel is incredibly rich and dynamic, full of characters that are so real, so well-developed, it feels like I could reach into the pages and hold their hands. Once you dive into the waters of Swift River, it’s nearly impossible to pull yourself out until you reach the very end.
— Amali
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin
The most incredible worldbuilding, beautiful prose, unforgettable characters…what more could you ask for?! This series starter is absolutely sensational, but my favorite is actually the next book in the series, so keep going!
— Bel
Get A Life, Chloe Brown, Talia Hibbert
Oh man, I love the Brown sisters! These romances are so entertaining, and each sister is wonderful. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss these characters.
— Christine
All These Sunken Souls, Circe Moskowtiz
A black horror anthology?! Count me in, always! There is something for everyone in this collection. You get haunted houses, ghosts, monsters, obsession & a zombie apocalypse, what more could you want? Each story will have you on the edge of your seat, wanting more!
— Tiffany
The Noble Hustle, Colson Whitehead
Did you know that Colson Whitehead wrote a sports memoir? About being depressed and playing poker? He did! This might be Colson’s funniest book, even if it is bleak as hell and smells like cigarette smoke and bad decisions.
— Emma
Four Eids and a Funeral, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar
This is a big-hearted and tender teen romance, not to mention my favorite Young Adult read from 2024. Tiwa and Said were childhood best friends–almost sweethearts. When Said was sent away to private school, the two sadly lost touch. Now Said is back, and their beloved Islamic center is on the brink of disappearing. Strongheaded Tiwa holds a grudge against the charming but naive Said for leaving her behind. Four Eids and a Funeral struck me as a wholesome story with depth. The black and brown kids at the heart of the novel are the kinds of characters you root for.
— Aatia
Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi
Emezi’s debut novel hooks you from the first page to the very last. It’s a dark, twisted, emotional journey following Ada who has separate identities inside of themself. The story dives into Nigerian beliefs of two spirit identities and takes readers away from a Western perspective of ‘multiple personalities.’ This novel is so unique, so brave, and so so so eyeopening. You’ll love every word written in this book.
— Nicole
Seven Days in June, Tia Williams
What a beautiful story of love and loss and family. Not many books make me feel such a wide range of emotions, but this book hit them all.
— Christine
Rich People Have Gone Away, Regina Porter
Unsettling, immersive, and shockingly funny, Regina Porter’s sophomore book tackles the daunting era of the COVID-19 lockdown, and the many ways it tested bonds between family, between community, between loved ones. Race, class, and privilege are at the heart of this gripping mystery, keeping everyone involved—readers and characters alike—on their toes.
— Amali
Colored Televison, Danzy Senna
mu·lat·to
/mo͝oˈlädō/
offensive•dated
noun - a person of mixed white and Black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one Black parent.
Danzy Senna loves to write mulatto again and again because she knows that you, reader, cannot. Or should not, I guess. This irreverent, breathless ride of a novel hooked me. Jane Gibson is biracial, an academic, mother and wife. Her marriage with her husband Lenny is on the rocks, and when she finally submits her manuscript, a tome about biracial people in America, her whole life is upended. Jane and Lenny and their circle are the kinds of black characters I want to see more often. Brilliant, wry, enmeshed and messy! Senna also has a long backlist of other works, but this one was a runaway hit last year. Read it!
— Aatia
The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko
Sade is just trying to make ends meet as a curse eater (which is essentially a house cleaner for bad vibes) when her spirit gets bound to a cursed crocodile god (yes, he’s unbelievably handsome). Watching this warmhearted, Studio Ghibli-influenced story play out was a breath of fresh air.
— Kevin
The Blonde Dies First, Joelle Wellington
I freaking love this book. It’s a love letter to Brooklyn and dripping with classic horror movie tropes. As a scary movie fan and book lover, this book is what my dreams are made of. Not only do you get a perfectly executed supernatural tale, this also tackles social class, gentrification, micro aggressions and so much more. This gaggle of friends felt so familiar and you’ll find yourself connecting to each one!
— Tiffany
My Lesbian Novel, Renee Gladman
Gladman- An icon for the ages! - tried to write a lesbian romance and wound up writing an interview with herself about what its like to write a lesbian romance. A slim, precise entry into the mind of one of the greatest/weirdest writers of her generation.
— Bex
A Map to the Door of No Return, Dionne Brand, Saidiya Hartman
What would it look like to become a cartographer, and through knowing the dimensions of your world, also come to know your unending selves? Brand is a alchemist, and we are lucky to be drawn into her metallic light, her careful arms. A book of history, the diaspora, and mutability of returns.
— Bex
Ghostroots, ‘Pemi Aguda
This is everything a collection can and should be! Aguda brings us into a world of failing families, sinister magic, yearning lovers, childhood secrets, and more- the rage in these stories blew me away! I can’t wait to return to this collection, and to read whatever Aguda has in store for us next!
— Amali
Luster, Raven Leilani
Leliani’s prose illuminates even in the darkest of corners of our main character Efie’s story. A smoking hot car crash of a book, its tank spilling tension all across the road. Love a hot mess of a Brooklynnite.
— A
Women, Race & Class, Angela Y. Davis
An essential text on women's liberation from the Black perspective that introduced mainstream readership to intersectionality. Davis illuminates the compounded oppressions facing Black women and femme people and contextualizes the history of feminist and civil rights activism that still serves as a deep well of wisdom for the future of our collective actions and well-being.
— Colleen
This Cursed House, Del Sandeen
Incredibly dark southern gothic tale of a family trapped by their own hatred! A deep-rooted family curse buried in the darkest corners of their history, with family members willing to do anything to keep it hidden. This tackles race and eugenics in such nuanced ways that I know this story will linger and leave traces of itself long after I’ve closed the book.
— Tiffany
Join in our challenge that goes on until December 31, 2025!
