Black Authors

Take a minute during Labor Day Weekend to relax and check out one these 15 books by Black authors we curated for your reading pleasure.

It saddens us to report today that literary icon bell hooks, responsible for the 1981 masterpiece 'Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism,' has died at the age of 69.

Filmmaker Nick Brooks has reached a seven-figure deal for his young adult thriller 'Promise Boys,' in which three boys at a Washington, D.C., charter school investigate the murder of their principal, and learn hard truths about their education and community.

Solange Knowles recently announced the debut of her free library led by Saint Heron creative agency, featuring rare books and art created by Black creatives.

Author Ralph Ellison is perhaps best known for his 1952 landmark novel, “Invisible Man.” What some might not know is that Ellison was also a musician, educator, and a World War II veteran over the course of his rich life. Born March 1, 1914 in Oklahoma City, Okla., Ralph Waldo Ellison was named after journalist, […]

The late Ann Petry holds the distinction of being the first Black woman writer to sell over 1 million copies of a book. Her 1946 bestseller, The Street, focused on a single mother living on 116th Street in Harlem and was inspired by her time living in the famed New York borough. Petry was born Anna […]

Langston Hughes was a literary giant who found fame during the rise of Black art and culture known widely as the Harlem Renaissance. As a leader of that movement, Hughes’ legacy is set, but his work transcends the period. The legendary poet’s 118th birthday just passed. Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, […]

Ernest J. Gaines first gained fame with the release of his 1971 novel, “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” which was adapted into a film starring Cicely Tyson. The Louisiana novelist died this past Tuesday of natural causes. Ernest James Gaines was born January 15, 1933 in Oscar, La., the eldest of 12 children to […]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Novelist Ernest J. Gaines, whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation germinated stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty, has died. He was 86. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which sponsors a literary award in Gaines’ honor, confirmed he died Tuesday in his sleep […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Colson Whitehead’s brutal narrative of a boys’ reform school, “The Nickel Boys,” and Marlon James’ fantasy epic “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” are among the works chosen by judges for the fiction longlist of the National Book Awards. Others on the list of 10 include Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s comic novel “Fleishman Is in […]

Walter Dean Myers was a prolific author of young adult literature who won numerous awards for his craft. The Harlem native was born August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, W. Va. After the passing of his mother, Myers was raised by the first wife of his biological father and her husband, and was raised in New […]

John Edgar Wideman is an award-winning author and just the second African-American to be named a Rhodes Scholar to the University of Oxford. The Pittsburgh native was born in Washington, D.C. on June 14, 1941 in Washington, D.C. Wideman grew up in the middle-class Black neighborhood of Homewood and later moved to Shadyside, a mostly […]