Books That Celebrate Women of the African Diaspora
Beginning with the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, the fiction of Harriet E. Wilson, and the first-person accounts of Sojourner Truth, the act of Black women documenting their experiences on the written page has always been revolutionary. Throughout the African diaspora, women have kept the tradition of storytelling alive, each of their voices serving as an irreversible catalyst for generations to come. In celebration of the remarkable and diverse perspectives contained within this tradition, we’ve selected 19 phenomenal texts that give us substance and bring us joy. Reminding us of the traditions and triumphs of our foremothers, sisters, and ourselves, each of these books is a testament to the rich history and promising future of Black womanhood.
-
1
Add to BookshelfThe Thing Around Your Neck
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Much like the widely celebrated international bestseller Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck is an undeniable reminder of the breadth of her prowess as a storyteller. Throughout this collection, Adichie examines the intricacies and contradictions of desire, belonging, and yearning with luminescent depth and heart. In stories like “Ghosts” and “The Headstrong Historian,” the specters of the past collide with the weight of the present while “The Shivering” and the collection’s titular story unblinkingly grapple with the dangers of blind faith — in a higher power or the American Dream — and denial of the self. Each story is a portal, urging its reader to look within.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
2
Add to Bookshelf
Stay with Me
by Ayobami Adebayo
In her electrifying debut, Stay with Me, Ayobami Adebayo perceptively maps out the topography of a romance through the voices of Yejide and Akin. At first, their love is enough to dispel the tensions and challenges of newlywed life, but when the couple’s hopes for their future are challenged, both are forced to reconsider what they are willing to sacrifice to bring their dreams to fruition. A uniquely arresting portrayal of intimacy, hope, and grief, Stay with Me is seamlessly heartfelt and profound.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
3
Add to Bookshelf
How Beautiful We Were
by Imbolo Mbue
Imbolo Mbue’s sophomore novel opens with a cataclysm. In a world altered by conflict and capitalistic greed, How Beautiful We Were is a timely portrait of what it means to survive in the wake of devastation. Told primarily through the eyes of the most vulnerable, the children of the fictive African village of Kosawa, Mbue’s novel boldly bears witness to the horrors of colonialism and transformative power and resilience of a people determined to be free. How Beautiful We Were is as timely as it is compelling.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
4
Add to Bookshelf
All That She Carried
by Tiya Miles
National Book Award Winner Tiya Miles’ All That She Carried tells the story of an artifact, a family, and a nation. A bag, embroidered with a wish, becomes a doorway to the past, transporting readers into a deeply stirring history that begins with a rupture — a young girl’s separation from her enslaved mother — and ends in reclamation. A woven narrative tapestry of rigorous research and luminous prose, Miles’ All That She Carried is a groundbreaking celebration of Black womanhood, resilience, and the limitlessness of love.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$22.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
5
Add to Bookshelf
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
by Anissa Gray
At the center of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls are the Butler sisters — Althea, Lillian, and Viola — as they navigate an irrevocable change that alters each of their lives. On the heels of Althea and her husband’s arrest, the Butler sisters’ fall from grace within their small town coincides with another challenge that neither Viola nor Lillian is prepared for: becoming the caretakers of Althea’s daughters. Reminiscent of Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage and Britt Bennett’s The Mothers, Gray’s novel is a mesmerizing meditation on sisterhood, family, and redemption.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$22.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
6
Add to Bookshelf
The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Abi Daré
Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice is an arresting and urgent rumination on agency, power, and selfhood. Adunni, a Nigerian teen, struggles to find her “louding voice” in a rural village where her dreams are often challenged by the grim realities of poverty, respectability, and the patriarchy. Despite all that stands in her way, Daré’s protagonist dares to define her destiny on her own terms without apology and, in doing so, encourages others to do the same. A remarkable narrative of persistence and courage, The Girl with the Louding Voice will remind you of the power of your own voice.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
7
Add to Bookshelf
All the Days Past, All the Days to Come
by Mildred D. Taylor
An unshakeable conclusion to the Logan family’s story, award-winner Mildred Taylor’s All the Days Past, All the Days to Come returns readers to a world many first encountered in the beloved pages of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The now grown-up Cassie Logan returns to Mississippi after studying law in Boston to help combat voter suppression. Through Cassie, Taylor brings to life the collective trials and triumphs of the Civil Rights movement, the possibilities and hopes of the Great Migration, and the ever-present and erosive violence of racism in America. All the Days Past, All the Days to Come is a profound culmination of a timeless saga.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$14.99Buy from Other Retailers:
-
8
Add to Bookshelf
Skin of the Sea
by Natasha Bowen
In Natasha Bowen’s genre-defying bestseller Skin of the Sea, Simi ferries the souls of those who die sea into the afterlife. For Simi, her duty is “a way to survive… a way to serve… a way to save.” Despite her dedication to her sacred role as Mami Wata, Simi makes an exception when she chooses to save a young boy who falls overboard. In doing so, Simi and her kind must face the consequences of her actions. Throughout this kaleidoscopic and fast-paced fantasy, Bowen’s heroine Simi dares to uncover an ancient secret to survive.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$12.99Buy from Other Retailers:
-
9
Add to Bookshelf
What We Lose
by Zinzi Clemmons
In Zinzi Clemmons’s award-winning debut, Thandie grapples with the death of her mother and the impact of her absence. Coupled with the aftermath of a devolving romance, Thandie’s grief becomes the epicenter of her world. Conveyed by images, graphs, historical anecdotes, and breathtaking vignettes, Clemmons artfully maps out what it means to mourn and love. What We Lose unflinchingly explores how the loss of a parent, much like the loss of a home, can alter a person irreversibly. It’s a meditation on how our connection to the past determines who we become.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
10
Add to Bookshelf
The Opposite House
by Helen Oyeyemi
Helen Oyeyemi’s second novel teases the boundaries between reality and myth, reconfiguring her readers’ sense of possibility with each transfixing page. The Opposite House follows Maja and Aya — a 20-something Afro-Cuban singer on the brink of motherhood, and a divine emissary who lives between two realms — through the streets of London and Lagos where gods walk disguised among men. With electrifyingly vivid prose, Oyeyemi examines the physical, psychological, and psychic experience of existing between two worlds, two nations, and two identities. Steeped in magical realism, her novel highlights the experience of migration and Black womanhood.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$20.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
11
Add to Bookshelf
The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers
by
This multi-genre compilation pairs the voices of previously under-celebrated Black women writers with well-known giants like Harriet Jacobs, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Wilson. Opening with the words of an anonymous yet inspiring woman, the anthology is a testament to the importance of perseverance. With soul-shaking foresight and conviction, the unknown opening orator proclaims, “Go forward.” Pulling together an illuminating chorus of activists, thinkers, and storytellers, this collection is a necessary primer — not just for women of the African diaspora, but for all readers.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$24.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
12
Add to Bookshelf
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
by ZZ Packer
With fiery wit and depth, ZZ Packer’s celebrated short story collection exquisitely embodies the intersecting complexities of gender, race, and class. Presenting readers with characters that feel as familiar as one’s own reflection in the mirror, Packer’s prose shines brightest when straddling the thin line between humor and tragedy. Whether it be through the eyes of an alienated Ivy League freshman, a flawed father, or a naive traveler, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere captures each protagonist’s trials and triumphs with unfaltering dignity and memorable empathy.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
13
Add to Bookshelf
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
Throughout the pages of Yaa Gyasi’s riveting debut novel, the story of a family’s legacy unfolds. Beginning in 18th-century Ghana, the narrative takes root as two sisters — Effia and Esi — come of age. Although unaware of one another, both Effia and Esi’s lives set into motion a series of events that define the history of not only a family but also two nations. Reminiscent of Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor, Homegoing is a breathtaking meditation on Blackness, resilience, and colonization’s ghosts. Gyasi’s prose is as arresting as each of the characters she breathes to life. Masterfully crafted and unforgettable, Homecoming is a novel meant to be read again and again.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
14
Add to Bookshelf
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
by Danielle Evans
Danielle Evans’s canon-worthy collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self exalts with heart and humor the glory and horror of adolescence, the steadfastness of familial love, and the occasionally volatile unpredictability of desire. In each of her stories, Evans paints a portrait of the American experience that so many writers have failed to accurately depict on the page. With the same tenacity, grit, and spirit present in each stanza of Kate Rushin’s “The Bridge Poem,” Evans’s stories prove that she isn’t just a literary genius, but a truth-teller and worthy successor to all the Black women writers who’ve come before her.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
15
Add to Bookshelf
Anything We Love Can Be Saved
by Alice Walker
The legendary Alice Walker charts her path toward political and personal enlightenment via a series of searingly honest essays. Originally released in 1997, Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer’s Activism investigates the ways in which social justice, motherhood, her icons, vocation, and ancestry shaped the woman she is today. Revealing a side of herself rarely seen within the pages of her fiction, each essay affirms the limitlessness of her wisdom. The perfect text to begin or end your day with, Walker’s musings will leave you energized and inspired. Consider this collection a guide on how to decolonize your spirit.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$21.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
16
Add to Bookshelf
Caucasia
by Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna’s novel centers around the biracial daughters of Civil Rights activists. Birdie and Cole come of age during an era defined by political tension and historic change. Although forever linked by their familial bond, their connection to one another is viewed differently by the outside world due to the difference in the color of their skin. Cole (who looks more like their father, who is Black) and Birdie (who takes after their mother, who is white) quickly learn that the politics and hopes of their parents are at odds with the prejudice of the world that surrounds them. A gripping exploration of race, love, and family, Caucasia is as much a story about America as it is about sisterhood and belonging.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
17
Add to Bookshelf
Negroland
by Margo Jefferson
The candid and undeniably memorable memoir from Pulitzer Prize-winner Margo Jefferson gives readers an intimate glimpse into the world of Chicago’s Black bourgeois. A community defined by intellectualism, affluence, and an insatiable appetite for being the best, Jefferson’s Negroland also casts light on the more insidious side effects of social mobility, exposing and contrasting the systemic drawbacks of privilege alongside its benefits. A story about childhood, sisterhood, and coming of age, Jefferson’s book is an inarguably engrossing read from beginning to end.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
18
Add to Bookshelf
bone
by Yrsa Daley-Ward
In the opening to bone, Yrsa Daley-Ward greets her audience with the following epigraph: “Because writing is a soft and a hard place, all at once.” The perfect preface to a collection of poems that revel in the dualities that define the world, each of Daley-Ward’s lines captures the beauty of juxtaposition in earnest. Perhaps best conveyed through the short yet potent promise of “what is now will soon be past,” Daley-Ward urges that we embrace the ebb and flow of life and the many things that make, unmake, and reshape who we are. With stirring brevity and insight, she memorializes the malleability of the self. She reminds us, “Whether you’re dancing dust / or breathing light. / you’re never exactly the same, / twice.”
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
-
19
Add to Bookshelf
Land of Love and Drowning
by Tiphanie Yanique
Rooted in a world awash in myth, magical realism, and inherited specters, Tiphanie Yanique’s debut, Land of Love and Drowning, centers around the unbreakable bond between Eeona and Anette, two sisters, both daughters of the Virgin Islands, whose lives are forever changed by a cataclysmic family tragedy. With lush description and gut-wrenching prose, Yanique’s novel examines the way history can shape a person’s fate and how love can redirect the trajectory of one’s path. When you read Land of Love and Drowning, don’t be surprised if the world outside of the novel seems to drift away. Just embrace it.
Add to BookshelfPaperback
$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
