Must-Read Books by Queer Black Authors

A woman who’s used to going solo discovers that there’s one relationship she can’t run away from in this buoyant novel, a probing examination of the complexities of family, queerness, race, and community.

A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you’re supposed to be, and the limits of love.

In this extraordinary memoir, Akwaeke Emezi weaves through transformative decisions about their gender and body, their precipitous path to success as a writer, and the turmoil of relationships on an emotional, romantic, and spiritual plane, culminating in a book that is as tender as it is brutal.

Spencer Harris seems to have it all: a decent shot at a starting position on the boy’s soccer team, great friends, and maybe even something more than friendship with one of his teammates. The only problem is, no one at school knows Spencer is trans—he’s passing. Spencer has to decide if he should be true to himself even though it means coming out to everyone—including the guy he’s falling for.

“Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her . . . Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page.”—Off Our Backs

From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity. Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing.

In the stunning first novel in Marlon James’s Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both.