My Favorite Contemporary Fiction by Black Authors

This was one of my Top 10 Favorite Books of 2017. Written by a Ghana born author, it's a rich, broad look at history, slavery, and colonialism in Ghana over the last 300 years. Each chapter spans a generation, linking characters and the reader to a history beginning in 18th century Ghana into the 20th century.

The characters are complex and the story feels personal, even as it travels through centuries. I came away with a much clearer understanding of how deep and broad the effects of slavery have been. Gyasi is a master storyteller! This was a really beautiful, ambitious book – highly recommend.

This one was also one of my Top 10 Books from 2017, but more importantly, it won the National Book Award that year too. It's a book that even three years later, I still think about often.

I don’t want to say too much about it, other than "Read It"! But here’s my hook: The book is dark – one of the narrators is a ghost. The bulk of the book takes place over the course of one day. Jojo and his toddler sister are accompanying their mother on the way to Parchman’s, a prison, to pick up their father. Every character has a lot at stake, which will keep you turning pages right to the very end. And at the end, if your experience is anything like mine, you will feel like Ward has given you a powerful, beautiful, important gift.

This was one of my Favorite Books of 2019. It opens with Washington Black, an eleven-year-old field slave, on a Barbados sugar plantation. But by the time it ends, Black has made his way around the world on a Jules Verne-like adventure. I loved the science/naturalist elements of this book as well as the fantastic writing. Edugyan tackles a lot of big themes in this book, but she does it so well! It may be a contemporary book, but it has all the feels of a great classic.

Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love in Nigeria but are separated when Ifemelu travels to America. Obinze hopes to join her there, but after 9/11, he can't make it to America and travels to London instead. For the first time in her life, Ifemelu struggles with what it means to be Black and Obinze struggles as an undocumented immigrant in England. But their love story doesn't end there. Fifteen years later they are reunited in Nigeria, but can they reconnect after living such different lives apart for so long?

This is a story about leaving home and finding it again. It's also a story about race, identity, and love. I loved every page of it.

I highly recommend this one on Audiobook - listening to the author read it (with her beautiful accent) is a fantastic experience.

The book is a dark comedy (think "Fargo") about two sisters – one who kills men, and one who cleans up the messes. It’s a clever satire about gender roles and societal framework. And while it’s funny, it’s worth paying attention to the deeper psychological side too. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this coming of age story set in Nigeria. When Adunni is 14 years old her father sells her to a much older man who expects her to be his third wife and bear him a son. But Adunni dreams of getting an education to become a teacher and she's willing to fight to make her dreams come true. I was rooting for Adunni every step of the way!

I love Coates' non-fiction works so I went into this one with high expecations. It did not disappoint! Hiram Walker was born into slavery on a Virginia Plantation owned by his aging white father. Hiram believes that when his mother was sold away when he was a young boy, he was somehow gifted with strange magical powers. Years later, he is saved by those very powers when he is nearly drowned in a river. After surviving his brush with death, Hiram Walker decides to escape the plantation and make a new life for himself. The ensuing journey is absolutely gripping!

Coates tells Walker's story with a rich blend of magical realism and historical fiction. I couldn't put it down!

This book is powerful but heart wrenching - consider yourself warned! Celestial and Roy are young newlyweds with a promising future ahead of them. However, when Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, their relationship is complicated by so many forces beyond their control. There's a lot to think about in this one!

This Pulitzer Prize winning book is phenomenal! Set in 1960's Tallahassee, young Elwood Curtis is unfairly sentenced to the Nickel Academy, a juvenile detention center straight out of your worst nightmare. It's horrifying and devastating, but you won't be able to stop reading.

This is based on the true story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of so many children.

I love Jacqueline Woodson's writing! This one is family saga that travels back and forth in time, with multiple voices to tell this family's story. It's deeply moving watching this family move through generational trauma, hardship, and conflict. It's deeply human and ultimately redemptive.

The Vignes sisters are identical twins with light skin born into a small, southern Black community that values lightness. When the twins run away at 16, they can't even imagine how different their lives will turn out. One sister ends up returning home years later with her dark skinned daughter to escape an abusive marriage. The other sister passes for white and marries a man who knows nothing of her past. Many years later, their daughters' lives unexpectedly collide. This was a real page turner!

Among my reading friends, people either love or hate this book. I'm in the love camp, but I will say that if you prefer a book with a strong plot, this is probably not the book for you - it's more of a free flowing kind of story. It begins with the an unlikely friendship formed between a Bengali man (Samad) and a British man (Archie) during WWII. The story jumps around, from their war history together to Archie's second marriage to a much younger Jamaican woman, to Samad's rebellious twin sons. It's a witty, philosophical commentary on sexism, immigration, politics, race, and religion. It's a lot, but I loved it.

I don't like very many short story collections ( I can actually count the ones I've enjoyed on just one hand), but this one makes the cut! All of the stories are about young Black people struggling with identity and race. My favorite in the collection is the story about a Girl Scout Brownie troop of Black girls.