New Fiction:
Awkward Black Man Stories by Walter Mosley
(Best-Selling Author) – Walter Mosley presents distinct characters as they struggle to move through the world in each of these stories. There are heroes who are awkward, nerdy, self-defeating, self-involved, and on the whole odd. He overturns the stereotypes that corral black male characters and paints a subtle, powerful portrait of each of these unique individuals.
Confessions In B-Flat: A Civil Rights Love Story by Donna Hill
(Essence Bestselling Author) brings us an emotional love story set against the powerful backdrop of the civil rights movement that gripped a nation, a story that is timely as it is timeless.
Three-Fifths: A Novel by John Vercher
(Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel)
Three-Fifths is about a biracial black man, passing for white, who is forced to confront the lies of his past while facing the truth of his present when his best friend, just released from prison, involves him in a hate crime.
Yellow Wife: A Novel by Sadeqa Johnson
(Award winning author of the National Book Club Award, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, & USA Best Book Award for Best Fiction) this harrowing story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most slave jail in Virginia. A fully immersive, intricately crafted story inspired by the pages of history.
New Non-Fiction:
Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest Edited by Terrion L Williamson
This anthology explores the various meanings and experiences of blackness throughout the Rust Belt, the Midwest, and the Great Plains. Bringing together people from major metropolitan centers like Detroit and Chicago as well as smaller cities where black residents have often gone unacknowledged.
Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America by Marcus J. Moore
(Thirteen-time Grammy Award winning Rapper & Pulitzer Prize for Music) the Butterfly Effect is a triumphant story of a modern lyrical prophet and an American icon who has given hope to those buckling under the weight of systemic oppression, reminding everyone that through it all, “we gon’ be alright.”
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
(The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Warmth of Others Suns) examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power which groups have it and which do not. Named the #1 nonfiction book of the year by People, The Washington Post, Publisher Weekly, New York Post, New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Library Journal & more.
Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne
(Winner of the Pulitzer Prize) The result of nearly three-decades of investigative reporting. “The Dead Are Arising” is an essential new biography of one of the most compelling political figures of the twentieth century” Jill Lepore, Author of These Truths.
GIRL, GURL, GRRRL: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic by Kenya Hunt
Illuminates our current moment and transcends it. The author captures the spirit of the moment while also creating a timeless celebration of womanhood, of blackness, and the possibilities they both contain. This book truly reflects what it is to be living and thriving as a black woman today.
Gucci Mane Guide to Greatness by Gucci Mane With Soren Baker
(Critically acclaimed platinum-selling recording artist and New York Times Bestselling author of “The Autobiography of Gucci Mane) the release of his second book are his secrets to success, health, wealth, and self-improvement. “I wanted to write this book to give you a tool set. It’s not going to be easy. But study these words, and put them into action. I want this book to keep you motivated. I want you to keep coming back to it for guidance and inspiration”.
Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine
(Finalist for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction) This book is an invitation to discover what it takes to stay in the room together, even and especially in breaching the silence, guilt, and violence that follow direct addresses of whiteness. The arrangements of essays, poems, and images
of others also, fact-checked notes and commentary that complements Rankine’s own text, complicating notions of authority and who gets the last word.
Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson
(New York Times Bestselling Author – Dr. Dyson is a recipient of two NAACP Image Awards and the 2020 Langston Hughes Festival Medallion) Dyson traces the genealogy of anti-blackness from the slave ship to the street corner where George Floyd lost his life and where America gained its will to confront the ugly truth of systemic racism.
Rise Up: Confronting A Country at the Crossroads by Reverend Al Sharpton
Reverend Sharpton revisits the highlights of the Obama administration, the 2016 election and Trump’s subsequent hold on the GOP, and draws on his decades long experience with other key players in politics and activism. (Reverend Al Sharpton is the host of MSNBC’s Politics Nation and the founder and president of the National Action Network).
Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
(New York Times Bestselling Author) from the host of the viral hit video series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” Acho in his essential guide to the truths Americans need to know to address the systemic racism that has recently electrified protests in all fifty states.
When Women Pray: 10 Women of the Bible Who Changed the World through Prayer by T.D. Jakes
(The #1 New York Times Bestselling author of more than forty books) and one the most inspirational, influential, and treasured spiritual leaders of our time. In this book, Bishop Jakes explores ten prayer-filled women of the Bible and shares their stories to show us the life changing power that women have when they find their voice in Christ.
*Add-Ons
These titles aren’t new but great reads!
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard Rothstein – In this book the author describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation, with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsides for builders to create white-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods.
Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
In this inspiring memoir we learn about the impact that her family and community had on her life, and see what led her to discover her own sense of self and purpose. Also, with her election to the Vice Presidency, her election to the U.S. Senate, and her position as Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris has blazed trails throughout her entire political career. This book challenges us to become leaders in our own lives.
The Traveler Weekly 