Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
Happy Tuesday! This past weekend was my birthday, and I actually went out on Saturday and then had a family brunch and get together afterwards, so that was a whole lot of people-ing for me, and I’m currently pretty wiped out. But, February is almost here, and in celebration of it almost being Black History Month, I want to use this freebie to highlight ten of my favorite Black authors! I’m going to incorporate various genres, so that hopefully there will be something for everyone, and maybe I’ll encourage someone to pick up a new book by a Black author this month. Here they are in no particular order:
- C.L. Clark — her queer fantasy series kicked off with The Unbroken and it completely won me over with the fantastic plot, wonderfully created characters, and the magnetic sexual tension between characters on two opposing sides of colonial conflict.
- Octavia E. Butler — she was a groundbreaking author, and her combination of sci-fi/historical fiction in Kindred was an incredible view on time travel, the legacy of slavery, racism, and family relationships.
- Dolen Perkins-Valdez — Take My Hand was a compelling novel about a dark chapter in American history, when the medical profession was used to harm and control the fertility and lives of young, poor, Black women in the post-segregation South, and one brave nurse’s fight against this harmful system.
- Evan Winter — a standout series starting with The Rage of Dragons is a stunning military fantasy set in an African-inspired world and has quickly become one of my favorites.
- Tiffany D. Jackson — one of the few YA horror authors that I’m willing to read consistently, I fell in love with her spin on Stephen King’s Carrie in The Weight of Blood, where she adds in a racist spin and a biracial main character to create additional depth and complexity to an already fascinating story.
- Talia Hibbert — she is the queen of sexy romance, with mental health representation that is beautifully and sensitively done, and I’ve loved every one of her books that I’ve read so far, even the one where she branches into YA romance.
- Alyssa Cole — if you’re looking for a good mystery/suspense/thriller, look no further. I loved When No One is Watching, which revolves around gentrification, but also addresses racism both on a personal and system level, and kept me hooked until the shocking end.
- Megan Giddings — she writes creepy, mysterious suspense novels. If you missed her debut, Lakewood, about a medical trial, I’m sure you’ve heard about The Women Could Fly, which incorporates some paranormal and dystopian elements, while still retaining compelling, emotional aspects to the story.
- Yaa Gyasi — her contemporary novel, Transcendent Kingdom, was absolutely absorbing, about a neuroscience doctoral candidate studying addiction and depression. Her work dovetails with her own family experience, after her brother’s fatal overdose and her mother’s consequent depression, and her own struggle with faith.
- Toni Morrison — her books are classics for a reason. Do I really have to give an explanation for why you should be reading them? Just trust me on this one.
Who are your favorite Black authors? Did any of these inspire you to pick up a book by one of these authors?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
I agree with you on Toni Morrison, Yaa Gyasi, and Octavia Butler. What a good idea for a list, too.
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Thank you! I think it’s so important to draw attention to diverse books, and I’m hoping that this list might inspire someone to read a book by a Black author in February that they might not have thought of. There are so many amazing Black authors!
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What a great list! Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s book Wench was amazing! I need to read Take My Hand as well. I need to read Kindred as well. Thanks for sharing.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2023/01/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-i-bought.html
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Thank you! I’m going to have to add Wench to my TBR, since I loved Perkins Valdez’s writing style. Kindred is amazing, and now I’m dying to read more of Octavia E. Butler’s work too. Hulu did an adaptation of Kindred, and while it’s a bit different, it’s good too!
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I have Take My Hand on loan from my library, so I hope to get to it soon. An author I’ve read and enjoyed is Sadeqa Johnson. Her debut novel was Yellow Wife, a historical fiction, but she has also written contemporary. She has a new book coming out this year that sound pretty interesting as well.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/ten-of-roses-favorite-books-of-all-time/
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I hope you get to Take My Hand soon – it was incredible! My mom read Yellow Wife, and gushed about it for weeks. I’m going to have to check it out too, so thanks for the heads up!
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The Unbroken sounds great!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-confessions/
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It is! It’s quickly become one of my favorite series.
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Great topic idea! I have loved all of Tiffany D. Jackson’s books I’ve read – but they were the ones she wrote before she started doing horror! I have a few more of them I really want to get to as well.
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I also read Whiteout, but she seems to be one of those authors that is incredible no matter what genre she writes in! And her horror isn’t terrifying and full of jump-scares, it’s more of a thoughtful type of horror, which I really enjoyed. I’m definitely going to be looking into her backlist.
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Great list!! I still really need to read Rage of Dragons!!
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Thank you. And you do need to read Rage of Dragons – it’s SO GOOD!
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I know!! I’ve heard so many amazing things!!!
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Great way to celebrate the upcoming Black History Month!
My post, if you’d like to take a look: https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2023/01/its-new-year-so-shall-we-try-for-happy.html
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Thank you! I definitely wanted to show them some love – the hard part was limiting myself to just ten!
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This is a great topic for today/this month and really any time. Mine would be Michelle Obama, Kennedy Ryan, Alexa Martin, Mia Sosa, Brittainy C. Cherry, Robinne Lee, Danielle Allen, and Whitney G.
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Thank you! I haven’t read anything by any of these authors, and I’m going to have to add them all to my TBR! I appreciate the heads up.
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Yay! Hope you love them.
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Talia Hilbbert is one of my faves as well. I enjoyed Tiffany D. Jackson’s writing in Blackout. Here is my post- https://paigesofnovels.com/2023/01/31/top-ten-tuesday-1-31-23-comfort-reads/
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They’re both incredibly talented authors, and it was so hard to limit myself to just ten for this post!
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Ooooh, I will have to add a couple of these to my TBR list. Some of my favorite Black authors are Langston Hughes, Alexandre Dumas, Walter Mosley, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (particularly his Mycroft Holmes series).
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I’m so glad to hear that you’re inspired to read work by these authors! And I’ll be adding your favorites to my TBR – I had no idea that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went on to write books!
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Abdul-Jabbar has written and co-written a whole bunch of books for all ages! It’s really cool. His Mycroft Holmes mysteries, co-written with Anna Waterhouse, are some of the best Holmes pastiches I’ve ever read.
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Those absolutely got added to my TBR!
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Great list! I Loved Talia Hibbert’s Get A Life, Chloe Brown (though I still need to read the other books in that series)! Alyssa Cole is another author I’ve read and loved before.
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Thank you! The rest of the Brown Sisters series is just as good, featuring different mental health representation, and spicy romance with plenty of humor.
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Great list, thanks for sharing.
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Thank you!
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Happy birthday! Yaa Gyasi and Toni Morrison are my favorites as well.
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Thank you! And they’re both such incredible writers!
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