by Taylor Follett
February is Black History Month! We’ve compiled a small sample of the incredible literary work African American poets, novelists, essayists, and thinkers have penned. Enjoy!
Explore novels by African American authors that came out within the past year:
or try these favorites:
Don’t have time for a full novel? These short stories and poetry collections can be savored when you have a moment:
Gwendolyn Brooks
Danielle Evans
Langston Hughes
These memoirs and autobiographical works are essential reads:
Jesmyn Ward
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Maya Angelou
The oft-overlooked essay genre is replete with sometimes amusing, sometimes powerful, and always fascinating academic and personal musings:
Teju Cole
Edited by Wahneema Lubiano
W. E. B. Du Bois
Find more inspiration in the library’s previous roundup of James Baldwin’s works. What’s your favorite book by an African American writer? Tweet us and let us know. Not finding a book in the library? Let’s change that.
Beyond the library at UC Berkeley, the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies will host lectures and other events. Stay tuned to the Fiat Vox podcast, which will honor an African American woman leader on campus every Monday.
Happy reading!