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These 28 Brilliant Books by Black Authors Are the Standouts in What Was a Stellar Year in Black Literature
Let’s talk about books because, as usual, the past year has been an amazing one for books by black writers. The only problem is narrowing a list to under 30 books standouts when all the books are so good. From Michelle Obama’s autobiography to the latest collection from the poet laureate of the United States,…
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Michelle Obama’s Becoming Is Everything You Knew It Would Be
We all know by heart Michelle Obama’s public story: The girl from the South Side of Chicago, raised by incredibly hard-working parents. The descendant of slaves who attended two Ivy League institutions and then returned home to invest in her community, eventually meeting her beloved husband and raising two daughters. We know, too, Michelle Obama’s…
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These New and Upcoming Books by Black Authors Will Give You Life in These Perilous Times
In these dark, cold winter months, let us take comfort in the amazing things black people are doing in literature. 2018 is going to be lit, y’all. Morgan Jerkins’ newly released debut essay collection, This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, is, simply, incendiary. The…
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For the Love of Black Boys: Derrick Barnes and His Ode to the Fresh Cut
Derrick Barnes is the author of nine books for children, the most recent being Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut. The book, which has been voted one of the best books of the year by NPR, is among the first wave of titles published by acclaimed writer Denene Millner’s new children’s book imprint, housed…
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The 16 Best Books of the Year by Black Authors
The end of 2017 is near, which means it is time for annual year-end “best of” lists to pop up everywhere. Here, The Root presents our annual list of the most compelling books published in 2017 by black authors in affordable, regular print runs—which is why Beyoncé’s $300 literary opus on the making of Lemonade…
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Give Someone a Good Read With 1 of These 26 Best Books by Black Authors
Looking for a great book? Looking for a great gift? Here are 26 of the best books by black authors published in 2016. They are realistic stories, science fiction and fantasy stories, mystery thrillers, investigative journalism and histories. Ranging from fiction to poetry, short stories to essay collections, there is something here for every taste.…
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In ‘They Can’t Kill Us All,’ Journalist Wesley Lowery Captures the Birth of a Movement
“There are few things as exhilarating as parachuting into an unknown place with a bag full of pens and notebooks in pursuit of ‘the story,’” Washington Post journalist Wesley Lowery writes in the opening of his book ‘They Can’t Kill Us All’: Ferguson, Baltimore, and A New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement. Lowery—who had…
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In Colson Whitehead’s Imaginative The Underground Railroad, the Train to Freedom Is Real
Previously nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and a MacArthur “genius” grant, Colson Whitehead has now been nominated for a National Book Award for his latest novel, The Underground Railroad, itself already selected as an Oprah’s Book Club pick for 2016. Whitehead is also the author of John Henry…
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The Story of 10 Young People Killed in a Day by Guns Should Make You Rethink American Gun Culture
In America, “Every day, on average, seven children and teens are killed by guns; in 2013 it was 6.75 to be precise,” writes Afro-British journalist Gary Younge in the introduction to his upcoming fifth book, Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives. “Gun violence is the leading cause of…
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Luvvie Ajayi Is Only Judging You Because She Wants You to Do Better
“Clearly, we need a playbook, a guide to help people get a bit of common sense and some behavior as they navigate today’s hyper-obsession with pop culture, social-media sharing and outright navel gazing,” writes Luvvie Ajayi in the introduction to her new book, a collection of essays titled I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual. Ajayi…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
