Debuts don’t just mean new, fantastic books—but new fantastic authors to read, too.
Suggested Reading
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen was originally self-published and part of a trilogy that follows Tabitha Walker and her self-ascribed status as the “ideal, modern Black woman”—and how that whole identity changes once a medical diagnosis turns her life on its head. Anita Kopacz explores the Yoruban deity Yemaya, who travels across continents to traverse the Underground Railroad, searching for the man who sacrificed part of his life for hers.
Nadia Owusu’s debut memoir, Aftershocks, is available as a paperback that will keep you engaged in the multiracial, transcontinental story of her early life in search of her true identity. Lastly, Peace Adzo Medie’s story of Afi Tekple and her arranged marriage is utterly engaging and has also been released as a paperback.
Additionally, the true story of the 6888th battalion, the first all-Black, female-led battalion in World War II tells the tale of the first time Grace Steele and Eliza Jones traveled to Europe to fight for their country in Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson.
If you’re looking to escape to a new type of world written by new authors, this week’s releases will have you on the edge of your seat and excited to read more.
Aftershocks: A Memoir – Nadia Owusu (Memoir)
Nadia Owusu’s debut memoir, Aftershocks, is now available in paperback and follows a young Nadia as she travels with her father from Europe to Africa and back. Each time she and her family finally get settled into a normal way of life, it is time for them to move again, leaving everything behind and allowing for nothing to be sacred. Following the shocking death of her father, a 13-year-old Nadia learns of a horrible secret about her mother and childhood, throwing her into fits of depression for the rest of her young adult life. Slamming into a new life in New York, feeling “stateless, motherless and uncertain about her future,” Owusu sets out to find herself and forge a new identity.
August 3, 2021, Simon & Schuster
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted – Jayne Allen (Fiction)
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted is the first book in a previously self-published trilogy about strength, perseverance, dreams and motherhood. Tabitha Walker is the epitome of the ideal “modern Black woman” with an amazing job, picture-perfect boyfriend, downpayment on a house and a “standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist.” Things are going exactly as planned…until they’re not.
A medical diagnosis rocks her world and in that moment, Tabitha has to make an impossible choice—continue to pursue her career goals, or sacrifice everything for family. With the help of her two best friends and grandmother, Tabitha explores all of the possibilities and is beaten down by her grandmother’s age old saying: Black girls must die exhausted.
September 28, 2021, HarperCollins
Correction – August 5, 2021, 10:05 am ET: This post has been corrected to reflect the official publication date of ‘Black Girls Must Die Exhausted’ to September 28, 2021.
His Only Wife – Peace Adzo Medie (Fiction)
Smart, pretty and on her way to being successful, a young seamstress in Ghana has been convinced by her mother to marry a man…one she doesn’t know. Afi Tekple has been married off to wealthy businessman Elikem, whose family has chosen Afi to be his wife in hopes she will discourage him from continuing a fraudulent relationship no one approves of. Afi has only agreed to the marriage to give her mother financial security, so she must see it through…or does she?
Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel His Only Wife is now available in paperback and the witty, beautifully written and the brave story gives us a “relatable heroine who just may break all the rules.”
August 3, 2021, Workman Publishing Company
My Kingdom for a Title – Pope.L (Nonfiction)
As a visual artist and educator, Pope.L opened a dialogue about the preconceived notions about contemporary culture. My Kingdom for a Title assembles materials, much of which is being published for the first time in the this book, which shows “some of the same social, formal and performative strategies to his interests in language, system, gender, race and community,” per a press release provided to The Root.
Available for pre-order now, My Kingdom for a Title explores the creative processes “integral to [Pope.L’s practice.” Published as a complement to to two exhibitions that took place this past year, the book will be made available in September 2021.
Pre-order available now, Mitchell-Innes & Nash and New Documents
Shallow Waters: A Novel – Anita Kopacz (Fiction)
Yemaya is an Orïsha—a deity in Yoruban religion—who is reimagined and cast into 19th century America in Anita Kopacz’s debut lyric novel, Shallow Waters. Yemaya is on a journey that leads her in search of Obatala—the man who sacrificed his freedom for hers. With this journey, she is forced on a path to become the all-powerful woman she was destined to be. Yemaya’s journey takes readers from her “native Africa and on to the ‘New World.’” Finally understanding her own power, Yemaya travels the Underground Railroad in search of Obatala while crossing paths with historical icons who shaped our culture and lives into what they are today.
August 3, 2021, Atria/Black Privilege Publishing
Sisters in Arms: A Novel of the Daring Black Women Who Served During World War II – Kaia Alderson (Fiction)
The 6888th Postal Battalion (the Six Triple Eight), was an experiment designed to fail. Grace Steele and Eliza Jones have little in common save their occupation—they are the first Black women allowed to serve in the United States Army in World War II. While they were able to navigate the racism and sexism that existed within the barracks, learning to cope with the segregation in the field is even harder. Pushing through and persevering, the Six Triple Eight are finally able to make it overseas to England and then France, hoping beyond hope they are able to do what they can for the country they love—no matter the cost.
Sisters in Arms is a true story based on the 6888th postal battalion and the groundbreaking—though silenced—stories of the first and only all-Black, entirely women operated U.S. battalion to be deployed and operated overseas during World War II.
August 3, 2021, HarperCollins
The Day The Klan Came to Town – Bill Campbell (Fiction/Graphic Novel)
The year is 1923, and in the name of “white supremacy,” the Ku Klux Klan’s membership has amassed over a million. They are no longer targeting just Black people, but Catholic and Jewish people, as well. In the early ‘20s, Pennsylvania jumped onto the “Americanism” bandwagon and the Grand Dragon of the state “decided to display the Klan’s newfound power in a show of force.”
The Day The Klan Came to Town tells the story of “Karnegie Day”—a riot where the newest members of the Klan were initiated by rolling up to an “unassuming borough of Catholics and Jews” to “teach them a lesson,”—as a graphic novel.
August 3, 2021, PM Press
When the Reckoning Comes: A Novel – LaTanya McQueen (Fiction)
Mira fled her small, segregated hometown, Kipsen, almost a decade ago, attempting to get away from the past and avoid a tumultuous future. But with every hour she drives, the more the distance grows between her and her best friend Celine and her secret love, Jesse.
When Mira goes back for Celine’s wedding, she, Jesse and Celine are forced to relive their history while staying on an old plantation turned fancy hotel and vacation resort. Desperate to rekindle her friendships, Mira embarks on a journey that could end in triumph…or tragedy.
August 3, 2021, Harper Perennial
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