8 Black Female Writers You Should Add To Your Reading List Right Now

Words can change everything. They’re a powerful tool to educate and inspire, even more when we’re talking about Black female writers. For countless years, only Black male writers were considered successful or relevant to produce literature, although women have been moving us with their books for centuries. Regardless of all male achievements and the old sexist perceptions, more and more Black women are featuring as (excuse my language but they deserve it!) badass contemporary authors.

Fiction or nonfiction, romance or drama, you name it: I want you to add to your all-I-need-to-read-next list the following 8 Black writers who are making history not just in America, but conquering this patriarchal world with the impact of their stories. Truth to be told, I could have brought hundreds of names who are empowering readers planetwide, but this blog post would be endless(!!!). Check out my main list and I promise you that, before you finish reading, I will give you some more incredible Black writers to search about - and fall in love with.

1 - Coretta Scott King

It is an honor to start my list presenting a civil rights’ icon: even though Coretta was best known as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife, she left her legacy as a leader advocating for a big nonviolent social change and a self-proclaimed feminist. Her first book “My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.” was published in 1969, but her work was recognized just long after her death, in 2006. “My life, my love, my legacy” came to life in 2017 by Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, one of her best friends to whom Coretta confided never-before-told aspects of her life, as well as the importance of standing up for justice being an inspirational heroine in her own right. 

2 - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The voice of Black feminism, Chimamanda is one of the most important authors on race and identity. She has a list of books, poems and short stories that are spreading her thoughtful ideas for a nondiscriminatory, feminine and equal future for all of us through education and social inclusion. “We should all be feminists”, “Americanah”, “Half of yellow sun”, “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions”, and “Purple hibiscus: a novel” are some of her ‘manifests’ about Black women’s empowerment.

3 - Carolina Maria de Jesus

‘Favelada’ is the Brazilian word for ‘woman from the ghetto (favela in Portuguese)’. With a background of poverty and only two years of schooling, Carolina Maria became a groundbreaking author when she published her own daily journal in 1960. “Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus” remains a vivid social document that became a best-seller in North America and Europe - described by The New York Times as “both an ugly and touchingly beautiful book”, also translated into 13 different languages.

4 - Toni Morrison

The first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1993, Toni is a profoundly insightful writer who walks us through political and social moments at the same time that enhances us being a novelist of the Black identity in the U.S., especially about Black women experiences. Add to your list: “Beloved”, “Sula”, “Song of Solomon” and “The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations”.

5 - Imbolo Mbue

“Behold the dreamers” is Imbolo Mbue’s debut novel that brings to the light details about the lives of Cameroonian immigrants living in NYC. The book has been receiving high praise since Oprah chose it for her book club, and after hailed by The Washington Post as “the one book Donald Trump should read now because it illuminates the immigrant experience in America with the tenderhearted wisdom so lacking in our political discourse”.

6 - Morgan Parker

Well-known as one of her generation’s best minds, Morgan Parker writes poems with intelligence, humor and her singular black-hearted vision. She brings a funny and contemporary exploration of Black womanhood in “Magical Negro” and “There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé”.

7 - Safiya Sinclair

“Cannibal” put Safiya in the spotlight. The Jamaican writer holds important awards for this poetry collection about the devastating and beautiful renegotiation of the English language, especially against the Black and Brown peoples they colonized. 

8 - Daina Berry & Kali Gross

Two award-winning historians came together to create a vibrant statement that reveals stories of African-American women building their own community to fight oppression, racism and sexism. “A Black Women's History of the United States” goes beyond single narratives to raise different voices from enslaved, religious, activists and queer women.

To keep diving into Black female authors’ words, you can also search for Maya Angelou, Angie Thomas, Octavia Butler, Nicola Yoon, Zadie Smith, Ijeoma Oluo, Morgan Jerkins, Brittney Cooper and Zora Neale Hurston.