Sunday, August 25, 2019

160+ novels by black women, 2000 - 2019



It should go without saying, but I gotta say it: this is a partial, non-exhaustive list. Back in June, I produced a list of 160 volumes of poetry by black women, and I wanted to provide a complementary list of novels. Plus, I've been talking fiction with a few of my graduate students, and I realized that we did not have any single working list of what's been published.

2019
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi
Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
The Travelers by Regina Porter
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

2018
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
Mouths Don't Speak by Katia D. Ulysse
The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Children of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

2017
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Copycat by Kimberla Lawson Roby
The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard
A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
The Wide Circumference of Love by Marita Golden
The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti 2: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti 3: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts
What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

2016
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
The Book of Harlan by Bernice L. McFadden
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge
The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter by Kia Corthron
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
Grace by Natashia Deon
The Thunder Beneath Us by Nicole Blades
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson
The Mother by Yvvette Edwards
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

2015
Pleasantville by Attica Locke
Mourner's Bench by Sanderia Faye
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
Untwine by Edwidge Danticat
Mr. and Mrs. Doctor by Julie Iromuanya
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett
A Moment of Silence: Midnight III (The Midnight Series) by Sister Souljah
Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

2014
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Remedy For a Broken Angel by Toni Ann Johnson
Saint Monkey by Jacinda Townsend
A Christmas Prayer by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Time of the Locust by Morowa Yejide
Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

2013
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan
A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story by Sister Souljah

2012
The Cutting Season by Attica Locke
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden
The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin
The Shadowed Sun by N. K. Jemisin
Home by Toni Morrison
NW by Zadie Smith

2011
The Kid by Sapphire
Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate
The Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Just Wanna Testify by Pearl Cleage
We are Taking Only what We Need by Stephanie Powell Watts
My Soul To Take by Tananarive Due
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary
A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
Midnight and the Meaning of Love (The Midnight Series) by Sister Souljah

2010
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake and Ifa Bayeza Shange
Till You Hear From Me by Pearl Cleage
Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

2009
Rebel Yell by Alice Randall
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
Life Is Short but Wide by J. California Cooper

2008
Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward
Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon
Blood Colony by Tananarive Due
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Midnight: A Gangster Love Story (The Midnight Series) by Sister Souljah

2007
The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi
Red River by Lalita Tademy

2006
Lost Hearts in Italy by Andrea Lee
Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
After by Marita Golden
A Killing In This Town by Olympia Vernon
Unburnable by Marie-Elena John

2005
72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell
1996 by Gloria Naylor
The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi
Third Girl from the Left by Martha Southgate
Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
Fledging by Octavia Butler
Babylon Sisters by Pearl Cleage
Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due
The Untelling by Tayari Jones

2004
Pushkin and the Queen of Spades by Alice Randall
Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker
Camilla's Roses by Bernice L. McFadden
Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
The Second Life of Samuel Tyne by Esi Edugyan
Some People, Some Other Place by J. California Cooper
Logic by Olympia Vernon
The Last King: A Maceo Redfield Novel by Nichelle D. Tramble

2003
Loving Donovan by Bernice L. McFadden
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Getting Mother's Body by Suzan-Lori Parks
The Good House by Tananarive Due
Love by Toni Morrison

2002
This Bitter Earth by Bernice L. McFadden
The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate
Eden by Olympia Vernon
Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Fifth Born by Zelda Lockhart


2001
The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall
What You Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden
The Living Blood by Tananarive Due
The Dying Ground: A Maceo Redfield Novel by Nichelle D. Tramble
Cane River by Lalita Tademy

2000
Blanche Passes Go by Barbara Neely
Sugar by Bernice L. McFadden
White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Related
A checklist of book lists

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Dr. HR, I was wondering if I could generate a list of African women novels, starting with Nigeria.

LibraryAnne said...

Great list, lots more on the YA front: Nic Stone, Dhonielle Clayton, Kekla Magoon, Nikki Grimes, Jacqueline Woodson, off the top of my head.

Unknown said...

Hi Dr. Rambsy,
Great list! I would be so grateful to be included. My novel Remedy For a Broken Angel was published in 2014 and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author alongside Queen Sugar and Time of the Locust.

Unknown said...

Hello Dr. Ramsay. I wondered if you could my non-fiction to the list 490:Forgive and Live Fearlessly by Joan Samuels-Dennis, PhD

Mary Ayim said...

Hello, Thanks for the compilation. This is great. I am interested in autobiographies by Ghanaian and Nigerian women, do you by any chance have any leads? Thanks.

Phillis said...

I have a some books for you to add to the list. Coffee & Conversation: Warm Cups of Self Care, Coffee & Conversation: Warm Cups of Friendship, Laughter & Love, Coffee & Conversation: Warm Cups of Love, Adventure &Positivity, Coffee & Conversation: Warm Cups of Inspiration and Wisdom and Let Your Choice Be Your Voice. These are all books written by women of color.

Unknown said...

Dr. Ramsey, I have an Epic Dream book(s) written by Frozine Slater-Morrow who lives near the largest military facility in the world. There's also a Sci-Fi author Ashley M Jackson doing her thing in Essex, MD and who's finishing her 3rd of a 5 book series 'The Xenon Tech Archives~~File1 Son of Discord and File2 The Hybrid Theory.' File3 is in editing stages now.