A Checklist of 500 Black Novelists

A 

Chris Abani, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Leila Aboulela, Joseph Wilfred Abruquah, Elizabeth Acevedo, Chinua Achebe, Diran Adebayo, Ayobami Adebayo, Sade Adeniran, Tomi Adeyemi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Segun Afolabi, Ama Ata Aidoo, Rochelle Alers, Kwame Alexander, Kianna Alexander, André Alexis, Zaynab Alkali, Jeffery Renard Allen, T. M. Aluko, Elechi Amadi, Raymond Andrews, Tina McElroy Ansa, Ayi Kwei Armah, Bediako Asare, Jabari Asim, Sefi Atta, Ayesha Harruna Attah, William Attaway, Kofi Awoonor

B 

Mariama Bâ, Yaba Badoe, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Biyi Bandele, Kelly J. Baptist, Tracey Baptiste, Amiri Baraka, Steven Barnes, A. Igoni Barrett, Rena Barron, Yvonne Battle-Felton, Kaylnn Bayron, Blitz Bazawule, Paul Beatty, Brit Bennett, Mongo Beti, Daniel Black, Lauren Blackwood, Eleanor Taylor Bland, J. J. Bola, Tonya Bolden, Cynthia Bond, Arna Bontemps, Coe Booth, David Bradley, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Dionne Brand, Monica Brashears, Connie Briscoe, Maurice Broaddus, Erna Brodber, Asha Bromfield, Gwendolyn Brooks, William Wells Brown, Cecil Brown, Diane Marie Brown, Echo Brown, Frank London Brown, India Hill Brown, Roseanne A. Brown, Mahogany L. Browne, Elise Bryant, Kalisha Buckhanon, Noviolet Bulawayo, Gabriel Bump, Octavia Butler

C 

Maisy Card, Lorene Cary, Kashana Cauley, Colin Channer, David Chariandy, Tami Charles, Paula Chase, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Charles W. Chesnutt, Alice Childress, Shimmer Chinodya, Tracy Clark, Austin Clarke, Pearl Cleage, Zinzi Clemmons, Michelle Cliff, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Rita Akoto Coker, Brandy Colbert, Teju Cole, Alyssa Cole, Jay Coles, Maryse Condé, J. California Cooper, Kia Corthron, S. A. Cosby, Naima Coster, Leesa Cross-Smith, Countee Cullen, Christopher Paul Curtis
 

D

Fred D’Aguiar, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Edwidge Danticat, Abi Daré, Amma Darko, Lawrence Darmani, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Thulani Davis, Tanita S. Davis, Dana L. Davis, Martin R. Delany, Samuel R. Delany, William Demby, Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn, Tracy Deonn, Jude Dibia, Eric Jerome Dickey, Melvin Dixon, Amu Djoleto, Alechia Dow, Sharon M. Draper, W. E. B. Du Bois, Tananarive Due, Henry Dumas, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Katherine Dunham, Cameron Duodu

E 

T. Obinkaram Echewa, Esi Edugyan, Nnamdi Ehirim, Somi Ekhasomhi, Cyprian Ekwensi, Saara El-Arifi, Safia Elhillo, J. Elle, Zetta Elliott, Ralph Ellison, Buchi Emecheta, Akwaeke Emezi, Karen English, Diana Evans, Bernardine Evaristo, Percival Everett, Eve L. Ewing

F 

D.O. Fagunwa, David Wright Faladé, Nuruddin Farah, Jessie Redmond Fauset, Sanderia Faye, Rudolph Fisher, Sharon Flake, Sarah Lee Brown Fleming, Arthur Flowers, Kristina Forest, Namina Forna, Leon Forrest, Cecil Foster, Albert French

G 

Ernest J. Gaines, Petina Gappah, Kellye Garrett, Camryn Garrett, Roxane Gay, Nelson George, Jessica George, Kereen Getten, Megan Giddings, Lamar Giles, Abubakar Gimba, Bonnie J. Glover, Joya Goffney, Donald Goines, Hawa Jande Golakai, Marita Golden, Lorna Goodison, Whitney D. Grandison, Ayana Gray, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Sam Greenlee, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Sutton E. Griggs, Nikki Grimes, Anthony Grooms, Jasmine Guillory, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Rosa Guy, Yaa Gyasi

H

Helon Habila, Andrea Hairston, Alex Haley, Rachel Howzell Hall, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Janice N. Harrington, E. Lynn Harris, Nathan Harris, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Tiffany Clarke Harrison, J. E. Casely Hayford, Bessie Head, Cheryl A. Head, Leah Henderson, Lawrence Hill, Joanne C. Hillhouse, Chester B. Himes, Karla FC Holloway, Pauline E. Hopkins, Nalo Hopkinson, Chenjerai Hove, Tendai Huchu, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

I

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike, Jowhor Ile, Candice Iloh, Eghosa Imasuen, Justina Ireland, Festus Iyayi

J 

Linda Williams Jackson, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tiffany D. Jackson, C. L. R. James, Marlon James, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, N. K. Jemisin, Morgan Jerkins, Marie-Elena John, Elnathan John, Charles Johnson, Mat Johnson, T. Geronimo Johnson, Sadeqa Johnson, Varian Johnson, Leah Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, Nettie Jones, Gayl Jones, Edward P. Jones, Tayari Jones, Robert Jones, Jr., Cherie Jones

K

Toni Kan, Alexander Kanengoni, Claire Kann, William Melvin Kelley, Anthony Kellman, Erika J. Kendrick, Fred Khumalo, Leonard Kibera, Yejide Kilanko, John Oliver Killens, Peter Kimani, Jamaica Kincaid, Asare Konadu, Stephanie Kuehn, Benjamin Kwakye

L 

B. Kojo Laing, George Lamming, Nella Larsen, Victor LaValle, Kiese Laymon, Raven Leilani, Julius Lester, Andrea Levy, Leye Adenle, Eric C. Lincoln, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Attica Locke, Mariama J. Lockington, Earl Lovelace

M 

Alain Mabanckou, Kekla Magoon, Roger Mais, Clarence Major, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Torrey Maldonado, Charles Mangua, Janae Marks, Paule Marshall, Bill Okyere Marshall, Ayana Mathis, Busayo Matuluko, Nikki May, Kwame Mbalia, Imbolo Mbue, James McBride, Bernice L. McFadden, Claude McKay, L. L. McKinney, Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Kim McLarin, Terry McMillan, Daven McQueen, Peace Adzo Medie, Dinaw Mengestu, Maaza Mengiste, Louise Meriwether, Oscar Micheaux, Kei Miller, Nadifa Mohamed, Mary Monroe, David Barclay Moore, Wayetu Moore, Wanda M. Morris, Brittney Morris, Toni Morrison, Bethany C. Morrow, Walter Mosley, Jason Mott, John Munonye, Albert Murray, Meja Mwangi, Walter Dean Myers

N 

Cleyvis Natera, Gloria Naylor, Okey Ndibe, Barbara Neely, Caleb Azumah Nelson, G. Neri, Courttia Newland, Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ, Rebeka Njau, Keenan Norris, Nkem Nwankwo, Flora Nwapa

O 

Adaobi Tricia, Sue Nyathi, Onuora Nzekwu, Chigozie Obioma, Margaret Ogola, Grace Ogot, Ike Oguine, Tanure Ojaide, Gabriel Okara, Wale Okediran, Nnedi Okorafor, Ifeoma Okoye, Chinelo Okparanta, Isidore Okpewho, Kalu Okpi, Ben Okri, Marc Olden, Kole Omotoso, Chibundu Onuzo, Tochi Onyebuchi, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Helen Ovbiagele, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Helen Oyeyemi, Ferdinand Oyono

P

Dexter Palmer, Morgan Parker, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Gordon Parks, Suzan-Lori Parks, Orlando Patterson, Melvin Van Peebles, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Junauda Petrus, Ann Petry, Robert Deane Pharr, Gary Phillips, Caryl Phillips, Darryl Pinckney, Regina Porter

Q 

Kwei Quartey, Karen E. Quinones Miller

R 

Lisa Moore Ramee, Alice Randall, Nancy Rawles, Francis Ray, Ishmael Reed, Christina Hammonds Reed, Dwayne Reed, Victor Stafford Reid, Kiley Reid, Jason Reynolds, Justin A. Reynolds, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Althea Romeo-Mark, Leone Ross, Tola Rotimi Abraham, Maurice Carlos Ruffin

S

Andrew Salkey, Stanlake J. W. T. Samkange, Wilton Sankawulo, Sapphire, Ken Saro-Wiwa, George Schuyler, Kobina Sekyi, Taiye Selasi, Francis Selormey, Olive Senior, Danzy Senna, Namwali Serpell, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, Ntozake Shange, Nisi Shawl, Ann Allen Shockley, Lola Shoneyin, Makeda Silvera, Binwell Sinyangwe, Sister Souljah, Leïla Slimani, Brendan Slocumb, Ronald L. Smith, Zadie Smith, Ian K. Smith, Asali Solomon, Rivers Solomon, Martha Southgate, Wole Soyinka, Doreen Spicer-Dannelly, Nic Stone

T 

Lisa Stringfellow, Tara M. Stringfellow, Karen Strong, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Liara Tamani, Natasha Tarpley, ReShonda Tate, Mildred D. Taylor, Brandon Taylor, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Elizabeth Thomas, Angie Thomas, Victor Thorpe, Wallace Thurman, Vincent Tirado, Jean Toomer, Nichelle D. Tramble, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, Amos Tutuola, Omar Tyree

U

Adaora Lily Ulasi, Katia D. Ulysse, Chika Unigwe

V

Yvonne Vera, A. J. Verdelle, Jumoke Verissimo, Olympia Vernon

W

Margaret Walker, Alice Walker, Brian F. Walker, Mari Walker, Jesmyn Ward, LaToya Watkins, Renée Watson, Stephanie Powell Watts, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Valerie Wilson Wesley, John B. West, Dorothy West, Alex Wheatle, Walter White, Colson Whitehead, John Edgar Wideman, Charmaine Wilkerson, Crystal Wilkinson, Lauren Wilkinson, John A. Williams, Sherley Anne Williams, Alicie D. Williams, Tia Williams, Ian Williams, Phillip B. Williams, Rita Williams-Garcia, Harriet E. Wilson, De'Shawn Charles Winslow, Sherri Winston, Ashley Woodfolk, Brenda Woods, Teri Woods, Rita Woods, Jacqueline Woodson, Richard Wright, Sylvia Wynter

Y

Frank Yerby, Nicola Yoon, Al Young

Z

Leslie C. Youngblood, Hafsa Zayyan, Fiona Zedde, Ibi Zoboi

Related:

• Black Novelists 500