I am here for one thing and one thing alone… to share some of my favorite reads in recent years by black authors. Gossamer Lens was founded in the idea that everyone’s unique perspective is worthwhile, valid, and important. While what I meant by that has changed in the 10+ years since I founded this blog, it remains an important key stone to how I approach these posts and what I decide to share. In the past few years it has also become something I consider deeply when approaching what I want to read. Diverse voices make art with more depth. Diverse voices bring complexity to their field thus making art all that more worthwhile.
So without further ado, here are some of my favorite works by black authors who have given us the gift of their art and voice. Titles are linked to my review of the book if you want to see more about the books mood(s), pacing, and my answers to StoryGraph's review questions and other thoughts on the book:
Fiction
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson - Contemporary, Literary
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi - Fantasy, Young Adult
The Deep by Rivers Solomon - Fantasy, Speculative
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse - Fantasy
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas - Classic, Historical
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon - Science Fiction, Horror
Anonymous by Uzodinma Iweala - Science Fiction, Short Story
Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin - Science Fiction, Short Story
Patternist Series (Patternmaster, Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, and Clay’s Ark) by Octavia E. Butler - Science Fiction
Non-fiction
Counting Descent by Clint Smith - Poetry
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay - Feminist, Essays
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi - Memoir, Essays
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates - Memoir, Epistolary
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah - Memoir
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs - Classic, Memoir
Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth - Classic, Autobiography
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass - Classic, Autobiography
Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan by John Bul Dau - Autobiography, Biography
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