Black Authors

Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be

By: Nichole Perkins

Narrated by: Nichole Perkins

Length: 7 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

In this "saucy and smart" memoir, a journalist uses pop culture as a lens to navigate her identity as a Black woman (Oprah Daily).

Nichole Perkins takes readers on a rollicking trip through the last twenty years of music, media and the internet, exploring her experience with mental illness, her attachment to the TV show Frasier, her role as a... Read more

The Perfect Ruin

By: Shanora Williams

Narrated by: Chante Ellison & Nola Vance

Length: 10 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shanora Williams comes a tale of revenge served ice cold—and a warning to be careful what you scheme for … A brutal tragedy ended Ivy Hill’s happy family and childhood. Now in her twenties and severely troubled, she barely has a life—or much to live for. Until the day she discovers the name of... Read more

Black History For Beginners

By: Denise Dennis

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

Length: 1 hour 35 minutes

Abridged: No

What is Black History? Did you know what blacks were in Cortez's crew in Mexico, with Pizarro in Peru and Alvarado in Quito . . . that when Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, thirty black people were with him . . . that when Alarcon and Coronado conquered Mexico, black people were with them too?



Any misunderstandings between blacks and whites... Read more

Hollywood Black

By: Donald Bogle & Turner Classic Movies

Narrated by: Donald Bogle

Length: 10 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

The films, the stars, the filmmakers-all get their due in Hollywood Black, a sweeping overview of blacks in film from the silent era through Black Panther, with striking photos and an engrossing history by award-winning author Donald Bogle.


The story opens in the silent film era, when white actors in blackface often played black characters, but... Read more

My Voice Is a Trumpet

By: Jimmie Allen

Narrated by: Mary Beth Adair

Length: 10 minutes

Abridged: No

*"The rhythm and flow of words perfectly match the art while advising readers to choose love and use their voices in a powerful song." --School Library Journal (starred review)
 
From rising country star Jimmie Allen comes a lyrical celebration of the many types of voices that can effect change.

From voices tall as a tree, to voices small as a bee,... Read more

Always Another Country

By: Sisonke Msimang

Narrated by: Sisonke Msimang

Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Born in exile, in Zambia, to a guerrilla father and a working mother, Sisonke Msimang is constantly on the move. Her parents, talented and highly educated, travel from Zambia to Kenya and Canada and beyond with their young family. Always the outsider, and against a backdrop of racism and xenophobia, Sisonke develops her keenly perceptive view of... Read more

Self-Care for Grief

By: Nneka M. Okona

Narrated by: Chanté McCormick

Length: 5 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Process your grief, protect your mental health, and find moments of happiness with these 100 self-care activities specifically designed for difficult and distressing situations.

When faced with loss or trauma, the grief can oftentimes feel overwhelming. It can feel difficult, if not impossible, to focus your attention elsewhere. And yet, during... Read more

J.D. and the Family Business

By: J. Dillard

Narrated by: Tivia Lynnell

Length: 2 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Eight-year-old kid barber J.D. joins forces with his sister, who has beauty shop dreams, in this hilarious chapter book series.

J.D. is a barber battle champion. He's graduated from home haircuts to having a regular chair at the neighborhood shop, Hart and Son, and he's making enough money to keep his candy jar stocked and his comic book... Read more

Shallow Waters

By: Anita Kopacz

Narrated by: Michelle Kopacz

Length: 5 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

In this “captivating” (Harper’s Bazaar) and lyrical debut novel—perfect for fans of The Water Dancer and the Legacy of Orïsha series—the Yoruba deity of the sea, Yemaya, is brought to vivid life as she discovers the power of Black resilience, love, and feminine strength in antebellum America.

Shallow Waters imagines Yemaya, an Orïsha—a deity in... Read more

Black Boy Joy

By: Kwame Mbalia

Narrated by: Amir Abdullah & Taj Leahy

Length: 6 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

Celebrate the joys of Black boyhood with stories from seventeen bestselling, critically acclaimed Black authors--including Jason Reynolds (the Track series), Jerry Craft (New Kid), and Kwame Mbalia (the Tristan Strong series)!

Black boy joy is…
 
Picking out a fresh first-day-of-school outfit.
Saving the universe in an epic intergalactic... Read more

Temperatures Rising

By: Brenda Jackson

Narrated by: Ron Butler

Length: 4 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

Sherri Griffin knows all about hot, stormy weather. The kind where all a girl wants to do is strip down to her La Perla lingerie. A successful radio producer, Sherri's had to weather all kinds of storms. But nothing could prepare her for the force of football-star-turned-sports-DJ Terrence Jeffries.

Never give your heart; never get hurt. That's... Read more

Being Clem

By: Lesa Cline-Ransome

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 4 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home—and himself.... Read more

Gullah Spirituals

By: Eric Sean Crawford

Narrated by: Korey Jackson

Length: 4 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

In Gullah Spirituals musicologist Eric Crawford traces Gullah Geechee songs from their beginnings in West Africa to their height as songs for social change and Black identity in the twentieth century American South. While much has been done to study, preserve, and interpret Gullah culture in the lowcountry and sea islands of South Carolina and... Read more

Muhammad Ali Was a Chicken?

By: Dan Gutman

Narrated by: Jesús E. Martínez & Tyla Collier

Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Did you know that Muhammad Ali was so terrified of flying on planes that he would bring a parachute? Or that he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Bet you didn’t know that he had an official sweat-taster to determine how salty his sweat was after each match! Siblings Paige and Turner do?and they’ve collected some of the most unusual and... Read more

Carry On

By: John Lewis, Andrew Young & Kabir Sehgal

Narrated by: Don Cheadle

Length: 2 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

*GRAMMY WINNER*
*National Bestseller*
*Nominated for an Audie for Best Business/Personal Development Audiobook*

A brilliant and empowering collection of final reflections and words of wisdom from venerable civil rights champion, the late Congressman John Lewis at the end of his remarkable life.

Congressman John Lewis was a paragon of the Civil... Read more

The Freedom Race

By: Lucinda Roy

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Length: 19 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

"Adjoa Andoh's heartfelt narration enriches this speculative story set in a near-future America after a second civil war." -AudioFile Magazine

The Freedom Race, Lucinda Roy’s explosive first foray into speculative fiction, is a poignant blend of subjugation, resistance, and hope.

The second Civil War, the Sequel, came and went in the United States... Read more

The Taking of Jake Livingston

By: Ryan Douglass

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free & Michael Crouch

Length: 7 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

An Instant New York Times Bestseller!

Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can't decide what's worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one... Read more

This Poison Heart

By: Kalynn Bayron

Narrated by: Jordan Cobb

Length: 10 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

Bloomsbury presents This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron, read by Jordan Cobb.

Darkness blooms in bestselling author Kalynn Bayron’s new contemporary fantasy about a girl with a unique and deadly power.

Briseis has a gift: with a single touch she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms.

When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated... Read more

His Until Midnight

By: Reese Ryan

Narrated by: Carmen Jewel Jones

Length: 5 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

A Cinderella makeover turns best friends into lovers in this Texas Cattleman’s Club: Bachelor Auction story by Reese Ryan.

To the highest bidder goes…a friendship with benefits? Or is this something much, much more…

When Tessa Noble takes the stage at a charity auction after a sexy makeover, her best friend Ryan Bateman must place the winning bid.... Read more

Yoke

By: Jessamyn Stanley

Narrated by: Jessamyn Stanley

Length: 4 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

Finding self-acceptance both on and off the mat.
In Sanskrit, yoga means to “yoke.” To yoke mind and body, movement and breath, light and dark, the good and the bad. This larger idea of “yoke” is what Jessamyn Stanley calls the yoga of the everyday—a yoga that is not just about perfecting your downward dog but about applying the hard lessons... Read more

Eartha & Kitt

By: Kitt Shapiro & Patricia Weiss Levy

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

Length: 8 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

In this unique combination of African-American, music, and cultural history, we come to know one of the greatest stars the world has ever seen—Eartha Kitt—as revealed by the person who knew her best, her daughter. Eartha, who was a mix of Black, Cherokee, and white, identified as Black, but Kitt, her biological daughter by a white man, is blonde... Read more

Lives Like Mine

By: Eva Verde

Narrated by: Jessica Alade

Length: 11 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Mother.
                To three small children, their heritage dual like hers.
 
Daughter.
                To a mother who immigrated to make a better life but has been rejected by her chosen country.
 
Wife.
                To a man who loves her but who will not defend her to his intolerant family.
 
Woman…
                Whose roles now define... Read more

Becoming Vanessa

By: Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Narrated by: Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Get ready to go back to school with this inclusive, empathetic story that will help kids new to the classroom transform from timid caterpillars into beautiful butterflies who love exactly who they are!

On Vanessa's first day of school, her parents tell her it will be easy to make friends. Vanessa isn't so sure. She wears her fanciest... Read more

Grandma's Purse

By: Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Narrated by: Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Spend the day with a grandma and granddaughter in this charming picture book, adapted for audio, about the magic found in their favorite accessory—a perfect gift this Mother's Day!

When Grandma Mimi comes to visit, she always brings warm hugs, sweet treats...and her purse. You never know what she'll have in there—fancy jewelry, tokens... Read more