Black Authors

Trailblazer

By: Dorothy Butler Gilliam

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Length: 8 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the U.S.

Most civil rights victories are achieved behind the scenes, and this riveting, beautifully written memoir by a "black first" looks back with searing... Read more

Lives Laid Away

By: Stephen Mack Jones

Narrated by: Luis Moreno

Length: 8 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Detroit ex-cop August Snow takes up vigilante justice when his beloved neighborhood of Mexicantown is caught in the crosshairs of a human trafficking scheme. When the body of an anonymous young Hispanic woman dressed as Queen Marie Antoinette is dredged from the Detroit River, the Detroit Police Department wants the case closed out fast. Wayne... Read more

Soul Looks Back in Wonder

By: Various

Narrated by: Cary Hite & Allyson Johnson

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

"The selections are uniformly uplifting, with affirming messages about the heritage, strength and dreams of African Americans."—Publishers Weekly

In this compelling collection, thirteen major poets rise in response to the dazzling vistas and emotionally vivid portraits of award-winning artist Tom Feelings.

A unique and moving collaboration that... Read more

Sidewalk Story

By: Sharon Bell Mathis

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 1 hour 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Council on Interracial Books for Children award winner

From the award-winning author of The Hundred Penny Box comes a sweet story about how one girl can make a difference. 

Lilly Etta didn't know the men, but she knew those yellow chairs. They were Tanya's, and they were being taken out of her building. Tanya was being put out - Tanya, her mother,... Read more

To Shape a New World

By: Tommie Shelby & Brandon M. Terry

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly, Priya Ayyar, Cary Hite, Robin Mi...

Length: 16 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Martin Luther King Jr. may be America’s most revered political figure, commemorated in statues, celebrations, and street names around the world. On the fiftieth anniversary of King’s assassination, the man and his activism are as close to public consciousness as ever. But despite his stature, the significance of King’s writings and political... Read more

From Slave Ship to Freedom Road

By: Julius Lester

Narrated by: Cary Hite

Length: 23 minutes

Abridged: No

Rod Brown and Julius Lester bring history to life in this profoundly moving exploration of the slave experience. From the Middle Passage to the auction block, from the whipping post to the fight for freedom, this book presents not just historical facts, but the raw emotions of the people who lived them. Inspired by Rod Brown's vivid paintings,... Read more

The Kingdom of Gods

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Casaundra Freeman

Length: 16 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

Shahar and the godling Sieh must face off against the terrible magic threatening to consume their world in the incredible conclusion to the Inheritance Trilogy, from Hugo award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin. For two thousand years the Arameri family has ruled the world by enslaving the very gods that created... Read more

Well-Read Black Girl

By: Glory Edim

Narrated by: Glory Edim

Length: 5 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

An inspiring collection of essays by black women writers, curated by the founder of the popular book club Well-Read Black Girl, on the importance of recognizing ourselves in literature.

Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of... Read more

The Salt Roads

By: Nalo Hopkinson

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 13 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1804, shortly before the Caribbean island of Saint Domingue is renamed Haiti, a group of women gather to bury a stillborn baby. Led by a lesbian healer and midwife named Mer, the women's lamentations inadvertently release the dead infant's "unused vitality" to draw Ezili—the Afro-Caribbean goddess of sexual desire and love—into the physical... Read more

Dragons in a Bag

By: Zetta Elliott

Narrated by: Ron Butler & Zetta Elliott

Length: 3 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

The dragon's out of the bag in this diverse, young urban fantasy from an award-winning author!

When Jaxon is sent to spend the day with a mean old lady his mother calls Ma, he finds out she's not his grandmother--but she is a witch! She needs his help delivering baby dragons to a magical world where they'll be safe. There are two rules when it... Read more

The Broken Kingdoms

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Casaundra Freeman

Length: 11 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

A man with no memory of his past and a struggling, blind street artist will face off against the will of the gods as the secrets of this stranger's past are revealed in the sequel to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the debut novel of NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic... Read more

Daddy, I Want to Know God

By: Vanessa Fortenberry

Narrated by: J.D. Hart

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

"Daddy, how well does God know me? Does He love me all the time? Will God ever leave me?" In this rhyming story, children's probing questions show their desire to learn more about God and His love for them. Compassionate and loving responses from their dads help to lead the children in growing a strong Godly faith. This story depicts the... Read more

The Season of Styx Malone

By: Kekla Magoon

Narrated by: Sullivan Jones

Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR BOOK AND THE WINNER OF THE BOSTON GLOBE HORN BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION!

"Extraordinary friendships . . . extraordinary storytelling." --Rita Williams-Garcia, Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-Winning author of One Crazy Summer

Meet Caleb and Bobby Gene, two brothers embarking on a madcap, heartwarming,... Read more

Belle

By: Beverly Jenkins

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 7 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Belle Palmer is finally free! Separated from her father on the harrowing escape, Belle is lost and alone until she finds shelter with the Bests, the first free family she's ever known. For the first time in her sixteen years, Belle can speak her mind—except for her feelings for a certain dark-eyed young man—The Beau.



Educated and handsome, at... Read more

Odd One Out

By: Nic Stone

Narrated by: Dion Graham, Kim Mai Guest & Nic Stone

Length: 7 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin comes an honest and touching depiction of friendship, first love, and everything in between. Perfect for fans of Love, Simon and What If It's Us.

Courtney Cooper and Jupiter Sanchez (Coop & Jupe!) have been next-door neighbors and best friends since they were seven-years-old. She's... Read more

Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults)

By: Bryan Stevenson

Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson

Length: 6 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

The young adult adaptation of the acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy--now a major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan, Jaime Foxx, and Brie Larson and the subject of an HBO documentary feature!

In this very personal work--adapted from the original #1 bestseller, which the New York Times calls "as compelling as To Kill a... Read more

Tight

By: Torrey Maldonado

Narrated by: Torrey Maldonado

Length: 4 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Tight: Lately, Bryan's been feeling it in all kinds of ways . . .

Bryan knows what's tight for him--reading comics, drawing superheroes, and hanging out with no drama. But drama is every day where he's from, and that gets him tight, wound up.

And now Bryan's friend Mike pressures him with ideas of fun that are crazy risky. At first, it's a rush... Read more

The Minority Experience

By: Adrian Pei

Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab

Length: 4 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

It's hard to be in the minority. If you're the only person from your ethnic or cultural background in your organization or team, you probably know the challenges of being misunderstood or marginalized. You might find yourself inadvertently overlooked or actively silenced. Even when a work environment is not blatantly racist or hostile, people of... Read more

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

By: Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Guy Lockard, January LaVoy, Domin...

Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

Abridged: No

The foremost diverse children's authors--including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander--share answers to the question, "In this divisive world, what shall we tell our children?" in this powerful collection, published in partnership with Just Us Books.

Featuring poems, letters, personal essays, songs, and other works from such... Read more

The Day You Begin

By: Jacqueline Woodson

Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson has created a poignant, yet heartening audiobook about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.

There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is... Read more

Visiting Day

By: Jacqueline Woodson

Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson

Length: 3 minutes

Abridged: No

In this moving picture book from multi-award winning author Jacqueline Woodson, a young girl and her grandmother prepare for a very special day--the one day a month they get to visit the girl's father in prison. "Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m, and Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and low." As the... Read more

The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah

By: Benjamin Zephaniah

Narrated by: Benjamin Zephaniah

Length: 10 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

*BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week*

Benjamin Zephaniah, who has travelled the world for his art and his humanitarianism, now tells the one story that encompasses it all: the story of his life.

In the early 1980s when punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Benjamin’s poetry could be... Read more

Heads of the Colored People

By: Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes.



Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous—from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through... Read more

Flossie and the Fox

By: Patricia McKissack

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

A wily fox, notorious for stealing eggs, meets his match when he encounters a bold little girl in the woods who insists upon proof that he is a fox before she will be frightened. Read more