Black Authors

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Casaundra Freeman

Length: 11 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

After her mother's mysterious death, a young woman is summoned to the floating city of Sky in order to claim a royal inheritance she never knew existed in the first book in this award-winning fantasy trilogy from the NYT bestselling author of The Fifth Season.

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under... Read more

Patternmaster

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 6 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

An all-powerful ruler's son vies for control over the human race in this brilliant conclusion to the Patternist saga, from the critically acclaimed author of Parable of the Sower.
In the far future, the human race is divided into two groups striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist race whose... Read more

Race After Technology

By: Ruha Benjamin

Narrated by: Mia Ellis

Length: 6 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce White supremacy and deepen social inequity.

Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen... Read more

Black on Both Sides

By: C. Riley Snorton

Narrated by: C. Riley Snorton

Length: 8 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

The story of Christine Jorgensen, America's first prominent transsexual, narrated trans embodiment in the postwar era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives. Their erasure from trans history masks the ways race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. In Black on... Read more

The Gilded Ones #3: The Eternal Ones

By: Namina Forna

Narrated by: Shayna Small

Length: 14 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

The dazzling finale to the groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling Gilded Ones series. One girl holds the power to defeat the gods—but can she become one?

Mere weeks after confronting the Gilded Ones—the false beings she once believed to be her family—Deka is on the hunt. In order to kill the gods, whose ravenous competition for power is... Read more

Bloodmarked

By: Tracy Deonn

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Length: 22 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!
“Deonn expertly weaves together a universe that both shines a light on the pervasive nature of racism and also harnesses the complexity of Black identity within this space. Deonn writes so much more than simple fantasies or Arthurian retellings.” —Booklist (starred review)

The “worthy successor to an... Read more

Will

By: Will Smith

Narrated by: Will Smith

Length: 16 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the... Read more

Cobalt Red

By: Siddharth Kara

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 11 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

This program includes an author's note read by the author.

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all.

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the... Read more

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

By: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Length: 3 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.But today, few of us have... Read more

Memorial Drive

By: Natasha Trethewey

Narrated by: Natasha Trethewey

Length: 5 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

An Instant New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020Named One of the Best Books of the Year by: The Washington Post, NPR, Shelf Awareness, Esquire, Electric Literature, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and InStyleA chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter... Read more

Sister Outsider

By: Audre Lorde

Narrated by: Robin Eller

Length: 7 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action... Read more

Red at the Bone

By: Jacqueline Woodson

Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Pet...

Length: 3 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 by LitHub and The Millions.

Called one of the Top 10 Literary Fiction titles of Fall by Publishers Weekly.

An extraordinary new novel about the influence of history on a contemporary family, from the New York Times-bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl... Read more

Undisputed

By: Donovan Bailey

Narrated by: Donovan Bailey

Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

A memoir of Olympic glory, the value of mentorship and the courage to champion your own excellence, from the long-reigning world's fastest man, Canadian sprinting legend Donovan Bailey.

From the lush fields of his boyhood in Jamaica, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada’s most thriving cultural mosaics, to... Read more

The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Read with Jenna Pick

By: Abi Daré

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Length: 12 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK! 

“Brave, fresh . . . unforgettable.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A celebration of girls who dare to dream.”—Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers (Oprah’s Book Club pick)
 
Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and recommended by The New York... Read more

Ghosts of Christmas

By: Kenya Wright

Narrated by: Ruthie Bowles

Length: 7 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

Due to a traumatic family event on a past winter, Ivy doesn’t do emotions, love, or Christmas. Unfortunately, this year her best friend is having a destination Christmas wedding in Lapland, Finland—a winter wonderland full of holiday spirit. There, the air is fresh, crisp, and full of magic. Additionally, Ivy is the maid of honor, and she’ll be... Read more

Midnight Rooms

By: Donyae Coles

Narrated by: Georgina Campbell

Length: 12 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

“An immersive horror fairy tale marrying Crimson Peak to Pan’s Labyrinth upon strange foundations. You’re never really safe here, with Midnight Rooms wondrously defying expectation and refusing obedience. Donyae Coles leads us into a house of sinister magic, full of corners for peeking around, but careful—these walls have claws. A feverish,... Read more

Pet

By: Akwaeke Emezi

Narrated by: Christopher Myers

Length: 5 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

National Book Award Finalist

Stonewall Book Award Winner

"[A] beautiful, genre-expanding debut...Pet is a nesting doll of creative possibilities." (The New York Times)

The award-winning, genre-defying novel by the New York Times best-selling author of The Death of Vivek Oji that explores themes of identity and justice and asks: How do you share the... Read more

They Were Her Property

By: Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 10 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

A bold and searing investigation into the role of white women in the American slave economy.



Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that... Read more

The House of Eve

By: Sadeqa Johnson

Narrated by: Ariel Blake, Nicole Lewis & Sadeqa Johnson

Length: 10 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

“Amazing…I was completely surprised by the ending of this beautifully told and written book.” —Reese Witherspoon

“A triumph of historical fiction” (The Washington Post), an instant New York Times bestseller, and a Reese’s Book Club pick, set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how... Read more

The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club)

By: Nathan Harris

Narrated by: William DeMeritt

Length: 12 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

An Instant New York Times bestseller / An Oprah’s Book Club Pick

In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, an award-winning “miraculous debut” (Washington Post) about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever

In the waning days of the... Read more

Ain't I a Woman

By: Bell Hooks

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must–read for all those interested in the nature of black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on black women during slavery, the devaluation of black womanhood, black male sexism, racism among feminists, and the black woman's involvement with feminism, Hooks attempts to... Read more

No Gods, No Monsters

By: Cadwell Turnbull

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 9 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Named a BEST BOOK OF 2021 by the New York Times, NPR, the New York Public Library, Audible, Tor.com, Book Riot, Library Journal, and Kirkus!Longlisted for the 2022 PEN Open Book Award“Riveting…[A] tender, ferocious book.”—New York Times“Beautifully fantastical.”—NPR“Masterful.”—Chicago TribuneOne October morning, Laina gets the news that her... Read more

Rosewater

By: Tade Thompson

Narrated by: Bayo Gbadamosi

Length: 13 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

Rosewater is the start of an award-winning trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction's most engaging voices.

*Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, winner
*Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel, winner

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents... Read more

Ring Shout

By: P. Djèlí Clark

Narrated by: Channie Waites

Length: 5 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

In America, demons wear white hoods.In 1915, The Birth of a Nation casts a spell across America, swelling the Klan’s ranks and drinking deep from thedarkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. Theyplan to bring hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.Standing in their way... Read more