Black authors

Blackheart Man

By: Nalo Hopkinson
Narrated by: Ron Butler
Length: 12 hours 12 minutes

“Nalo Hopkinson thrusts you into a warm and vibrant world of fortune and magic, with a story of personal ambition vying with the greater good, and the spectre of war looming over a flawed utopia. Myth and history, armies and magic clash on this young island nation while dark mystery winds through its streets, and one man wrestles between dreams... Read more

There's Always This Year

On Basketball and Ascension

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib
Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

“Poet and critic Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is magic. So of course this book, from the first line, is not about basketball, exploring enemies, community, gentrification, police brutality, and memories of love and hardship and love. And of course this book, to its last countdown, is about basketball, children’s play, school coaches, and LeBron... Read more

James

A Novel

By: Percival Everett
Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

“I LOVED listening to this book! I found myself laughing and crying. Beautiful writing...Percival Everett has fast become one of my favorites! Read more

Built from the Fire

The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street

By: Victor Luckerson
Narrated by: JD Jackson
Length: 19 hours 10 minutes

“An impressive journalistic report on 100 years in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, this story covers all of the major assaults on this community and their courageous dedication to survival and renewal. A grand read for anyone interested in Black history in America, and what it takes to keep going in the face of devastation. I so highly... Read more

Come and Get It: A GMA Book Club Pick

By: Kiley Reid
Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
Length: 12 hours 52 minutes

“One of Kiley Reid's talents is creating extremely nuanced characters. By the end of Come and Get It, I felt like I could recognize Agatha and Mille's voices from across a crowded room, I knew them so well. A study of female relationships mostly set at the University of Arkansas in 2017, Reid's prose dissects each power imbalance carefully, and... Read more

Survival Is a Promise

The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

By: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Narrated by: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Length: 17 hours 41 minutes

“Learning more about Audrey Lorde by way of Alexis Pauline Gumbs is possibly the best combo of both. Read more

Weird Black Girls

Stories

By: Elwin Cotman
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Jade Wheeler, James Fouhey, Emily Lawrence, André Santana & Landon Woodson
Length: 10 hours 51 minutes

Belletrist Book Club Pick

From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black—a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.

A rural town finds itself under the authoritarian sway of a tree that punishes children. A pair of old friends navigate... Read more

Sharks Don't Sink

Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist

By: Jasmin Graham
Narrated by: Jasmin Graham
Length: 6 hours 1 minute

“JASMIN GRAHAM IS SO COOL! I went into this book mostly to gain some knowledge about sharks, but I came out of it with a deeper understanding of a black woman's challenging experience in a scientific field, and of course, falling in love with Jasmin Graham. Part memoir, part sharks. And how they intertwine. Don't get me wrong, she will teach you... Read more

Good Dirt

A Novel

By: Charmaine Wilkerson
Narrated by: January LaVoy
Length: 11 hours 26 minutes

“Loving the story of family, love after tragedy. Gentle introspection by each character to try to understand the ‘why’ of a death of a young man and the after effect of the family years later. A love story as well. A central character - Old Mo - is a pottery jar with significant affect to the story. Read more

We Refuse

A Forceful History of Black Resistance

By: Kellie Carter Jackson
Narrated by: Kellie Carter Jackson
Length: 9 hours 11 minutes

“This is a heavy read but a necessary one. I implore everyone to read not only this one, but also the ones referenced. Read more

Death of the Author

A Novel

By: Nnedi Okorafor
Narrated by: Liz Femi, Anthony Oseyemi, Jason Culp & Chris Djuma
Length: 16 hours 12 minutes

“Death of the Author is a book within a book. It’s genre-bending. It’s a masterpiece. It’s not what you expect. And it will be hard to beat as my favorite book of 2025! Read more

What If We Get It Right?

Visions of Climate Futures

By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Narrated by: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Ayisha Siddiqa, Jacqueline Woodson & Steve Connell
Length: 21 hours 3 minutes

“An excellent book about various aspects of climate change: scientific, social, political. Author Ayana Elizabeth Johnson recorded all of her interviews, so each one is in the interviewee’s own voice. I learned a lot about the work different activists are doing around climate! Johnson also shares actionable advice to help the reader learn what... Read more

Colored Television (A GMA Book Club Pick)

A Novel

By: Danzy Senna
Narrated by: Kristen Ariza
Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

“What happens when "fake it 'til you make it" goes too far and doesn't pan out? Danzy did an exceptional job of developing Jane's voice as she navigates through a disaster of her own making. While I spent most of the novel anxiously waiting for everything to come undone, I could not stop myself from turning the page instead of turning away out of... Read more