Black Readers Conference Picks

Light For The World To See

A Thousand Words on Race and Hope

By: Kwame Alexander
Narrated by: Kwame Alexander
Length: 13 minutes

From NPR correspondent and New York Times bestselling author, Kwame Alexander, comes a powerful and provocative collection of poems that cut to the heart of the entrenched racism and oppression in America and eloquently explores ongoing events.   A book in the tradition of James Baldwin’s “A Report from Occupied Territory,”  Light for the World... Read more

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

By: Deesha Philyaw
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 4 hours 6 minutes

“Beautiful short stories of strong Black women, secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs. I loved the audiobook! I'm going to be giving this book to friends and urging them to read it! Read more

All American Boys

By: Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely
Narrated by: Guy Lockard & Keith Nobbs
Length: 6 hours 35 minutes

A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.

In this New York Times bestselling novel, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided... Read more

Island Queen

A Novel

By: Vanessa Riley
Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
Length: 21 hours 15 minutes

“Both sweeping and intimate, beautiful and painful, this novel based on the life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas is exquisite. Riley’s research is palpable in the detail of each chapter, and readers will find themselves compulsively turning the pages until the end. Read more

New Kid

By: Jerry Craft
Narrated by: Jesus Del Orden, Nile Bullock, Robin Miles, Guy Lockard, Peyton Lusk, Rebecca Soler, Dan Bittner, Phoebe Strole, Marc Thompson, Miles Harvey & Ron Butler
Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

2020 Audie Awards® Finalist—Middle GradeWinner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature, and an Audie Award finalist!
An original full-cast audio adaptation of the graphic novel from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft, performed by the author with Jesus Del Orden, Nile... Read more

Why We Fly

By: Gilly Segal & Kimberly Jones
Narrated by: Jasmin Walker & Suzy Jackson
Length: 6 hours 44 minutes

From the New York Times bestselling authors of I'm Not Dying with You Tonight comes a story about friendship, privilege, sports, and protest. With a rocky start to senior year, cheerleaders and lifelong best friends Eleanor and Chanel have a lot on their minds. Eleanor is still in physical therapy months after a serious concussion from a failed... Read more

Begin Again

James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

By: Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Narrated by: Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Length: 7 hours 44 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A powerful study of how to bear witness in a moment when America is being called to do the same.”—Time

James Baldwin grew disillusioned by the failure of the civil rights movement to force America to confront its lies about race. What can we learn from his struggle in our own moment?
 
One of the Best Books of the Year:... Read more

Muted

By: Tami Charles
Narrated by: Tami Charles
Length: 5 hours 42 minutes

A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence lost, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds!Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard.For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown.So Denver is more than ready on the day she and... Read more

Wings of Ebony

Wings of Ebony

By: J. Elle
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 46 minutes

Instant New York Times bestseller!
“A remarkable, breathtaking, earthshaking, poetic thrillride.” —Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowshaper

​In this riveting, keenly emotional debut fantasy, a Black teen from Houston has her world upended when she learns about her godly ancestry and must save both the human and god... Read more

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight

By: Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
Narrated by: Channie Waites & Brittany Pressley
Length: 5 hours 19 minutes

“I loved the dual narration and the way these two young women bond during a very traumatic night, and the way their characters really seem to grow. I've read whole series that showed less character development in 20 some odd books! Segal and Jones are the perfect pair, and I can't remember reading a novel written by two authors that flowed and... Read more

Let Me Hear a Rhyme

By: Tiffany D. Jackson
Narrated by: Korey Jackson, Nile Bullock, Adenrele Ojo & Adam Lazarre-White
Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

“I listened to this book on audio during my commute & read chapters while at home and enjoyed it in BOTH formats. The story of 3 friends trying to get a record deal for their murdered best friend & brother was strained in parts but the desire to see the outcome & my enjoyment of the characters carried me through. Read more

The Black Kids

By: Christina Hammonds Reed
Narrated by: Kiersey Clemons
Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

“As someone who was just a little older than the novel's main character when the Rodney King riots happened, I'm impressed by the many layers here. Hammonds Reed gets the details of the time just right, and Ashley Bennett is a very well-drawn character. It was fascinating to consider her thoughts and feelings set against the present circumstances... Read more

This Is My America

By: Kim Johnson
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 9 hours 34 minutes

“This is My America depicts the effects of police brutality and corrupt prosecution practices in America. Although there are similar Young Adult books tackling racism and police brutality, This is My America distinguishes itself by focusing on the emotional, physical, and financial impact of mass incarceration on the Black family. Johnson shows... Read more

Heavy

An American Memoir

By: Kiese Laymon
Narrated by: Kiese Laymon
Length: 6 hours 17 minutes

“An incredibly generous, tender, and searingly honest book. Kiese Laymon is hands down one of the most talented American writers publishing right now. HEAVY overflows with deep love and deep pain. Laymon holds up a mirror to the US past, present - "We did not have to be this way. We will not ever have to be this way." I'm going back to read... Read more

Boss Divas

Divas (Diamond): Book #4

By: De'Nesha Diamond
Narrated by: Shari Peele, Soozi Cheyenne, Simi Howe, Krystal King, Danielle Collins & Lisa Smith
Length: 10 hours 56 minutes

The most lethal ride-or-die women in Memphis now run their gangs and the streets. But the aftermath of an all-out war means merciless new enemies, time-bomb secrets... and one chance to take it all... Bullets have no names and collateral damage is the game as the women of the Dirty South push to secure total control. Vice Lord chief Lucifer goes... Read more

Abe

Abraham Lincoln in His Times

By: David S. Reynolds
Narrated by: Leon Nixon
Length: 33 hours 32 minutes

Now an Apple TV+ documentary, Lincoln's Dilemma, airing February 18, 2022.

One of the Wall Street Journal's Ten Best Books of the Year | A Washington Post Notable Book | A Christian Science Monitor and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2020

Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Abraham Lincoln Prize and the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award

"A marvelous... Read more

City of Champions

A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit

By: Stefan Szymanski & Silke-Maria Weineck
Narrated by: Leon Nixon
Length: 15 hours 20 minutes

From Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to the Bad Boys, from Joe Louis and Gordie Howe to the Malice at the Palace, City of Champions explores the history of Detroit through the stories of its most gifted athletes and most celebrated teams, linking iconic events in the history of Motown sports to the city's shifting fortunes.



In an era when many teams... Read more

Forty Acres

A Thriller

By: Dwayne Alexander Smith
Narrated by: Andre Blake
Length: 12 hours 37 minutes

“A thriller in a class by itself—brilliant and scary!” —Terry McMillan

Read the page-turning, provocative thriller that will forever change the way you think about slavery and its legacy in today’s America.

Martin Grey, a smart, talented black lawyer working out of a storefront in Queens, becomes friendly with a group of some of the most... Read more

Black Women, Black Love

America's War on African American Marriage

By: Dianne M Stewart
Narrated by: Tracey Leigh
Length: 9 hours 20 minutes

In this analysis of social history, examine the complex lineage of America's oppression of Black companionship.
According to the 2010 US census, more than seventy percent of Black women in America are unmarried. Black Women, Black Love reveals how four centuries of laws, policies, and customs have created that crisis.
Dianne Stewart begins in the... Read more

Wild Rain

Women Who Dare

By: Beverly Jenkins
Narrated by: Kim Staunton
Length: 8 hours 15 minutes

USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins continues her captivating Women Who Dare series with a female rancher who forges her own path in the wake of the Civil War… Banished by her grandfather at the age of eighteen, Spring Lee has survived scandal to claim her own little slice of Paradise, Wyoming. She’s proud of working her ranch alone and... Read more