Audiobooks by Black Authors, Curated by Marcus Books

Sankofa

A Novel

By: Chibundu Onuzo
Narrated by: Sara Powell
Length: 9 hours 2 minutes

“Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa is the story of Anna, an African British woman who never knew her father. Anna discovers clues to her African father's identity only after her mother dies. This is fortuitous. What follows as Anna acknowledges and accepts her father, a man with a vast reputation and many secrets, is the healing and melding of Anna's two... Read more

The Dating Playbook

By: Farrah Rochon
Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
Length: 9 hours 3 minutes

When a personal trainer agrees to fake date her client, all rules are out the window in this delightful romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of The Boyfriend Project!

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor... Read more

If Beale Street Could Talk

A Novel

By: James Baldwin
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 7 hours 7 minutes

From one of the most important writers of the twentieth century comes a stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime—"a moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless” (The New York Times Book Review)."One of the best... Read more

Somebody's Daughter

A Memoir

By: Ashley C. Ford
Narrated by: Ashley C. Ford
Length: 8 hours 44 minutes

"Ashley C. Ford brings listeners into her life in this outstanding coming-of-age story...Listeners will cheer as Ford attends college and weep as she visits her father in prison, and when he is finally released." -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

This program is read by the author, and includes a bonus conversation between the author... Read more

Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In The Sky

Tristan Strong: Book #1

By: Kwame Mbalia
Narrated by: Amir Abdullah
Length: 10 hours 56 minutes

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he... Read more

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By: Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by: Ruby Dee
Length: 6 hours 44 minutes

“This book is a masterpiece. Zora Neale Hurston explores stages in a woman’s life so powerfully. Ruby Dee’s audiobook narration is the best audiobook narration I’ve ever heard. She expresses so much emotion and personality. She brings the characters to life and she savors every perfectly chosen word of the text. Read more

Pleasantville

By: Attica Locke
Narrated by: JD Jackson
Length: 13 hours 13 minutes

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEY’S WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTIONFrom Attica Locke, a writer and producer of FOX’s Empire, this sophisticated thriller sees lawyer Jay Porter—hero of her bestseller Black Water Rising—return to fight one last case, only to become embroiled in a dangerous game of shadowy politics and a witness to how far those in power are... Read more

The Poet X

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo
Length: 3 hours 30 minutes

“Acevedo's book is full of raw emotion, poetic descriptions, and gut-wrenching plot points. It explores themes of religious identity, female rage, and embracing a creative lifestyle in the immigrant Latinx community. READ it. Read IT. READ IT! NOW. Stop reading this and go read this book! Read more

Dread Nation

By: Justina Ireland
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 56 minutes

“Two days before Jane McKeene was born, the dead on the battlefields of the Civil War began to walk the earth. Though she was born to plantation owners, Jane’s mixed-race heritage and dark skin means she is now training at combat school to be an Attendant: a zombie-killer whose job it will be to protect the White woman she is contracted to. But... Read more

Just as I Am

A Memoir

By: Cicely Tyson
Narrated by: Cicely Tyson, Viola Davis & Robin Miles
Length: 16 hours 8 minutes

“In her long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only exceeded as an actor, she has shaped the course of history.” –President Barack Obama, 2016 Presidential Medal of Honor ceremony""Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. Here, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been... Read more

Get a Life, Chloe Brown

A Novel

The Brown Sisters: Book #1

By: Talia Hibbert
Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
Length: 10 hours 41 minutes

“Each book in the Brown Sisters trilogy is as tenderhearted as it is TORRID, as wholesome as it is HOT, and as soulful as it is SPICY! This first book follows oldest sister Chloe, a chronically ill, fiercely independent computer geek who, after a near-death experience, decides to 'get a life', mostly by enlisting her mysterious, sexy,... Read more

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

An Oprah’s Book Club Novel

By: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton & Prentice Onayemi
Length: 29 hours 48 minutes

“A sweeping, multi-generational novel about a Southern Black family and their rich and complex ancestry. Focusing on the life of Hailey Pearl, a young woman coming of age in "the city" and her hometown of Chicasetta, GA, the novel jumps back and forth in time weaving together the triumphs and tragedies of her people and how these stories are... Read more

On the Corner of Hope and Main

A Blessings Novel

Blessings: Book #10

By: Beverly Jenkins
Narrated by: Lynnette R. Freeman
Length: 9 hours 30 minutes

NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins celebrates her beloved Blessings series with a heartwarming novel set in Henry Adams, Kansas.“If you haven’t yet gotten your hands on [this] author’s work, you should do so immediately.”—Shondaland

Citizens of Henry Adams, Kansas, know there’s never a dull moment in their small... Read more

White Smoke

By: Tiffany D. Jackson
Narrated by: Marcella Cox
Length: 8 hours 56 minutes

The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California... Read more

When No One Is Watching

A Thriller

By: Alyssa Cole
Narrated by: Susan Dalian & Jay Aaseng
Length: 8 hours 54 minutes

“Cole’s thriller exposes the underbelly of gentrification and prosperity, taking a searing look at systemic racism. When a pharmaceutical firm plans to move its headquarters to a historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood, an influx of rich white people displace Black residents from their homes and their roots. Timely, groundbreaking, and... Read more

Concrete Rose

A Printz Honor Winner

By: Angie Thomas
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 8 hours 17 minutes

International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood. A Printz Honor Book!If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang... Read more

Amari and the Night Brothers

Supernatural Investigations: Book #1

By: B. B. Alston
Narrated by: Imani Parks
Length: 11 hours 11 minutes

“WOW!! This is my new favorite Middle Reader book, hands down!! Amari Peters is a fantastic character full of spunk and determination. She is on a mission to find her brother when she dives headfirst into a brilliant, brutal world of imagination and magic, a world of supernatural affairs. But in this world of supernaturals, magicians are illegal... Read more

Feeding the Soul (Because It's My Business)

Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom

A Feeding the Soul Book

By: Tabitha Brown
Narrated by: Tabitha Brown
Length: 5 hours 49 minutes

 You are seen, you are loved, and you are heard!Before Tabitha Brown was one of the most popular personalities in the world, sharing her delicious vegan home cooking and compassionate wisdom with millions of followers across social media, she was an aspiring actress who in 2016 began struggling with undiagnosed chronic autoimmune pain. Her... Read more

Invisible Man

By: Ralph Ellison
Narrated by: Joe Morton
Length: 18 hours 36 minutes

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of modern American Negro life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching--yet always with... Read more

Of Thee I Sing

A Letter to My Daughters

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Andre Braugher
Length: 16 minutes

Barack Obama delivers a tender, beautiful letter to his daughters in this powerful picture book illustrated by award-winner Loren Long that's made to be treasured!

In this poignant letter to his daughters, Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the... Read more