Books by Women of Color to Read in 2022

Brown Girls

“Told in the collective voice of the women of color of Queens, Brown Girls reads like poetry, with each chapter packing a powerful punch as we drop in on scenes in the girls' lives as they grow up, move away, and return to their home borough. This is one of those perfect books that goes down equally well as a one-sitting read or one that's doled out a chapter at a time. I've never read anything like this utterly compelling debut novel (and I've never been to Queens, let alone any other borough in New York), but reading this book still felt like coming home. ”

Kate, Bookmarks

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices.... Read more »

Olga Dies Dreaming

“Olga’s mother abandoned her family to fight for Puerto Rico’s liberation, and since then both Olga and her brother Prieto have tried to fill the void she left. Olga seeks attention and approval in meaningless relationships, while Prieto seeks approval and acclaim as a politician. Both finally face truths about their revolutionary mother and themselves and gain their own liberation from the years of heartbreak. This is a story focused on individuals and family and trauma, but it also highlights the far-reaching effects of colonialism.”

Nancy, Raven Book Store

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 BY VOGUE * USA TODAY * TIME * OPRAH DAILY * PARADE * THE WASHINGTON POST * BUZZFEED * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING * MARIE CLAIRE * FORTUNE * GLAMOUR * W MAGAZINE * NYLON * BUSTLE * POPSUGAR * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * THE RUMPUS * DEBUTIFUL * AND MORE!
 
A BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK

“Fiona And Jane captures the textures of... Read more »

"A deeply generous and honest gift to the world."
--Elliot Page
 
The author of I’m Afraid of Men lets readers in on the secrets to a life of reinvention.
 

Vivek Shraya knows this to be true: people change. We change our haircuts and our outfits and our minds. We change names, titles, labels. We attempt to blend in or to stand out. We outgrow... Read more »

To Paradise

“Expansive, wholly original, and utterly engrossing, To Paradise is a masterpiece. Fans of Yanagihara’s A Little Life will find themselves making a little more room in their hearts for this marvelous, emotional, and brilliant story.”

Christine Bollow, Loyalty Bookstores

From the bestselling and Booker Prize–winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism

Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize win was a historic and revolutionary occasion, with Evaristo being the first Black woman and first Black British...

An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by... Read more »

Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr. 

Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.

“One of the greatest...

A sharp-witted and deeply insightful look into the storied world of elite prep schools from the first African-American legacy student to graduate from The Taft School.

Early on in Kendra James’ professional life, she began to feel like she was selling a lie. As an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep... Read more »

A witty, moving, piercingly insightful new novel about a marvelously complicated woman who can’t be anyone but herself, from the award-winning author of Chemistry

“A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly biting wit, Weike Wang masterfully probes the existential uncertainty of being other in America.”—Celeste... Read more »

This sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Business Insider, Marie... Read more »

“An elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South—and thus of America—by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration.”

—Isabel Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

An essential, surprising journey...

In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of... Read more »

Reclaim the Stars is a collection of bestselling and acclaimed YA authors that take the Latin American diaspora to places fantastical and out of this world. From princesses warring in space, to the all too-near devastation of climate change, to haunting ghost stories in Argentina, and mermaids off the coast of the Caribbean. This is science...

From the acclaimed author of We Ride Upon Sticks comes a luminous novel that moves across a windswept Mongolia, as estranged twin brothers make a journey of duty, conflict, and renewed understanding.

Tasked with finding the reincarnation of a great lama—a spiritual teacher who may have been born anywhere in the vast Mongolian landscape—the young... Read more »

A stunning YA fantasy inspired by ancient Mesoamerica, this gripping debut introduces us to a lineage of seers defiantly resisting the shifting patriarchal state that would see them destroyed—perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi and Sabaa Tahir.

Indir is a Dreamer, descended from a long line of seers; able to see beyond reality, she carries the rare...

The critically acclaimed author of The Rib King returns with an eagerly anticipated collection of short stories including the title story written exclusively for this volume, that explore relationships in a Black neighborhood over the course from the late 1980s to the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The twelve stories in The Last Suspicious...

A mythic love story set in Trinidad, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's radiant debut introduces two unforgettable outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead.

"Heartwarming and heartbreaking, fantastical and familiar, with characters that burrow their way into your heart and mind." —Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The... Read more »

A Long Petal of the Sea meets Cold Mountain in this sweeping historical saga following a Mexican army nurse and an Irish soldier who must fight, at first for their survival and then for their love, amidst the atrocity of the Mexican-American War—from the author of the “timely and riveting” (People) Across a Hundred Mountains and The Distance... Read more »