Well-Read Black Girl Festival Picks

We're Going to Need More Wine

Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True

By: Gabrielle Union
Narrated by: Gabrielle Union
Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

“I know what this book looks like, and it's true that it's a '90s celebrity's memoir. But the other parts of this book are so remarkable that to limit its description to that would be an injustice. Gabrielle Union is an honest writer and cultural critic. I'm ashamed I didn't know this until now. Her reflections on race, gender, and authenticity... 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

“This is the best book I’ve read this year. An ambitious debut novel tracing the history of one family against the backdrop of American history and showing the stories that are remembered and the ones that are forgotten. Read more

The Sum of Us

What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

By: Heather McGhee
Narrated by: Heather McGhee
Length: 11 hours 8 minutes

“I recommend this because it digs deeper into some of the harmful systemic practices that are or were in place for Black people in the US. It shows how not only does it affect Black people and other marginalized communities but those practices affect everyone. I also appreciated the perspective and how these facts and personal stories are told so... Read more

It's About Damn Time

How to Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage

By: Arlan Hamilton & Rachel L. Nelson
Narrated by: Arlan Hamilton
Length: 5 hours 57 minutes

“A hero’s tale of what’s possible when we unlock our potential, continue the search for knowledge, and draw on our lived experiences to guide us through the darkest moments.”—Stacey Abrams

From a Black, gay woman who broke into the boys’ club of Silicon Valley comes an empowering guide to finding your voice, working your way into any room you... Read more

A Knock at Midnight

A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom

By: Brittany K. Barnett
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Length: 13 hours 20 minutes

LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST • NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE • A “powerful and devastating” (The Washington Post) call to free those buried alive by America’s legal system, and an inspiring true story about unwavering belief in humanity—from a gifted young lawyer and important new voice in the movement to transform the system.

“An essential... Read more

Until I Am Free

Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America

By: Keisha N. Blain
Narrated by: Tyra Kennedy
Length: 7 hours 1 minute

Explores the Black activist’s ideas and political strategies, highlighting their relevance for tackling modern social issues including voter suppression, police violence, and economic inequality.

“We have a long fight and this fight is not mine alone, but you are not free whether you are white or black, until I am free.”—Fannie Lou Hamer

A... Read more

Hurricane Summer

A Novel

By: Asha Ashanti Bromfield
Narrated by: Asha Ashanti Bromfield
Length: 10 hours 19 minutes

"Author and narrator Asha Bromfield offers an engrossing performance of this coming-of-age audiobook. Bromfield's experience as an actress and her ease with Jamaican Patois will draw listeners into a story that has multiple levels of emotional intensity." -- AudioFile Magazine

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

Dear Miss Metropolitan

A Novel

By: Carolyn Ferrell
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 12 minutes

“This novel is, in a word, heartbreaking. Dear Miss Metropolitan is going right to the top of my recommendation list for 2021. Read more

Rise to the Sun

By: Leah Johnson
Narrated by: Lexi Underwood & Alaska Jackson
Length: 7 hours 33 minutes

From the author of You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson delivers a stunning novel about being brave enough to be true to yourself, and learning to find joy even when times are unimaginably dark.Olivia is an expert at falling in love . . . and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and... Read more

Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be

By: Nichole Perkins
Narrated by: Nichole Perkins
Length: 7 hours 2 minutes

In this "saucy and smart" memoir, a journalist uses pop culture as a lens to navigate her identity as a Black woman (Oprah Daily).

Nichole Perkins takes readers on a rollicking trip through the last twenty years of music, media and the internet, exploring her experience with mental illness, her attachment to the TV show Frasier, her role as a... Read more

We Are Bridges

A Memoir

By: Cassandra Lane
Narrated by: Cassandra Lane
Length: 8 hours 5 minutes

When Cassandra Lane finds herself pregnant at thirty-five, the knowledge sends her on a poignant exploration of memory to prepare for her entry into motherhood. She moves between the twentieth-century rural South and present-day Los Angeles, reimagining the intimate life of her great-grandparents Mary Magdelene Magee and Burt Bridges, and Burt’s... Read more

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

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

“A slim, sensual, and often sapphic collection of stories about women, relationships, and the church. Whether the tension breaks in laughter or tears, it will keep you neglecting real life in leu of listening. You will fall in love with these women. It's remarkable with Philyaw has accomplished in such a short little book. It's incredible. Read more

Revival Season

By: Monica West
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 8 hours 24 minutes

“In Revival Season, 15-year-old Miriam Horton's eyes are opened to the complexities of spirituality and the depraved nature of humans, including one who she admires the most: her own father, an Evangelical Baptist preacher who plans revival circuits every summer. After witnessing her father violently react to a man who questions his ability to... Read more

Instructions for Dancing

By: Nicola Yoon
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A charming, wholehearted love story that's sure to make readers swoon."—Entertainment Weekly

"Nicola Yoon writes from the heart in this beautiful love story."—Good Morning America

“It’s like an emotional gut punch—so beautiful and also heart-wrenching."—US Weekly

In this romantic page-turner from the... Read more