When I was growing up, I loved reading about distant fantastical worlds just as much as I loved reading about high school drama. Reading quickly became my number one pastime, but no matter how many books I plowed through, it was difficult for me to find books where the characters looked like me. Luckily, as I got older, more and more Black authors were publishing books with beautiful Black main characters.
With February and thus Black History Month coming to an end, we wanted to compile this list of recommendations to encourage everyone to read books by Black authors all year long. There are titles from all different genres and even a couple pre-orders to look forward to. We hope you will read some of these incredible stories and continue to support and celebrate Black authors post-February and beyond.
I have always felt disconnected from the month of February. Yes, I know it's Black History Month and I need to take pride in my history. But for a long time I just couldn’t see myself in the greatness of these heroes’ legacy. It was a steep hill to climb. In school, the teachers would have us create projects, watch a film or two and decorate the room in an elaborate celebration of the heroes of African American History. The more they pushed this, the wider that distance became. I can remember that feeling lingering throughout high school and up until my early twenties. I celebrated my culture of course during those years but there was never a true connection to the history of it, until there was.
