Celebrating Black Voices (2/1/23)

February marks the beginning of Black History Month. We are thrilled to celebrate and spotlight the inspiring stories, voices, and perspectives of Black creators throughout the month and beyond.

A COUNTRY YOU CAN LEAVE by Asale Angel-Ajani | 9780374604059 | 2/21/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | Audiobook excerpt ready for listening know more

A gorgeous, scathing debut novel following the turbulent relationship of a Black, biracial teen and her ferocious Russian mother, struggling to survive in the California desert.

HOUSE OF COTTON by Monica Brashears | 9781250851918 | 4/4/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by March 1st

A stunning, contemporary Black southern gothic novel about what it means to be a poor woman in the God fearing south in the age of OnlyFans, by a breakout new Affrilachian writer, perfect for readers of THE OTHER BLACK GIRL and LUSTER.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT KITTY KARR? by Crystal Smith Paul | 9781250815309 | 5/9/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by April 1st

A multigenerational saga that traverses the Jim Crow South, the glamour of old Hollywood, and the seductive draw of present-day showbiz as secrets split a family tree into Black, white, and something in between.

I AM AYAH: The Way Home by Donna Hill | 9781649371454 | 5/23/23 | LibraryReads votes due by April 1st

The Amistad counted fifty-three captives on the ship en route to Cuba, but there were actually fifty-four. Now, more than a century later, the descendant of the one escapee from that fateful ship, Ayah Fleming, must return to the home she fled if she ever hopes to reconcile the events of the past in order to claim a present that eludes her.

THE TALK by Darrin Bell | 9781250805140 | 6/6/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by May 1st

This graphic memoir by a Pulitzer Prize winner for Editorial Cartooning offers a deeply personal meditation on the “the talk” parents must have with Black children about racism and the brutality that often accompanies it, a ritual attempt to keep kids safe and prepare them for a world that—to paraphrase Toni Morrison—does not love them.

SAY ANARCHA: A Young Woman, a Devious Surgeon, and the Harrowing Birth of Modern Women’s Health by J. C. Hallman | 9781250868466 | 6/6/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by May 1st

For readers of ALL THAT SHE CARRIED and THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, this dual biography reckons with the birth of women’s health and brings forth the forgotten Black woman who was at its center.

CROWNED: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora by Kahran Bethencourt and Regis Bethencourt | 9781250281388 | 6/13/23 | LibraryReads votes due by May 1st

Filled with the stunning photography that defines CreativeSoul Photography, this collection features classic fairy tales, African and African American folklore, and exciting new classics–brand new stories created by Kahran and Regis.

YOU’VE BEEN SERVED by Kristen Alicia | 9781649373946 | 6/27/23 | LibraryReads votes due by May 1st

Legally Blonde meets Jasmine Guillory’s THE PROPOSAL when a young Black woman leaves her career as a chef and starts law school on the whim of a Magic 8 Ball.

PLAY TO WIN by Jodie Slaughter | 9781250821843 | 7/11/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by June 1st

A sizzling romance where a winning lottery ticket is meant to be a new start but instead becomes a second chance at love.

WITNESS: Stories by Jamel Brinkley | 9780374607036 | 8/1/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by July 1st

From a National Book Award finalist, WITNESS is an elegant, insistent narrative of actions taken and not taken that asks: What does it mean to take action? To bear witness? What does it cost?

THE PEACH SEED by Anita Gail Jones | 9781250872050 | 8/1/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by July 1st

A multigenerational novel and an epic debut that explores the origins of a south Georgia family’s tradition and how its modern-day sons and daughters struggle the legacies of America’s Civil Rights Movement and the far-reaching impacts of the 1800s slave trade from Senegal to Charleston, S.C.

HANGMAN by Maya Binyam | 9780374610074 | 8/8/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by July 1st

An enthralling and original first novel about exile, diaspora, and the impossibility of Black refuge in America and beyond. It is an uncommonly assured debut: an existential journey; a tragic farce; a slapstick tragedy; and a strange, and strangely honest, story of one man’s stubborn quest to find refuge—in this world and in the world that lies beyond it.

And make sure to check out these backlist titles as well:

LUSTER by Raven Leilani
FAKE IT TILL YOU BAKE IT by Jamie Wesley
UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH A BLACK MAN by Emmanuel Acho
UNBOUND: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke
BET ON IT by Jodie Slaughter
MY MONTICELLO by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
THE THREE MOTHERS: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs
GOLIATH by Tochi Onyebuchi
BUSES ARE A COMIN’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider by Charles Person with Richard Rooker
AFRICA RISEN: A New Era of Speculative Fiction Edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight
MY SEVEN BLACK FATHERS: A Young Activist’s Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole by Will Jawando
BLACK SKINHEAD: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future by Brandi Collins-Dexter
AND NOW SHE’S GONE by Rachel Howzell Hall
MAAME by Jessica George
HER HONOR: My Life on the Bench…What Works, What’s Broken, and How to Change It by LaDoris Hazzard Cordell
GLORY: Magical Visions of Black Beauty by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt
IF I SURVIVE YOU by Jonathan Escoffery