Explore the Works of Contemporary African-American Writers

Celebrate the work of African-American writers during Black History month. Books on display in the Shapiro Library highlight both fiction and non-fiction works by contemporary African-American authors. 

Check out award winning titles like Jessmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones, Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give, and Teju Cole’s Open City.

A variety of works by contemporary African-American novelists include titles like An Unkindness of Ghosts, The Ballad of Black Tom, Long Way Down, and With Fire on High, just to name a few. 

Writers like Roxanne Gay and Ta-Nehsi Coates work in both fiction and non-fiction. Take a look at Gay’s novel An Untamed State or a collection of her essays in Bad Feminist. Explore Coates’ fiction in The Water Dancer and the unique non-fiction of Between the World and Me, written as a letter to his son.  

Read memoirs and essays in the work of authors like Issa Rae, Darnell L. Moore, Brittney Cooper, W. Kamau Bell, Phoebe Robinson, and Michael Arceneaux

Other books in the display include poetry collections by Jamaal May and Danez Smith, a short story collections by ZZ Packer, and the anthology of essays Well-Read Black Girl

This spreadsheet provides a complete list of the books on display and can help you locate the books after the display comes down.