These 8 Novels By Black Authors Need To Go On Your TBR
Whether you’re a romance reader, horror fan or an aspirational Goodreads user, these 8 books are necessary additions to your bookshelf.
Black History Month is a time for reflection, remembrance, and acknowledgment of the Black experience. February is the ideal time to prioritize Black voices in your reading, although you can (and should!) read Black authors all year long. Whether you’re a romance reader, horror fan, or are trying to read more as a part of your 2026 resolution, there are Black writers for you to discover in every genre. Here are eight great books by Black authors to add to your stack.
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen
The Season 8 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race takes us on a musical ride in this historical fiction debut. Set in the U.S., where major historical figures have inexplicably returned, abolitionist Harriet Tubman is back and wants to put her story into song. Enlisting Darnell, a gay hip-hop producer ousted by the industry, she and four other formerly enslaved persons are ready to turn everyone’s lives around by taking a modern approach to the horrors she faced.
Do not let the premise fool you—this book has heavy comedic undertones. Bob’s musical talent comes off the pages and literally brings Harriet alive. You can watch a music video for Harriet Tubman’s imagined lead single on the drag queen’s YouTube channel.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Phillyaw
For all my gays with religious trauma! If you are looking for something quick or trying to get back into reading, I will always suggest a short story collection.
Phillyaw’s debut work dives into the lives of various Black women reflecting on the oppressions of the church and how its teachings affect their relationships and desires. From sapphic longing, forbidden affairs, and unspoken wants, we see what consumes women who have been under the thumb of religious environments. This collection is sexy, heartbreaking, and set to be an HBO adaptation any day now.
The Death of Vivek Oji by Awkake Emezi
Non-binary Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi is constantly shaking up their novels, now with ten published works ranging from romance, magical realism, a YA duology, and even a poetry collection and memoir. I recommend starting with their first literary fiction work from 2020.
Young Vivek Oji is an outcast in a Nigerian community. Dealing with unexplainable erratic behavior, they find more solace amongst the women in the tribe than their overbearing mother. Vivek’s cousins are the only ones who know about Vivek’s true desires and their actual death. When Vivek is found dead by their parents, the couple is forced to trace their steps and learn more about the child they did not truly know.
At only 250 pages, this is part-unfolding-mystery, part-queer-coming-of-age, and completely captivating.
This 2025 debut novel comes from Aisha Muharrar, a comedy writer from beloved shows such as Hacks and The Good Place. Much like her screenwriting jobs, Loved One is as funny as it is heartfelt.
When her teenage friend and first love, Gabe, passes from a tragic accident at age 30, our main character, Julia, is left reeling. Stuck with the grief and the weight of things left unsaid, she begins an international journey to assist Gabe’s mother in tracking down his belongings. This leads her to Elizabeth, his most recent ex-girlfriend, who has her own unanswered questions and possibly the missing puzzle pieces of the Gabe she never knew.
For the queer thriller lovers, non-binary author River Solomon voices family struggles and gives a modern twist to the haunted house trope in Model Home.
Thirty-something Ezri has distanced themselves from their family and the horrors of the home they grew up in. When their parents are found inexplicably dead, they are forced to take their child and return to their childhood home in Dallas. What follows is a public trial and internal reckoning of the horrors of a Black family in an upper-class community full of secrets.
WNBA star, Olympian, mother, and activist Britney Griner made headlines in 2022 after being held in a Russian prison after small amounts of prescribed cannabis hash oil were found in her luggage at the Moscow airport. She was released after ten months following an outpour of support from the WNBA league and interference from former President Joe Biden, who assisted her via a prisoner exchange. The horrors of her arrest and time away from her wife are recounted in her 2024 memoir.
Coming Home serves as a great background for The Briney Griner Story, a documentary coming soon to streaming following its Sundance debut.
The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
Brandon Taylor made a name for himself as one of the best Black queer writers in literary fiction when his debut novel, Real Life, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020.
His second novel, The Late Americans, follows a group of individuals living in and around Iowa City. (This may or may not have been influenced by the author’s time getting an MFA at the infamous Iowa Writers’ Workshop.) From dancers, writers, their partners, lovers, and the townspeople living in the surrounding rural area, we see the effects of graduate school pressures as the looming fear of the “real world” weighs on our main characters.
Once you fall in love with Taylor’s writing, check out his backlist, which includes a short story collection (Filthy Animals) and a 2025 release (Minor Black Figures).
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Tia Williams is a Black romance author whose works were made for you to swoon over. Her breakout novel, The Perfect Find, was made into a Netflix adaptation starring Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers in 2023.
Set in Brooklyn, Seven Days In June follows two writers who reconnect at a convention, and realize they have unknowingly been weaving the other into their characters ever since their sweeping romance twenty years ago. While reflecting on the week-long romance from their teen years that they never got over, Shane and Eva set out to discover if the chemistry withstood the test of time.
The series adaptation rights have already been obtained by Amazon Prime Video, so hopefully it’s only a matter of time until we see this on screen!
Allow February to inspire you to pick up more works by Black writers, and keep that energy going year-round. These books are a starting point to your commitment to centering Black voices and potentially finding your new favorite read.
