Five Black Women Authors Every Reader Should Know

by Khira Moore * February 28. 2021

Although it may be the end of Black History Month, we admire the contributions from African American figures throughout the year. Our editor Khira offers suggestions of Black women authors you should read all year long.

1) Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas is best known for The Hate U Give, a look into the life of Starr Carter who struggles with her identity between the private, mostly white school she attends and the inner city black neighborhood she lives in. Starr’s life changes when she becomes the key witness when her childhood best friend is killed by the hands of a white police officer. The Hate U Give remained on the NYT’s bestsellers list for 50 weeks and was turned into a movie in 2018. The mantra of speaking your truth and speaking out against injustice is words we all should live by and Thomas shows that through Starr. Her other works On the Come Up and Concrete Rose are based in Garden Heights, the neighborhood Starr lives in. If you haven’t read Angie Thomas yet, put these books on your to be read list, you won’t regret it.

Photo: Mamadi Doumbouya for Vulture — *Photo:* *Mamadi Doumbouya for Vulture*

2) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian author who’s famous for her works in fiction, short stories, and nonfiction. A personal favorite of mine is her fiction novel, Americannah (2013). This novel tells the story of Ifemelu and Obinze, young and in love in Nigeria during its military rule. Ifemelu heads to America and finds out what it means to be black in a country where you’re the minority. Obinze’s plans to join her were put on hold when the terrorist attack known as 9/11 rocked America to its core. Now, he’s stuck in London as an undocumented immigrant. Ifemelu and Obinze grapple with their identity, race, and love as time shifts through different phases of their lives. Other novels written by Adichie include Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and various other novels and short stories. Her work is profound and incredibly moving. Adichie continues to impact generations as she makes her mark on the world.

3) Alice Walker

Alice Walker is best known for The Color Purple for which she won a National Book Award and a 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The book focuses on the lives of several African American women living in the American South during the 1930s, emphasizing their low position in society. The book was turned into a movie directed by Steven Spielburg in 1985. Walker writes to empower women and provide insight into African American culture. She lives on today as an amazing writer and feminist.

4) Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler is an American science fiction author, best known for Kindred, the tale of a time traveler who goes back and forth between a pre-civil war plantation and her home in 1976 Los Angeles. The book balances antebellum culture with the knowledge of the cultural impact it has in the future. Kindred has sold over 450,000 copies and is used as required readings in English curriculums across the country. Butler has been awarded multiple Hugo and Nebula awards as well as being inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Though she passed in 2006, she lives on through her work and serves as an inspiration to young writers.

*Photo: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com, via Associated Press*

5) Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was a renowned novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. She was known for many works such as Song of Solomon, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Sula. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1993 and a Pulitzer Prize award for fiction with her critically acclaimed novel, Beloved. Her novel tells the story of an enslaved woman whose attempt at escape was thwarted. Before she was caught, the woman killed her newborn baby so that she wouldn’t grow up in chains. The baby came back as a ghost to haunt her mother and her captors. Morrison passed away in 2019 but she’ll be talked about for years to come.