Elizabeth Acevedo
Novels in verse from an Afro-Dominican poet.
Scout-A-Book
Black authors,
filed by genre.
Pull a drawer, search a name. A living catalog of the writers shaping every shelf — from Afrofuturist epics to inaugural verse.
69 cards across the catalog
Tomi Adeyemi
West-African-inspired epic fantasy phenomenon.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chronicler of Nigeria, migration, and love.
Michelle Alexander
Legal scholar on mass incarceration.
Kwame Alexander
Newbery Medalist writing sport and rhythm.
Maya Angelou
Poet and memoirist of survival and grace.
James Baldwin
Novelist and essayist of race, faith, and desire.
L.A. Banks
Author of the Vampire Huntress Legend series.
Derrick Barnes
Picture books that celebrate Black boyhood.
Gwendolyn Brooks
First Black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Jericho Brown
Pulitzer winner; inventor of the 'duplex' form.
Octavia E. Butler
The foundational voice of Black speculative fiction.
P. Djèlí Clark
Alt-history fantasy rich with folklore and steam.
Dhonielle Clayton
Lush fantasy and champion of diverse books.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Essayist on race, power, and American memory.
Alyssa Cole
Ranges from royal rom-coms to Civil War spies.
S.A. Cosby
Hard-charging Southern noir with a beating heart.
Angela Y. Davis
Activist-scholar of abolition and feminism.
Samuel R. Delany
New Wave pioneer of language and desire in SF.
Rita Dove
Pulitzer winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate.
Tananarive Due
Leading voice in Black horror, fiction and scholarship.
Esi Edugyan
Two-time Giller Prize winner.
Ralph Ellison
A single towering novel on visibility and identity.
Kellye Garrett
Witty amateur-sleuth and domestic suspense.
Roxane Gay
Cultural critic with candor and wit.
Nikki Giovanni
Beloved Black Arts Movement poet.
Amanda Gorman
Youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history.
Jasmine Guillory
Breezy, modern contemporary romance.
Yaa Gyasi
Generational epic tracing slavery's long shadow.
Rachel Howzell Hall
L.A. detective series and twisty standalones.
Vashti Harrison
Caldecott-winning author-illustrator.
Talia Hibbert
Warm, funny, body-positive love stories.
bell hooks
Feminist theorist writing in accessible prose.
Langston Hughes
Voice of the Harlem Renaissance and jazz poetry.
Zora Neale Hurston
Harlem Renaissance writer and folklorist.
Tiffany D. Jackson
Suspense-driven YA that doesn't flinch.
Marlon James
Booker Prize winner with a maximalist voice.
N.K. Jemisin
First to win the Hugo for Best Novel three years running.
Beverly Jenkins
Pioneer of Black historical romance.
Saeed Jones
Poet-memoirist of coming of age and grief.
Edward P. Jones
Pulitzer winner on Black slaveholding and D.C. life.
Robert Jones Jr.
Lyric antebellum novel of queer love and survival.
Ibram X. Kendi
Historian of racist ideas and antiracism.
Victor LaValle
Literary horror reworking Lovecraft and folklore.
Kiese Laymon
Unflinching memoir of body, family, and the South.
Attica Locke
Texas crime fiction steeped in place and history.
Toni Morrison
Nobel laureate whose novels reshaped the American canon.
Walter Mosley
Creator of P.I. Easy Rawlins and post-war L.A. noir.
Barbara Neely
Domestic-worker sleuth Blanche White; genre trailblazer.
Trevor Noah
Comic, incisive memoir of apartheid-era childhood.
Michelle Obama
Record-breaking memoir from the former First Lady.
Barack Obama
Reflective memoir and presidential account.
Nnedi Okorafor
Coined 'Africanfuturism'; blends myth and tech.
Tochi Onyebuchi
Near-future SF fused with racial reckoning.
Claudia Rankine
Lyric essay-poetry on race and everyday aggression.
Jason Reynolds
Prolific, kinetic writer for young readers.
Farrah Rochon
STEM-smart contemporary rom-coms.
Kennedy Ryan
Emotionally weighty, socially aware romance.
Zadie Smith
Sharp, polyphonic novels of multicultural London.
Tracy K. Smith
Pulitzer winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate.
Rivers Solomon
Speculative fiction of diaspora, gender, and memory.
Nic Stone
Frank YA on race, identity, and belonging.
Brandon Taylor
Interior, precise fiction of campus and queer life.
Angie Thomas
Contemporary YA on justice and voice.
Alice Walker
Pulitzer winner; coined 'womanist.'
Jesmyn Ward
Two National Book Awards for her Mississippi Gulf fiction.
Colson Whitehead
Two-time Pulitzer winner who bends genre at will.
Isabel Wilkerson
Narrative nonfiction on migration and hierarchy.
Jacqueline Woodson
National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.