![Recommending Books by Black Authors || 2021 [CC]](https://wp.fifu.app/paulwalkerbooks.com/aHR0cHM6Ly9pLnl0aW1nLmNvbS92aS9YemdDb0lfSTFXSS9tYXhyZXNkZWZhdWx0LmpwZw/7caf00e2bd21/recommending-books-by-black-authors-2021-cc.webp?w=1200&h=675&c=1&p=595 "Recommending Books by Black Authors || 2021 [CC]")
Happy Black History Month! ✊🏾 I’ve got some book recommendations for you. They’re written by Black authors, feature Black characters and more often than not are about the Black experience. 🖤
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✨ Part 1 of this recommendations list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix23QhClB6s
📚 The Books 📚
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
The Lamplighter by Jackie Kay
My Darling from the Lions by Rachel Long
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
Slay by Brittney Morris
The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northup
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten
⚡️ Content Warnings ⚡️
A Raisin in the Sun: mentions of miscarriage, racism, misogyny, violence, abortion, elitism, use of homophobic slur f word
The Lamplighter: slavery, suicide, death, physical abuse, being sold, flogging, rape, satvation, forced separation from children, claustrophobia
My Darling from the Lions: rape
Clap When You Land: grief, plane crash, sexual assault and predatory behaviour
Your Silence Will Not Protect You: racism, homophobia
The Black Flamingo: fighting, homophobia and internalised homophobia, drug use, blackout, racism
Slay by Brittney Morris: cancer, death, racism and microaggressions, abusive relationship
When Life Gives You Mangoes: grief, drowning, death, hurricane damage to property
Their Eyes Were Watching God: slavery, discrimmination and racism, physical abuse from husband, rape and sexual assault, misogyny, death, colourism, murder, illness and hurricane aftermath/experience
Don’t Touch My Hair: racism, sexism, slavery, mentions of murder law case (of a child), rape
Riot Baby: gang crime, murder, gun crime, police brutality, animal death and abuse, panic attacks, imprisonment, violence, body gore, racism, miscarriage, cancer, grief, death, suicidal thought/attempt, stabbing, drug use and dealing, looting, childbirth
Tyler Johnson Was Here: police brutality, murder, grief, death
My Sister the Serial Killer: murder, stabbing, coma, domestic abuse
Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man: slavery, racism
12 Years A Slave: slavery, whipping, hanging, lynching, violence, body gore, rape, starvation
Felix Ever After: transphobia, deadnaming, homophobia, racism, outing, cyberbullying
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: ableism, racism, pedophilia, sexual assault, violence, fatphobia, rape, suicidal thoughts, lgbt+ slur, homophobia
✨ Some books were sent for review by @BookBreak
🧡 Black Booktubers to check out 🧡
@TheArtisanGeek
@BookishRealm
@iLiviesimone
@fictionalfates
@JesseOnYoutube
@JustBen1
@teatimewitht6937
@ChroniclesofNoria
@MinaReads
@MikaAuguste
@ZoesAllBooked
@chanelletime
@ONYXPages
Opalescent: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0uj8TPe1oyPK-KgMTbbhrA
Thistle & Verse: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJriWyYfIPnbfSz52fEhHJw
Luxurious Blu: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSBl1xu8x-Nn1yMyGvB1-ug
— #booktube #bookrecommendations #blackauthors
As always, closed captions (subtitles) available x
Thank you to Mariana Quesada for the amazing intro. Check out her channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWMHL9rI5i-3lgz72A5QOw
Contact me for business enquiries: olivia-savannah@oliviascatastrophe.com
Wishlist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/H0ORXKL2C7A0?ref_=wl_share
Blog: http://oliviascatastrophe.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/oliviascatastro
Bookstagram (Instagram): https://instagram.com/oliviascatastrophe/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/34117027-olivia-savannah
Yoga Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogidragoness/
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Hi! I’m Olivia-Savannah. I’m a British student studying English Literature and Creative Writing in the UK. I also spend a lot of time in the Netherlands where some of my family live. I love reading, writing, yoga, cooking and baking. I love reading all genres and age audiences. Nice to meet you x
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Want to try Scribd (and get access to free audiobooks and ebooks) for 60 days? Here you go: https://www.scribd.com/g/8qshc5
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I was like: im going to choose the ones I like the best. not me saving literally all of the books
Beautiful video with excellent mini reviews! Thank you 💞👏🏾
With your video, I just found new books to read!
Okey black supremacist
This list is fantastic!! Thank you. I have been wanting to read more diverse books and didn't exactly know where to start. ❤️
added this to my watch later list which I use for book recs so that I can come back to it when my book buying ban is over! 😀
love their eyes were watching god! thank you for all the recommendations 💗💗
I absolutely love how this list has such a huge variety of genres, age ranges, and interests.
Have now just finished The Black Flamingo 💗💖🖤💖💗 it is a work of art. The ending was perfect for it. Dean Atta and everyone who made the book happen – just Thank you. I really hope as many people as possible read it.
My Sister, the Serial Killer is just such a good book!!
I definitely need to check some of these out, they sound so good!
When Life Gives You Mangoes sounds beautiful! I also really want to read Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. I've read Clap When You Land, Slay, and The Black Flamingo, and I loved them all!
Tyler Johnson was here and the black God drums I had not heard of at all…So of course they are on the list!
This list is absolutely amazing Olivia, thank you so much! I really want to read The Lamplighter by Jackie Kay and I know this is terrible but I have yet to pick up something by Maya Angelou despite hearing so many great things, and a friend of mine even named her baby after her! So I definitely need to at least start with I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
Thanks for all these great recommendations! I thought I had Don’t Touch My Hair on my TBR list but it turns out the one on my list is You Can’t Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson, which was recommended as an audiobook.
I’ve read four of these (the black flamingo, slay, my sister the serial killer and I know why the caged bird sings) and enjoyed all of them!
I love that you talk about titles I never hear about and from different genres.
Thank you for the recommendations 💜
Thank you for the awesome list 🙂
So many of these were already on my tbr but I've added all of the rest as well, some fantastic recommendations!!
My Sister the Serial Killer already sounds great but especially for the family dynamic. I love conflicting dynamics. I loved the family in Raisin in the Sun! I want to read Clap When You Land so bad. Impatiently waiting for all my book buying places to restock it lol. Their Eyes Were Watching God is on my TBR as well! I didn’t know it was written in southern Patios. That’s pretty cool. Mangoes & Mistletoe sounds like a really cute hallmark movie lol. I loved I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 😭😭 I’ve also read Gather Together in My Name but haven’t been able to continue on with Angelou’s works just yet.
Love this video so much!! ❤ I just got My Sister the Serial Killer because I keep hearing you talking about it and seeing your pics and I needed it.
So many different type of books. Need to start more non fiction myself because I do not really read enough. Riot Baby is another book that I definitely need to check out.
You silence will not protect you sounds absolutely amazing 💜💜 I love the way you summarized clap when you land. I’ve been meaning to read riot baby for so long now. 💜💜
I've seen Felix Ever After around everywhere, but actually had no clue what the story itself was, and that sounds so interesting!
I really love fantasy and recently bought Children of Blood and Bone as well as A Song of Wraiths and Ruin! I've heard really good reviews about them!
Thank you so much for your recs! There are lots here I've loved but so many that I still have to look forward to. When Life Gives You Mangoes sounds so good and so does Riot Baby!
The black god’s drums sounds amazing!
Clap When You Land, When Life Gives You Mangoes, The Black Flamingo, and My Sister is a Serial Killer were three of my favourites from last year. I'm definitely going to be picking up the Audre Lord. Also very tempted by the Jackie Kay, Riot Baby and Tyler Johnson. Thanks for all the great recommendations
I love how you mix all the genres in your recommendations! Thank you for this 🙂
With all these content warnings. Is reading a safe space?
Should we be reading Black Authors if they can bring up so much trauma?
Thanks for the recommendations! Some that are on my TBR or that I’ve read include
-Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton
-The immortal life of Henrietta Lack by Rebecca Skloot
-The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
I just received my copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God today! really looking forward to it
You spoke so beautifully about the fragmented lives of 12 Years a Slave. That one sounds very heavy for sure, but so important.
A nonfiction one I love that is starting to get more attention but that I think deserves more is I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown! and for fiction, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia. Not super popular imo considering it's a Rick Riordan Presents book and those tend to get pretty good advertising!
I have seen When Life Gives You Mangoes if not in YouTube, might be in Instagram. 🥭
Thanks for sharing these books. 📚😁
I have The Black Flamingo on my shelves and really want to get to it soon, I've heard nothing but amazing reviews of it! A few others are definitely on my list, and a few I've read and loved. A couple recs: Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (fiction) and Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry (nonfiction)
My Sister the Serial Killer! I keep putting it off because I only have it on kindle and I just cannnn’t pick it up (we have discussed this haha) but I just need a physical copy so I can finally hecking read it already! Also, Audre Lorde is an author I really want to read, and will! I have seen A Raisin in the Sun on the used book store that I shop at and now I will pick it up because it sounds intriguing! Definitely want to pick up Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, sounds super insightful and informative, and also really good. Just so many beautiful covers, too! Oh man, just add them all to my TBR!
These are totally different from the ones I've gathered to recommend so this is very helpful! I need to get around to Black Flamingo, I think I would enjoy that!
i just read the mini penguin moderns essay collection of audre lorde, it had three essays and they were all great. ive not heard anything bad about slay! their eyes were watching god, i know why the caged bird sings and riot baby are both on my tbr already. ive seen the twelve years a slave movie and it was incredible but also heartbreaking. great list!
aaaaaah so many books added to my tbr and basket. my wallet is actually disgusted by me😭 thank you for all the play recommendations because i would love to diversify the type of literature im reading this year.
the black gods drums and felix ever after are on my TBR, which im trying not to expand too much, but i definitely have my eye on riot baby! (and tbh i will read my sister the serial killer at some point, i cant see how i could not.) lots of great recommendations, thanks for sharing!
I read A Raisin in the Sun in high school. I don’t remember too much about it, but I do remember liking it.
I need to get to The Black Flamingo ASAP!!
SLAY! ♥️♥️♥️ I loved it. And yes, I learned so much from it!
I read Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark. The Black God’s Drum sounds very intriguing!
Some of our favourite writers. Great list!
Wow, we filmed a very similar video last weekend. I'm editing it tonight… I promise we're not stressing your ideas. Fortunately we only have one book in common (My Sister the Serial Killer).
Solomon Northup is somebody I need to read.
I love how diverse (in genre) this list is. Anybody who can't get a book from this list isn't trying.
If you haven't read Akwaeke Emezi yet, you need to get onto their work stat! Also just finished Roots last month and it's very good.
I enjoyed When Life Gives You Mangoes, I think it was your review that made me put it on my wishlist. I have My Sister, the Serial Killer on my TBR. I loved Clap When You Land. Yesss for The Black Flamingo! I have SLAY on my TBR, shame it wasn't quite your read but I love that you put it in this video. I have Tyler Johnson Was Here on my general TBR. I don't hear many people talk about it, and when they do I heard mixed things, so I love that you talked about it in this video. I have Twisted / Don't Touch My Hair on my TBR (it's in a package in quarantine). Mangoes & Mistletoe sounds good. I have Felix Ever After on my TBR. Great video!! Have a great weekend!
Oooh Rachel Long’s poetry came up a lot when I was looking for some new collections this other day so I’m definitely picking it up after this video!
I still really want to read Slay despite you not entirely loving it.
Oh, I’d heard about Tyler Johnson Was Here but you have completely sold that to me now.
This is such a good list, thank you so much for sharing. There’s definitely something for everyone here.
Great recommendations sweetie and I need to get round to my sister the serial killer.. I recommend the confessions of frannie Langton to you as it’s a great historical fiction book with a great female black lead character
Great list! Everything that I haven’t already read is now on my tbr ☺️ I just finished and LOVED A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown, I’d really recommend it!