The Bookish Mindset

Black History Month is celebrated in October in the UK, and while we should definitely use this month to spotlight, highlight and uplift Black voices, October shouldn’t be the only month we do that.

Over on my Instagram I’ve shared nearly 500 individual book recommendations from Black voices spanning the diaspora to keep you reading all year long. Here’s my summarised round up of over 90 of my favourite reads from Black authors. Just tap on the titles to get more info from Bookshop.org and to support my work. Or if you prefer an audiobook, then I’d definitely recommend Libro.fm!

Dystopian:

• Chain-Gang All-Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Eve – Victor LaValle
• Sky Full of Elephants – Cebo Campbell

Fantasy:

• That Self-Same Metal – Brittany N. Williams
• A Song of Legends Lost – M. H. Ayinde
• Andromeda – E. S. McLeod
• Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeymi
• Pet – Akwaeke Emezi
• Immortal Dark – Tigrest Girma
• Faebound – Saara El-Arifi
• The Poisons We Drink – Bethany Baptiste
• Legendborn – Tracy Deon
• Sing Me to Sleep – Gabi Burton
• Skin of the Sea – Natasha Bowen
• Cinderella is Dead – Kalynn Bayron
• The Gilded Ones – Namina Forna
• Dreamweaving – O. O. Sangoyomi

Historical Fiction:

• Smallie – Eden McKenzie-Goodard
• Good Dirt – Charmain Wilkerson
• Havisham – Elle Machray
• The Seven Daughters of Dupree – Nikesha Elise Willaims
• Kindred – Octavia E. Butler
• Time Tub Travellers – Claire Linney
• Homegiong – Yaa Gyasi
• The Final Revival of Opal and Nev – Dawnie Walton
• James – Percival Everett
• The Mercy Step – Marcia Hutchinson
• The Prophets – Robert Jones Jr.
• The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett

Literary Fiction:

• Bitter Melon – Liv Little
• Big Man – Dean Atta
• Necessary Fiction – Eloghusa Osunde
• Sunstruck – William Rayfet Hunter
• White Spaces – Elvin James Mensah
• Rootless – Krystle Zara Appiah
• No Small Thing – Orlaie McDonald
• For Such a Time as This – Shani Akilah
• All That We’ve Got – Jendella Bensen
• Possibility – Sareeta Domingo
• Someday, Maybe – Onyi Nwabineli
• Sweetness in the Skin – Ishi Robinson
• This Motherless Land – Nikki May

Non-Fiction – Culture and Identity:

• The Glass Cliff – Sophie Williams
• The Mixed Race Experience – Naomi and Natalie Evans
• The Half of it – Emma Slade Edmondson and Nicola Ocran
• Reframing Blackness – Alayo Akimkugbe
• Consumed – Aja Barber
• All About Love – bell hooks

Non-Fiction – Historical:

• When We Ruled – Paula Akpan
• Natives – Akala
• Black and British – David Olusofa
• An African History of Africa – Zeinab Badawi

Non-Fiction – Memoir & Autobiography:

• Just Sayin’ – Malorie Blackman
• None of the Above – Travis Alabanza
• How to Say Babylon – Safiya Sinclair
• Calling Una Marson – June Saprong
• Manifesto – Bernadine Evaristo
• All Boys Aren’t Blue – George M. Johnson
• Person Unlimited – Dean Atta
• Great and Unfortunate Things – Jason Arday
• My Name is Why – Lemn Sissay

Poetry:

• Cannibal – Safiya Sinclair
• Content Warning: Everything – Akwaeke Emezi
• Bluff – Danez Smith
• The Wickedest – Caleb Femi
• There Is (Still) Love Here – Dean Atta
• Bless the Daughter – Warsan Shire
• Frequently Happy – David Larbi
• Let the Light Pour In – Lemn Sissay
• Manorism – Yomi Sode

Romance:

• Pride and Protest – Nikki Payne
• Brielle and Bear – Salomey Doku
• Take a Hint, Dani Brown – Talia Hibbert
• Around the World in 80 Dates – Jasmine Burke
• Love in Colour – Bolu Babalola
• That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon – Kimberly Lemming
• Four Eids and A Funeral – Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar
• Seven Days in June – Tia Willaims
• Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry – Joya Goffney
• Reel – Kennedy Ryan
• Love on Sight – Asli Jensen
• You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty – Akwaeke Emezi

Sci-Fi:

• Prophet – Helen Macdonald & Sin Blaché
• The Principle of Moments – Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
• Not With A Bang – Temi Oh
• Augmented – Kenechi Udogu
• Death of an Author – Nnedi Okorafor

Thriller, Horror and Crime:

• The Heirs – Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
• A Murder for Miss Hortense – Mel Pennant
• Sorrowland – Rivers Solomon
• Killer Instinct – Nicola Williams
• The Reformatory – Tananarive Due
• Every Smile You Fake – Dorothy Koomson
• Honey – Imani Thompson
• The Exes – Leodora Darlington

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, we have a cosy reading community over on patreon . If you love a bookish giveaway and learning about all the new releases, we’d love to have you with us. It’s perfect for those looking for community and connection in the online space. You can also find more content on my Instagram here.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 30/10/2026