Fiction, Poetry, and Non-Fiction by Black Writers and People of Colour Many of you have been following the Black Lives Matter protests and have expressed a desire to be involved in anti-racist work and I’m really proud of you for your dedication to seeking justice and equality. I wanted to create a list of books to help you with this and celebrate BAME voices. Some of these deal directly with racism and the history of racism and some of them explore identity and growing up. If you have any books that you think should be added to this list, please let me know by emailing [email protected] You should be able to borrow some of these books from Brighton and Hove’s online library here: https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/libraries-leisure-and-arts/libraries/library-services-available-during-covid-19 Please be aware that the content of some of the books might not be suitable for everyone so I’ve put age suggestions next to some of the titles. The books in the ‘Adult’ section will be suitable for some GCSE students and for adults at home. If you have younger siblings or would like even more suggestions then you can find some here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/83549-a-children-s-and-ya-anti-raci st-reading-list.html TABLE OF CONTENTS: YOUNG ADULT 3 FICTION: 3 Noughts and Crosses -- Malorie Blackman 3 Gangsta Rap -- Benjamin Zephaniah 3 Ghost Boys -- Jewell Parker Rhodes 3 Piecing Me Together -- Renée Watson 4 Long Way Down -- Jason Reynolds 4 Slay -- Brittney Morris 4 Genesis Begins Again -- Alicia D. Williams 4 What Lane? -- Torrey Maldonado 5 Children of Blood and Bone -- Tomi Adeyemi 5 The Astonishing Color of After -- Emily X.R. Pan 5 The Hate U Give -- Angie Thomas (Ages 13+) 5 The Poet X -- Elizabeth Acevedo (Ages 13+) 6 Who Put This Song On? -- Morgan Parker (Ages 13+) 6 The Sun Is Also a Star -- Nicola Yoon (Age 13+) 6 Dear Martin -- Nic Stone (Age 13+) 7 Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard -- Echo Brown (Age 13+) 7 POETRY: 7 Say Her Name -- compiled by Zetta Elliott 7 NON-FICTION: 8 This Book is Anti-Racist -- Tiffany Jewell 8 Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and Me -- Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi 8 All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto -- George M. Johnson (Ages 13+) 8 "I Will Not Be Erased": Our stories about growing up as people of colour -- edited by gal-dem 9 Black and British: A Forgotten History -- David Olusoga 9 It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: (YA edition) -- Trevor Noah 9 Slay in Your Lane -- Yomi Adeoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene 10 ADULT 11 WORKS OF LITERATURE: 11 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- Maya Angelou 11 If Beale Street Could Talk -- James Baldwin 11 The Bluest Eye -- Toni Morrison 11 Things Fall Apart -- Chinua Achebe 12 Their Eyes Were Watching God -- Zora Neale Hurston 12 Invisible Man -- Ralph Ellison 12 MODERN FICTION: 13 Girl, Woman, Other -- Bernadine Evaristo 13 Ordinary People -- Diana Evans 13 Love in Colour -- Bolu Babalola 13 Lost Children Archive -- Valeria Luiselli 14 Swing Time -- Zadie Smith 14 Small Island -- Andrea Levy 14 POETRY: 15 Complete Poems -- Claude McKay 15 Selected Poems -- Langston Hughes 15 The Complete Poetry -- Maya Angelou 15 Night Sky with Exit Wounds -- Ocean Vuong 15 Milk and Honey -- Rupi Kaur 16 Soft Science -- Franny Choi 16 salt. -- Nayyirah Waheed 16 The Tradition -- Jericho Brown 16 Ordinary Beast -- Nicole Sealey 17 NON-FICTION: 17 Slay in Your Lane -- Yomi Adeoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene 17 Black and British: A Forgotten History -- David Olusoga 17 Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race -- Reni Eddo-Lodge 18 Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children -- edited by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff 18 Good Immigrant -- edited by Nikesh Shukla 18 Brit(ish) -- Afua Hirsch 19 Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire -- Akala 19 Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad 19 The W.E.B. Dubois Collection 20 Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism -- bell hooks 20 Sister Outsider -- Audre Lorde 20 YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Noughts and Crosses -- Malorie Blackman ​ ​ 'Stop it! You're all behaving like animals! Worse than animals - like blankers!' Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. But she's lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her. Callum is a nought: he's considered to be less than nothing - a blanker, there to serve Crosses - but he dreams of a better life. They've been friends since they were children, and they both know that's as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies - love is out of the question. Then - in spite of a world that is fiercely against them - these star-crossed lovers choose each other. But this is a love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come. Gangsta Rap -- Benjamin Zephaniah ​ ​ Just what do you do with talent from the wrong side of town? Benjamin Zephaniah draws on his own experiences with school and the music business to create a novel that speaks with passion and immediacy about the rap scene. Ray has trouble at home, and he has trouble at school - until he's permanently excluded and ends up sleeping on the floor of a record shop. What happens to a boy like Ray? If he's lucky, maybe he gets a chance to shine. The story of three boys who aren't easy. They don't fit in. They seem to attract trouble. But they know what they want, and they've got the talent to back it up ... Ghost Boys -- Jewell Parker Rhodes ​ ​ Jerome Rogers, a Black 12-year-old, is playing outside in his Chicago neighborhood with a toy gun when he is shot and killed by a white policeman who views him as a threat. Now Jerome wanders the earth with other “ghost boys” whose deaths are all connected to bigotry, including the ghost of Emmett Till. The only person who can see him is Sarah, the daughter of the policeman who killed him. Piecing Me Together -- Renée Watson ​ ​ In Watson's award-winning novel, Jade Butler, an African American artist-in-the-making, lives with her mother in Portland, Ore., and travels by bus to private school, where she is both grateful for and resentful of the opportunities presented to her. Jade’s narrative voice offers compelling reflections on the complexities of race and gender, class and privilege, and fear and courage, while conveying the conflicted emotions of an ambitious, loyal girl. Long Way Down -- Jason Reynolds ​ ​ Will, 15, is following his neighborhood’s well-established rules—don’t cry, don’t snitch, but do get revenge “if someone you love/ gets killed”—when he leaves his apartment, intent on killing whoever murdered his older brother, emboldened by the gun tucked into his waistband. As Will makes his way to the ground floor of his building, the elevator stops to accept passengers, each an important figure from his past, all victims of gun violence. Are these ghosts? Or is it Will’s subconscious at work, forcing him to think about what he intends to do and what it will accomplish? Slay -- Brittney Morris ​ ​ Black Panther meets Ready Player One. A fierce teen game developer battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers. By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer - not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs. With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she's created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself? Genesis Begins Again -- Alicia D. Williams ​ ​ This deeply sensitive and powerful debut novel tells the story of a thirteen-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself. There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself. She knows the exact number because she keeps a list. Like #95: Because her skin is so dark, people call her charcoal and eggplant—even her own family. And #61: Because her family is always being put out of their house, belongings laid out on the sidewalk for the world to see. When your dad is a gambling addict and loses the rent money every month, eviction is a regular occurrence. What Lane? -- Torrey Maldonado ​ ​ Sixth grader Stephen is growing up in Brooklyn; he loves “superheroes, fantasy, sci-fi” and basketball, as well as hanging out with his best friend Dan, the same as he always has. But though his white mother calls him “mixed,” since he’s half Black and half white, Stephen’s beginning to realize the world now sees him as “what they imagine or what the media teaches them to think about Black men.” In relatively few words, Maldonado elucidates matters related to racial profiling, police violence against Black people, and allyship.