African Americans book series in reading order

by Deborah Gregory

by Deborah Fletcher Mello

by Malcolm X

by Barbara Hambly

by Zuri Day

by Eric Jerome Dickey

by K’wan Foye

by Booker T. Washington

by Angie Daniels

by Trisha R. Thomas

by Pamela Yaye

by Sister Souljah

by Eve Bunting

by Eleanor Taylor Bland

by Eve Bunting

by Walter Dean Myers

Brenda Streater Jackson, born February 2, 1953, is an American author of contemporary multicultural romance. Jackson was the first African-American author published in the Silhouette Desire line, and in October 2013 became the first African American to publish a 100th novel. The site lists 154 books from Tonight And Forever (1995) to Beneath The Dawn (2026). Madaris Family & Friends, Westmoreland Legacy, Forged of Steele, Catalina Cove and Grangers are among the series. Subjects include African American women, ranchers and romantic suspense.

Beverly Jenkins

60 books• 11 series

Beverly Jenkins writes historical and contemporary romance with a focus on 19th-century African American life. Born in Detroit in 1951, Jenkins was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2013, and in 1999 the African American Literature Book Club named her among the top 50 favourite African American writers of the 20th century. The catalogue holds 60 books from Night Song (1994) to Calling All Blessings (2025), including the Blessings, Old West, Le Veq Family and Grayson Family series. Recorded subjects include mail order brides, Kansas, and city and town life.

Rochelle Alers, born August 7, 1943, is an American romance novelist who has also written as Susan James and Rena McLeary. The catalogue lists 95 books from Careless Whispers (1988) to A Maverick of Honor (2026). Subjects cover African American romance, contemporary and historical romance, widows and New Orleans. Series include Hideaway Legacy, Eatons, Wickham Falls Weddings, Cavanaugh Island, Blackstones of Virginia and Whitfield Brides. Hideaway (1995) is among the titles.

Ann M. Martin

446 books• 24 series

Ann Matthews Martin, born August 12, 1955, is an American writer of children's and young adult fiction and a Smith College graduate. The Baby-Sitters Club, first published in 1986, is the series Martin is known best for, and Martin remains involved with the series and its spin-offs. The catalogue lists 446 books, beginning with Inside Out and Bummer Summer in 1983. Related lines include Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries, California Diaries, Kids in Ms. Colman's Class, Main Street and Doll People. Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter: A Graphic Novel (2025) is the newest listed title.

Carl Weber

38 books• 11 series

Carl Weber, born 1964, is an American author, publisher and television writer and producer who owns the publishing house Urban Books and formerly owned the Urban Knowledge bookstore chain. The catalogue holds 38 books of African American urban fiction and romance, from Lookin' For Luv (2000) and Married Men (2001) to Dating to Die (2026). Weber's novels became the films The Man in 3B (2015), The Preacher's Son (2017), The Choir Director (2018) and Influence (2020). The Family Business book series is the basis of the crime drama The Family Business (2018), and Weber created The Black Hamptons in 2022.

Stephanie Perry Moore's 66 catalogued books date from 2000 to 2023, beginning with Saved Race, Sober Faith and Staying Pure in 2000. Subjects include Christian life, African Americans, high schools, universities and colleges, dating, friendship, family problems and sisters, along with children's fiction. Series include Payton Skky, Laurel Shadrach, Carmen Browne, Perry Skky Jr., Beta Gamma Pi Novels, Yasmin Peace, Morgan Love and Sharp Sisters. Women of Color Devotional dates from 2002, and Circus Web (2023) is the most recent title.

Gwynne Forster writes African American contemporary romance, and African American families, mothers and daughters, adoptees and twins appear in the subjects. The catalogue counts 45 books published between 1995 and 2013. Sealed with a Kiss (1995) is the first, followed by Against All Odds (1996), Ecstasy (1997) and Naked Soul (1998). Harringtons and Sizzling Sands are the series, and Passion's Price (2013) is the last title.

Virginia Hamilton (March 12, 1936 to February 19, 2002) was an American children's author who wrote 41 books. M.C. Higgins, the Great (1974) won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 1975 Newbery Medal. Hamilton's work explores the African-American experience, which Hamilton termed "Liberation Literature". Further honours were the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1992 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1995. The catalogue lists 44 entries from Zeely (1967) to Liberation Literature (2024), including The House of Dies Drear (1968), The Planet of Junior Brown (1971) and Justice and Her Brothers (1978).

Jacqueline Woodson

42 books• 7 series

Jacqueline Woodson, born February 12, 1963, is an American writer of books for children and young adolescents. Miracle's Boys is Woodson's best-known book, and Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers and Show Way each earned a Newbery Honor. Woodson was Young People's Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017 and National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2018 to 2019. Another Brooklyn reached the 2016 National Book Award shortlist for fiction. Honors include the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2018), the Hans Christian Andersen Award (2020) and a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship. The catalogue lists 42 books from Last Summer with Maizon (1990) to Remember Us (2023), with subjects such as African Americans, friendship, family life, race relations and grief.

Subjects attached to Kiki Swinson's books include urban and street lit, African American women, drug dealers, criminals, revenge and suspense. The catalogue holds 59 books from Wifey (2004) to Where There's Smoke (2024), including I'm Still Wifey, The Candy Shop and A Sticky Situation. Series listed for Swinson include Wifey, Cheaper to Keep Her, Notorious / Playing Dirty, New York's Finest, Black Market and Schemes. The status is listed as ongoing.

Walter Dean Myers (born Walter Milton Myers; August 12, 1937 - July 1, 2014) was an American writer known above all for young adult literature. Myers was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, grew up in Harlem, and turned to writing after a hard childhood, with encouragement from teachers. Myers wrote more than 100 books, picture books and nonfiction among them, and won the Coretta Scott King Award five times. Fallen Angels (1988) ranks among the most frequently challenged books in the U.S. for adult language and realistic depiction of the Vietnam War. The catalogue lists 123 books starting with The Dancers (1972), including Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff (1975) and The Young Landlords (1979).

Nikki Grimes, born October 20, 1950, is an American poet, journalist and author of books for children and young adults. The catalogue lists 75 books from Growin' (1977) to Twice Blessed (2026), and Meet Danitra Brown (1984) and Malcolm X (1992) are among them. Grimes's series are Dyamonde Daniel, Danitra Brown and Garvey. Catalogue subjects include children's poetry, African Americans, friendship, love, school and biography.

Carole Boston Weatherford

67 books• 1 series

Carole Boston Weatherford, born Carole Michele Boston on February 13, 1956, is an American author, poet and critic. More than 50 of Weatherford's children's books have been published, mostly non-fiction and poetry. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre won the 2022 Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Weatherford received the Children's Literature Legacy Award in 2025. African American history, civil rights and slavery appear among the subjects. The catalogue lists 67 books from Juneteenth Jamboree (1995) to Kin: Rooted in Hope (2023).

Deborah Fletcher Mello writes African American romance, including contemporary romance and romantic suspense. The 50 catalogued books run from Take Me to Heart (2003) to Colton's Blizzard Hideout (2024). Mello's series include Stallion Brothers, Boudreaux Family, To Serve and Seduce, Just Desserts, Sultry Southern Nights, Bad Boys of Boulder and Sorority Detectives. Stallion titles in the list include Tame a Wild Stallion (2008) and To Love a Stallion (2008).

Adrianne Byrd (1970-2020) was an African-American author of romance novels. Thirty-eight Byrd books are catalogued between Defenseless (1997) and Milk and Honey (2019), organised into family and ensemble series - the Williams Family, the Adams Sisters, House of Kings, Kappa Psi Kappa Men, Unforgettable Hinton and Match Made. Atlanta is a recurring setting, and the books mix contemporary romance with suspense, taking in murder, women lawyers and marriage. The Beautiful Ones is the most widely held Byrd title in libraries.

K’wan Foye writes urban and street fiction. New York settings, street life, gangs, organized crime, the drug trade and revenge all appear in the recorded subjects. The catalogue holds 52 books from Gangsta (2003) to Troubleman (2026), with Hood Rat, Animal and Fix named in the character records. Hood Rat, Fix, Gangsta, Hoodlum, Purple City Tales, Black Lotus and Reluctant King are the series listed. Six further names appear on one book each, among them 50 Cent, Victor L. Martin and Darrell King.

Mary Monroe writes African American fiction about women, friendship and family life. The God Don't Like Ugly novels run through the catalogue, joined by the Mama Ruby books, the Lexington, Alabama and Wiggins novels, Lonely Heart, Deadly Heart and Neighbors. Monroe's catalogue holds 35 titles, from The Upper Room (1986) to Bad Seeds, with publication continuing into 2026.

Eric Jerome Dickey wrote about African American men and women, love and betrayal, often in Los Angeles. 33 catalogued books run from Sister, Sister (1996) to The Son of Mr. Suleman, including Friends and Lovers (1997), Milk in My Coffee (1998), Cheaters (1999) and Liar's Game (2000). The Gideon novels, the McBroom Sisters and Nia Simone Bijou head series of their own, alongside standalone fiction, short stories and graphic novels. The catalogue closed in 2021.

Julius Lester

48 books• 2 series

To Be a Slave (1968) opens the catalogue of Julius Lester, an American writer for both children and adults who was also a civil rights activist, a photographer and a musician with two recorded albums of folk music and original songs. Lester taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for 32 years, from 1971 to 2003. The 48 listed titles run to The Girl Who Saved Yesterday (2016) and return to African American history, slavery, folktales and race relations. Lester lived from 1939 to 2018.

James Baldwin

40 books• 4 series

James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 - December 1, 1987), born James Arthur Jones, was an American writer and civil rights activist whose essays, novels, plays and poems drew wide acclaim. Time magazine ranked Go Tell It on the Mountain among the top 100 English-language novels. The essay collection Notes of a Native Son (1955) established Baldwin as a voice for human equality, and a 1965 debate with William Buckley became a landmark on race in the United States. Catalogued works include Giovanni's Room (1956), Another Country (1962) and The Fire Next Time (1963), with race relations and African American life as recurring subjects.

Zora Neale Hurston

50 books• 1 series

Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 to January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist and documentary filmmaker. Hurston depicted racial struggle in the early 20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo and Caribbean Vodou. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) is the most popular of the four novels. Hurston also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, the autobiography, ethnographies and essays. Catalogued titles include Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Mules and Men (1935), Tell My Horse and Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), among 50 books.

Sharon M. Draper

31 books• 5 series

Sharon M. Draper is an American children's writer and professional educator, named National Teacher of the Year in 1997 and a two-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books on young and adolescent African American experience. The Hazelwood High and Jericho series, Out of My Mind, Romiette and Julio, Copper Sun and Double Dutch are her best-known titles, alongside the Clubhouse Mysteries and Sassy series. Draper's catalogue holds 31 books dated 1970 to 2024, at a median 183 pages, taking in school stories, friendship, family life, race relations and death.

Mary B. Morrison writes romance and erotica, and subjects include African American women, love triangles and Atlanta. The catalogue lists 28 books published between 1999 and 2020. Soulmates Dissipate (2000), Who's Making Love (2001), Never Again Once More (2002) and Sweeter Than Honey (2007) are among them. Morrison's series are Soulmates Dissipate and If I Can't Have You, and the catalogue also links Honey Diaries. Careful What You Click For (2020) is the newest, and the run is listed as likely complete.

Angela Johnson, born June 18, 1961, is an American writer of children's books and poetry who began publishing in 1989 and has more than 40 books. The picture books tell poetic stories of African-American families, friendships and childhood experiences such as moving house, and the books for older readers take up teen pregnancy and divorce. Many of Johnson's books connect to Alabama and its history. The catalogue opens with Tell Me A Story Mama (1989) and includes Do Like Kyla (1990), Toning the Sweep (1993) and Joshua By The Sea (1994), with the Magnolia Street and Lottie Paris series.