HAPPY NEW YEAR and Welcome to 2020!
For those of you participating in the 52 Weeks of Women of Color challenge here are the bright beginnings of some of our celebrated favorites as well as titles from promising new talent.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
Expected Publication: February 4, 2020
“A powerful, emotional debut novel told in the unforgettable voice of a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to get an education so that she can escape and choose her own future.”
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
“At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to trade her sexuality for survival, Margot is ruthlessly determined to shield Thandi from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees not only an opportunity for her own financial independence but also perhaps a chance to admit a shocking secret: her forbidden love for another woman.”
Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
“Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home.”
Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett
“In a community that isn’t always understanding, an HIV-positive teen must navigate fear, disclosure, and radical self-acceptance when she falls in love–and lust–for the first time.”
The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi Laskar
“Devi S. Laskar has written a brilliant debut novel novel that grapples with the complexities of the second-generation American experience, what it means to be a woman of color in the workplace, a sister, a wife, a mother to daughters in today’s America. Drawing inspiration from the author’s own terrifying experience of a raid on her home, The Atlas of Reds and Blues explores, in exquisite, lyrical prose, an alternate reality that might have been.”
The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote
“Beth Piatote’s luminous debut collection opens with a feast, grounding its stories in the landscapes and lifeworlds of the Native Northwest, exploring the inventive and unforgettable pattern of Native American life in the contemporary world.
Told with humor, subtlety, and beautiful spareness, the mixed-genre works of Beth Piatote’s first collection find unifying themes in the strength of kinship, the pulse of longing, and the language of return.”
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
“A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.”
The Affairs of the Falcons by Melissa Rivero
“The Affairs of the Falcóns is a beautiful, deeply urgent novel about the lengths one woman is willing to go to build a new life, and a vivid rendering of the American immigrant experience.”
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
The Old Drift is a prodigious undertaking both in scope and time span. Set in Rhodesia/Zambia from 1903 to 2023, The Old Drift starts off as a historical fiction and ends as a futuristic parable. It is a generational tale that is as much about what makes a nation as it is about what makes a family.
A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson- Sexton
“A Kind of Freedom is an urgent novel that explores the legacy of racial disparity in the South through a poignant and redemptive family history.”
Michelle Turner
Latest posts by Michelle Turner (see all)
- Favorite Reads by Women of Color - January 29, 2020
- Translated Literature by Women of Color - January 22, 2020
- Non-fiction Works by Women of Color - January 15, 2020