In celebration of Black writers and Black History Month, staff will be racing against the clock to share their favorite recommendations. Come out to celebrate with us, learn about a new book (or 30) and get a free book and a nice treat from a local bakery, on Tuesday, January 30th at CLP-Hill District and Saturday, February 3rd at CLP-Homewood.
Here’s a preview of our fiction picks for the program – but you won’t know each title’s unique appeal unless you come to the program and hear all about it.
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When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-’60s, Hazel and Marie unite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla.
After failing to come into her powers, sixteen-year-old Voya–a Black witch living in near-future Toronto–is forced to choose between losing her family’s magic forever, a heritage steeped in centuries of blood and survival, or murdering her first love, a boy who is supposedly her genetic match.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and in eAudio on Libby.
Sassy tries out for a summer dance festival in Washington, D.C., despite the other girls’ taunts that she is much too tall.
An underwater society founded by pregnant African slave women thrown overboard from slave ships survives their traumatic history by putting their societal memory into one chosen person – the Historian. Yetu, the new Historian, can’t take the pain and flees her world, and in doing so changes it permanently. This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on OverDrive/Libby and an eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.
An electrifying novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup, and the dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decades later for one last tour.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and in eAudio on Libby.
This collection takes the true horrors and injustices of society and reflect them back in a strange, surreal mirror, dropping us in vigilante murder theme parks and a school of genetically modified children. Urgent and disturbing, but laced with humor and compassion, these stories grip you and don’t let go.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook and eAudiobook on OverDrive/Libby and an eBook and eAudiobook on Hoopla.
The first short story collection by three-time Hugo award-winning Jemisin is a thrilling, impassioned introduction to her magical worlds infused with social commentary. Many stories feature characters resisting the powers that try to control them, from parasitic aliens to sinister faeries in the Jim Crow South.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook and eAudiobook on OverDrive/Libby.
Angel, Carmen, Doreen, and Jade were a girl group in the ‘90s and had a good chance of becoming famous, until personal drama broke them up. Now grown, they approach a reunion with varying expectations and a need to heal their rift.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Hoopla.
A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white Rust Belt town. But she’s not the first—and she may not be the last… It’s watching.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook and as an eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
After her mother dies in an accident, Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape– until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
Kendra is desperate to win Cosplay or No Way, a reality show competition, but she needs a significant other to participate. Her best friend agrees to play the role, and the love starts to feel a little too real.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby.
Joyful young narrators celebrate feeling at home in one’s own skin. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby, as eAudio on Hoopla, as video on Hoopla or as video with read along on Hoopla.
Clara made a deal with the spirits and regrets it, so given the chance to get out of supernatural debt, she agrees to steal a magical ring from a high society woman.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and in eAudio on Libby.
Little does Lily Greene know, but the neighbor that she asked to attend her sister’s wedding is her favorite fantasy author—the person she’d been emailing with and who ghosted her and broke her heart.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and in eAudio on Libby.
A stellar mix of up-and-coming and established Black writers submit their scariest tales to this new anthology.
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and in eAudio on Libby.
People like to say Octavia Butler warned us about things that could happen in our world, and she certainly did. But more importantly, she also planted the seeds of a possible future, one that’s still achievable if we’re brave enough to reach out for it.
You can also check out this title as eBook and as eAudio on Libby. This title is also available as eAudio on Hoopla.
Ella sees possible futures, and this makes her a target for forces more powerful than her. Can she change the world for the better and give hope to her wrongly-incarcerated brother?
This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby, in eAudio on Libby, and in eAudio on Hoopla.
Emira Tucker just wanted to celebrate her friend’s birthday, but what starts as a quick nannying favor for her employer, Alix Chamberlain, turns into an awkward profiling incident at the local upscale market. This incident brings a new man into Emira’s life and complicates the relationship between Alix and Emira in multiple ways. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Tapped to prepare a newly discovered copy of a famously lost opera for the Frederic Delaney foundation, music professor Ben Hendricks comes to realize there’s even more to the story, and that the foundation is covering up the contributions of a Black composer to Delaney’s legacy. This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on OverDrive/Libby and in eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
In this powerful novel, Clemmons takes us on her emotional journey as she deals with the loss of her mother. Her experiences with race, motherhood and love are impacted in complicated and interesting ways from this loss.