A selected list of classic and popular African American authors in our collection.
Classic Authors
Poetry
Popular Children's & Teen Authors
Popular Fiction Authors
Popular Nonfiction Authors
Popular Urban Fiction Authors
Classic Authors
James Baldwin
Charles W. Chesnutt
W. E. B. Du Bois
Ralph Ellison
Chester B. Himes
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston
Julius Lester
Toni Morrison
Ann Petry
Jean Toomer
Alice Walker
Richard Wright
Poetry
Maya Angelou
Gwendolyn Brooks
Lucille Clifton
Rita Dove
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Nikki Giovanni
Terrance Hayes
Langston Hughes
Audre Lorde
Marilyn Nelson
Ntozake Shange
Popular Children's & Teen Authors
Kwame Alexander
Jabari Asim
Becky Birtha
Tonya Bolden
Ashley Bryan
Debbi Chocolate
Lucille Clifton
Lesa Cline-Ransome
Bryan Collier
Misty Copeland
Donald Crews
Pat Cummings
Christopher Paul Curtis
Taye Diggs
Sharon Draper
Tom Feelings
Sharon Flake
Nikki Giovanni
Eloise Greenfield
Nikki Grimes
Virginia Hamilton
James Haskins
Bell Hooks
Cheryl Willis Hudson
Langston Hughes
Angela Johnson
Dinah Johnson
Julius Lester
John Lewis
Kelly Starling Lyons
Fredrick McKissack
Patricia McKissack
Christopher Myers
Walter Dean Myers
Kadir Nelson
Marilyn Nelson
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Andrea Davis Pinkney
J. Brian Pinkney
Jerry Pinkney
Jason Reynolds
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Katheryn Russell-Brown
John Steptoe
Bettye Stroud
Natasha Tarpley
Mildred D. Taylor
Joyce Carol Thomas
Eric Velasquez
Carole Boston Weatherford
Popular Fiction Authors
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rochelle Alers
Steven Barnes
Paul Beatty
Eleanor Taylor Bland
Connie Briscoe
Octavia E. Butler
Pearl Cleage
Virginia DeBerry
Samuel R. Delany
Eric Jerome Dickey
Tananarive Due
Pat G’Orge-Walker
Brenda Hampton
E. Lynn Harris
Donna Hill
Brenda Jackson
Solomon Jones
Terry McMillan
Mary Morrison
Walter Mosley
Gary Phillips
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Kimberla Lawson Roby
Colson Whitehead
Valerie Wilson Wesley
Teri Woods
Popular Nonfiction Authors
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Michael Eric Dyson
Steve Harvey
T.D. Jakes
Margo Jefferson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Jesmyn Ward
John Edgar Wideman
Popular Urban Fiction Authors
Ashley Antoinette
Ashley and JaQuavis
Krystal Armstead, opens a new window
Brick
Tracy Brown
Chunichi
Wahida Clark
Aya De León, opens a new window
De’nesha Diamond
Keisha Ervin
Ni'chelle Genovese, opens a new window
Donald Goines
Treasure Hernandez
Anna J.
Blake Karrington, opens a new window
Deja King (aka Joy King)
K'Wan
Amaleka McCall
Meesha Mink (pen name of Niobia Bryant)
Michel Moore, opens a new window
Victoria Christopher Murray, opens a new window
Noire
Eric Pete
C.N. Phillips, opens a new window
Nisa Santiago
Sapphire
Saundra, opens a new window
Iceberg Slim
Sister Souljah
T. Styles
Kiki Swinson
Nikki Turner
Omar Tyree
Carl Weber
Tu-Shonda L. Whitaker
Brittani Williams
Raquel Williams, opens a new window
Zane
