Home Unpolished Book Collections #OwnVoices Makers #Ownvoices Black Women & Nonbinary Authors & Illustrators

#Ownvoices Black Women & Nonbinary Authors & Illustrators

via Ashia

Quick Things You Need To Know:

  • I have been using ‘femme’ as an umbrella term for women and feminine nonbinary people (all the folks who don’t benefit from masculine privilege). BUT it turns out that word did not mean what I thought it meant. ‘Femme’ is for folks in the LGBTQI+ community to use, not for me as a cishet lady. So, this phrase has been updated to ‘women & nonbinary people’ whenever possible. I’m still looking for a good short word for this – there must be one, right?
  • I created an abbreviated version of this post for public website collection here: Black Women Making Kidlit: #OwnVoices Authors & Illustrators.
  • See the #OwnVoices mainpage for more details on how I research & identify #Ownvoices authors
  • You can also find more books about the Contributions of Black Women in US History over in the public book collection.
  • This list started on that post, but it’s gotten so large I’m creating a separate post just to highlight Black women & nonbinary makers.
  • When I could find birthplace, childhood info, and current location, I included it. Most often for US-born & based authors, that’s left out of profiles, so the vast majority of these are US & Canadian makers.
  • If you google ‘Books by black authors’ you’re going to get a ton of blog posts featuring books featuring black protagonists written by white authors. For some reason, people just cannot wrap their heads around the fact that lots (and lots and lots) of white authors profit off appropriating Black identities. I’ve done a lot of footwork to verify the identities of these authors, but be cautious and do your own research when encountering booklists featuring Black authors.
  • When googling author bios, I kept running into two websites. I poked around a bit to see if they would be good resources to partner with and I’m not wild about either one, but they might be helpful if you’re searching for more #OwnVoices Black authors:
    • Black Children’s books and Authors – Not particularly high-quality lists, just a compilation of Black authors. They do a good job of avoiding white authors who appropriate the identify of Black characters. The only qualifications an author needs to be featured on the site is to identify as Black, and their work isn’t screened to make sure it’s not feeding into white supremacist, ableist, or sexist narratives. This is kind of like what A Mighty Girl is for girls books – just a compilation site with no quality control. One great thing about this site, however, is that they are able to link to indie & micro-press authors who can’t be found in libraries or Amazon.
    • African American Literature Book Club – This website appears to be auto-filled with data based on keywords. With a quick 5-minute browse, I found multiple profiles about white authors who are well known for writing about Black history, so there is zero quality control to make sure they’re actually boosting work by Black makers. Bummer.

Who is not included in this list:

  • Authors whose work I haven’t had a chance to screen – vanity & micropress published books aren’t available in my local library system, which means I can’t get my hands on them.
  • Authors who create those low-quality basic filler books that say nothing new and waste readers’ time.
  • Anti-neurodiversity bigots like Holly Robinson Peete. Ugh I wish she would just stop.

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Quick & Messy Book List:

BFL-Favorite Authors

These are the authors whose books I enthusiastically recommend that you read. While many of the authors and illustrators in the alphanetical list have one or two good books, these makers create consistently engaging, stellar work (or just one really great book).

I created a spiffy book-based public post of my favorites over here. That one is public access and open for all, and good for sharing.

In Alpahbetical-ish Order

These are all of the authors and illustrators whose identities I’ve been able to verify identify as African American, Black, or international authors with African heritage. Unless otherwise noted, I’ve read at least one (often more) of their books. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you go out and read them, as the vast majority of them are underwhelming.

Just gonna throw these in here and add to the list when I can. At some point I’d like to make an #OwnVoices African author collection to counter US stereotypes about Africa, but we don’t have enough books to create a separate collection for that yet.

A

  • Monica Ahanonu
  • Roda Ahmed – born in Somalia, lives in Norway
  • Se’Quince Aiken – I haven’t read this book (I’ll admit it looks terrible) – HOWEVER, it’s on my to-read list for disability month, as it’s written by a teen with CP.
  • Debbie Allen
  • Sasha Ariel Alston – I have NOT read this book. It’s popular, but there is something about ‘girls can STEAM too!’ books that make me want to die, so I’ve been putting it off forever and will likely continue to do so.
  • Angelou, Maya
  • Glenda Armand
  • Atinuke – Nigerian, now lives in Europe, I think.

B

C

D

E

F

  • Tatyana Fazlalizadeh – Black/Iranian, native to Oklahoma City – illustrator
  • Cheryl Foggo – Canadian
  • Ashley Franklin – from Amazon bio: “She is an African-American Muslim writer, mother, and adjunct college professor. She currently resides in Arkansas with her husband and two sons. “
  • Laura Freeman – Illustrator

G

H

  • Janice N. Harrington
  • Vashti Harrison – Author, illustrator
  • Carolivia Herron – Jewish, multiracial. Recommended with reservations – CW in Nappy Hair (ages 5.5+) for denigration of AAVE & internalized racism. The story starts out listing the common biases listed against nappy hair, followed by a clap back on how nappy hair is beautiful and powerful, so it’s not for  folks without nappy hair. Can’t get my hands on Always An Olivia to screen it, but I very much want to.
  • Carole Holliday – Illustrator
  • bell hooks
  • Gwendolyn Hooks – airforce brat, Georgia, US, Italy
  • Zora Neale Hurston

J

L

  • Francie Latour – Hatian American
  • Caron Levis – MIGHT be multiracial but I can’t verify this, even after plowing through a handful of terribly boring podcasts and articles. WOC tend to be pretty up-front about that in our bios to preemptively deal with the ‘what are you’ question and to give girls of color more role models, so if she is multiracial, I’m surprised it isn’t in any of her biographies. BUT ALSO there is baggage that comes with being multiracial where our white privilege makes us hesitant to claim a marginalized identity, so she might intentionally be downplaying her ethnicity. So I’m temporarily listing her here but wouldn’t include her in a public post unless I can verify if she identifies as a WOC.
  • Mariama J. Lockington
  • Sandy Lynne Holman
  • Kelly Starling Lyons – Haven’t been able to read her work yet, but I’ve seen good reviews

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

W

Z

  • Elizabeth Zunon – Illustrator, (born ivory coast to american mother, moved to America as an adult)

last updated: 2/3/20

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