Some Exciting 2020 Releases Still To Come From Black Authors

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I am going to spend the next week or so posting about black authors and their works on this blog, these are some exciting releases yet to come from black authors this year!

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Synopsis: In the ficitional African village of Kowasa, people live in fear amongst the enivronmental damage caused by an American oil company. Told through the perspective of children and the family of a future revolutionary the book explores the ghosts of colonialism, and the reckless drive for profits against a community and a young girl fight for their people’s freedom.

Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary

Publication Date: 16th June 2020

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West

Synopsis: When Ruby’s mother is found murdered in their home the police claim it as an act of violence in a black neighbour, but for Ruby her mother’s death is a devestating loss as she’s left with her violent father and her best friend, Layla, is the only one who understands. When Layla’s father, the pastor of their church, demands his daughter stays away Layla begins a quest to save Ruby and uncovers the dangerous secrets that have bound their families for generations.

Genres: Adult Fiction, Mystery

Publication Date: 16th June 2020

Love In Colour: Mythical Tales From Around The World, Retold by Bolu Babalola

Synopsis: Love stories from around the world sourced from history and mythology are retold, and showcases love from Greek myths to Nigerian folktales to stories from South Asia. The anthology celebrates tales of love that exist in numerous cultures and communities.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Anthology, Retelling, Fantasy (Mythology)

Publication Date: 9th July 2020

Trouble The Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Synopsis: A girl from Harlem is drawn into the dazzling world underworld of Manhattan, she’s hired to use her knives to strike terror into it’s most dangerous dwellers. But ghosts from her past follow her every move and her history threatens those she cares for. Will her sacrifices be enough to save an entire community?

Genres: Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Historical

Release Date: 21st July 2020

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

Synopsis: Every week Tracy writes a letter to organisation Innocence X, asking them to help her father, an innocent on death row. But as time is running out for Tracy’s father, police arrive in the middle of the night and suddenly Tracy’s brother goes from a ‘promising track star’ to a ‘thug’ on the run and accused of killing a white woman. Tracy is determined to find out what really happened, but can she and her family survive the unearthing of Texas’ racist history that still controls their present?

Genres: YA, Contemporary

Publication Date: 28th July 2020

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

Synopsis: One afternoon in southeastern Nigeria a mother opens her door to find her son dead on her doorstep. The book then tells the story of his death and the mystery surrounding it by exploring Vivek’s closest bonds with his family and friends, and how at the core of this mystery there is one world-shattering moment of violence performed in freedom.

Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary LGBTQ+

Publication Date: 4th August 2020

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Synopsis: In Los Angeles 1992, Ashley and her friends are living the high life, it’s senior year and the promises of Summer are drawing closer. But one April afternoon four police officers are acquitted of beating Rodney King, a black man, to death and suddenly Ashely is one of the black kids. Ashely tries to keep her normal life as violence engulfs the city, her sister joins riots and her friends spread a damaging rumour about LaShawn Johnson that could ptentially ruin his future.

Genres: YA, Hisorical

Publication Date: 4th August 2020

If I Had Two Wings by Randall Kenan

Synopsis: Based in the ficitional territory Tims Creek, North Carolina, an old man sits in a nursing home, an adulterer is beaten up by a parson, a hog haunts a rich man and an elderly woman becomes a miracle worker. A retired pumbler decides to go to Manttan, where he meets Billy Idol. An architect loses his lover to AIDS and then reconnects with someone from the past. And Howard Hughes goes looking for the woman who once cooked him Butter Beans.

Genres: Adult Fiction, Short Stories

Publication Date: 4th August 2020

Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest

Synopsis: 18 year old Evie Jones is poised to be Hollywood’s next big star until a friend’s betrayal leads to her being blacklisted. But Evie knows heow to save her career: a public appearence with America’s most beloved actress Evelyn Conway – her grandmother, but days before the event her grandmother goes missing. With her career on the line Evie enlists the helps of a cute musician, Milo Williams, to help her track down her grandmother and together they travel across New York City in a wild man hunt.

Genres: YA, Romance, Contemporary

Publication Date: 25th August 2020

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Synopsis: Gifty is a candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine, studying reward-seeking behaviour in mice and how depression and addiction are controlled neurally. Gifty is driven to discover the scientific basis of suffering after events in her own family, but the further she strays down this path the more she longs for the promises of the evangleical church and slavation from her childhood, which remains as elusive as ever.

Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary

Publication Date: 8th September 2020

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Synopsis: Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but gentrification is changing her neighbourhood. Sydeney channels her frustrations at her changing neighbourhood into a walking tour, and finds an unlikley and unwanted assistant in Theo, one of the new arrivals to Brooklyn. But their deep dive into history brings forth troubling and deadly revelations as to why their neighbours are being pushed out of this community.

Genres: Adult Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Publication Date: 15th September 2020

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Synopsis: Korey Fields is dead. Enchanted Jones wakes up with blood on her hands, zero memory of the night before and too many questions. Korey was meant to be Enchanted’s ticket to fame after he spotted her at an audition and it began to look like her dreams of being a singer would come true. But behind Korey’s charm there was a dark desire for control, except now he’s dead and all paths lead back to Enchanted.

Genres: YA, Thriller, Mystery

Publication Date: 15th September 2020

And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall

Synopsis: Isabel Lincoln is gone, but the question is: is she missing? It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her and although she’s reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, every new revelation she unturns is dangerous and spells out the secret Isabel has been hiding. It’s cat and mouse game between two women, where fear violence can lead to you abandoning everything just to survive.

Genres: Adult fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Publication Date: 22nd September 2020

Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

Synopsis: The follow-up to ‘Dear Martin’. When teenager Quan enters a not guilty plea for shooting a police officer dead, he is placed in a holding cell to await trail. Whilst he’s there, Quan writes to Justyce about all he’s experienced in the American prison system, and by looking back at Quan’s past Stone showcases all the flaws and problems within the American justice system.

Genres: YA, Contemporary

Publication Date: 29th September 2020

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Synopsis: In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is meant to be a time of celebration, but this year it conicides with a solar eclispe which is an event described as the unbalancing of the would by the Sun Priest. Meanwhile, a ship sets sail for Tova, and Xilai, the captain, is a disgarced Teek whose voice and songs can calm the waters and warp a man’s mind. She carries a passenger often described as harmless, but she knows men who are seen as harmless are often the villains.

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Publication Date: 13th October 2020