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Excellence in Black Nonfiction

Here is some of the best nonfiction by Black authors published in 2024 and 2025.

User from Skokie Public Library

10 items

  • Structured like a basketball game (in quarters), this is undeniably a book for basketball lovers–but if you aren’t a sports fan, pick it up anyway. In the hands of Hanif Abdurraqib, a memoir about basketball is about family, what success truly…
    Book, 2024New York : Random House, [2024] — 796.32309 ABD
  • Written in the Waters

    a Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging

    Roberts, Tara,
    This memoir is a deeply personal exploration of family history, identity, and finding home. It’s also a history of the horrors of transatlantic slave trade and the resulting shipwrecks that are still being explored by scuba divers around the world.…
    Book, 2025Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, [2025] — B R6475.wr
  • Black Arms to Hold You Up

    a History of Black Resistance

    Passmore, Ben,
    An uncompromisingly political and bold graphic nonfiction that is provocative, funny, devastating, and rich with historical insight. Ben Passmore tackles what Black resistance looks like both as a means of taking up arms and as an embrace, looking…
    Graphic Novel, 2025New York, NY : Pantheon Books, 2025. — 323.1196073 PAS PBK
  • I love Zadie Smith’s novels, and her nonfiction writing is especially beautiful and striking. In her new essay collection, she writes about art, writers, aging, politics, history, and cruelty, but also humanity and hope. A must-read collection for…
    Book, 2025New York : Penguin Press, 2025. — 824.914 S664.de
  • Night Flyer

    Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People

    Miles, Tiya, 1970-
    You couldn’t diminish Harriet Tubman if you tried. And Tiya Miles doesn’t try. She explains how Harriet Tubman’s faith fit into a larger (if largely unrecorded) spiritual tradition, just as her extraordinary achievements as an Underground Railroad…
    Book, 2024New York : Penguin Press, [2024]. — 306.362092 MIL
  • Black in Blues

    How a Color Tells the Story of My People

    Perry, Imani, 1972-
    National Book Award winner Imani Perry pens a lyrical and well-researched historical narrative that examines the connection of the color blue to Black history, expertly weaving themes of hope, melancholy, and even her own personal story. Suggested…
    Book, 2025New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPulishers, [2025] — 306.896073 PER
  • Language as Liberation

    Reflections on the American Canon

    Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019,
    Toni Morrison is one of our greatest writers, full stop. This book features lectures from her professorship at Princeton University, during which she led her class in examining Black characters within the American literary canon, providing insight…
    Book, 2026New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2026. — 810.9 MOR
  • Original Sins

    the (mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

    Ewing, Eve L.,
    Chicagoan Eve Ewing is a sociologist, researcher, and community organizer. This work explores the history of the U.S. education system and the ways it was designed to harm Black and Native students. A powerful and much-needed call for reform. …
    Book, 2025New York : One World, [2025] — 379.73 EWI
  • Toni at Random

    the Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship

    Williams, Dana A., 1972-
    A fascinating and revealing exploration of Toni Morrison as a brilliant editor, indefatigable champion of Black writing, committed friend to many, and the most iconic writer of the 20th century. A pure inspiration! Suggested by Megan.
    Book, 2025New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2025]. — 070.51092 WIL
  • Sharks Don't Sink

    Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist

    Graham, Jasmin,
    You don’t need a particular interest in sharks (though you will learn a lot about them) to appreciate this book by the founder of Minorities in Shark Science. Jasmin Graham was determined to do rigorous work in a subfield that functioned as an…
    Book, 2024New York : Pantheon Books, [2024] — 597.3092 GRA