BOOKS
The Black Issue 2023 Black Authors’ Preview
Forthcoming titles Black Authors’ Preview A preview of new titles recently published, or issued in the next 12 months
Books exploring Blackness within a number of industries prove popular this year, while poetry’s wealth of offerings demands its own category
Natasha Onwuemezi @tashaisblue
I
don’t know if it’s just the emergence of spring aſter a long and hellish winter, but I’m feeling optimistic. This preview had around 100 more submissions than last year’s (but was slightly down on the mammoth year that was 2021) and is so rich in its multiplicit. In fiction, highlights include homegrown talent in the form of Elle Machray’s Remember, Remember (HarperNorth) and Phoebe McIn- tosh’s Dominoes (Chato), a host of débuts like The List by Yomi Adegoke, Family Lore by Elizabeth Avecedo (Canongate) and Locks by Ashleigh Nugent (Picador), and second titles from Elvin Mensah, Eva Verde and Onyi Nwabineli, among others.
In non-fiction, a key theme is exploring Blackness in a number of industries, includ- ing design—in Terresa Moses and Omari Souza’s An Anthology of Blackness (MIT Press) and Lisa E Mercer and Terresa Moses’ Racism Untaught (MIT Press)—and film and TV—Ellen E Jones’ Screen Deep (Faber) and Thandi Lubimbi’s A Screenwriter’s Guide to Race, Representation and Portrayal in Film & TV (Oldcastle Books). We also have fascinating memoirs from Clive Marie and Neneh Cherry, George the Poet and more. Poetry has been broken out into its own section this year, with electrifying twin titles from Kayo Chingonyi and Lemn Sissay and the first collection from the former Young People’s Poet Laureate for London, Momtaza Mehri. In Children’s, highlights include a magical adventure from Emma Norry and a Jordan Peele-esque YA speculative fiction title from Tomi Oyemakinde. Tast!
32 26th May 2023 Fiction
Fatin Abbas Ghost Season Jacaranda, 6th July, £16.99, HB, 9781914344763 A mysterious burnt corpse appears one morning in Saraaya, a remote border town between northern and southern Sudan. For five strangers on an NGO compound, the discovery foreshadows trouble to come. Weaving a sweep- ing history of the breakup of Sudan into the lives of these captivating char- acters, Abbas explores the porous and perilous nature of borders and the profound consequences for those who cross them.
Elizabeth Acevedo Family Lore Canongate, 10th August, £18.99, HB, 9781805300489 A “huge-hearted” story about three generations of women preparing for a wake is the début adult novel from the National Book Award-winning poet.
Ayobami Adebayo A Spell of Good Things Canongate, 7th March 2024, £9.99, PB, 9781838856076 From the Women’s Prize- shortlisted author of Stay With Me comes a dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption.
Oneworld, 4th April 2024, £16.99, HB, 9780861546923
A richly imagined short story collection that follows the lives of a group of Black British Londoners as they explore their platonic and romantic relationships.
peoples of her West African kingdom.
Gabi Burton Sing Me To Sleep Hodderscape, 27th June, £16.99, HB, 9781399718431 Hodderscape’s lead début for 2023 is the first in a darkly seductive YA fantasy duology with an all Black and brown cast, in which a siren assassin must join forces with the prince she hates to hunt a deadly killer—herself.
Lola Akinmade Akerstrom Everything is Not Enough Apollo, 26th October, £20, HB, 9781804548127 The second novel from the author of In Every Mirror She’s Black follows three women as they try to navigate life, love, prejudice and privilege in supposedly egalitarian Stockholm.
Simone Atangana Bekono Confrontations Serpent’s Tail, 11th January 2024, £14.99, HB, 9781800814752 A story about race, belonging and the lega- cies of violence that was shortlisted for Dutch literary prize the Libris Literatuur Prijs.
Leonora Brito Dat’s Love Penguin General, 28th September, £8.99, PB, 9780241999516 A collection of short stories exploring race, identity and love from the late Welsh writer.
Yomi Adegoke The List 4th Estate, 20th July, £14.99, HB, 9780008544492 From journalist Adegoke comes a page-turning début novel about secrets, lies and our lives online.
Shani Akilah For Such a Time as This
Solange Burrell Yeseni and the Daughter of Peace Unbound , 2nd November, £12.99, PB, 9781800182219 Set in 1748, this début combines historical fiction with fantasy. It follows Elewa, known as “the Daughter of Peace”, who is struggling to maintain the fragile truce between the warring
illegal immigrant. While in a cell he considers his own story and how it intertwines with the musi- cal genre of Kuduro.
Kehinde Fadipe In Such Tremendous Heat Renegade Books, 6th July, £16.99, HB, 9780349703190 Touted as “Crazy Rich Asians” meets “Big Little Lies”, this title follows Dara, Amaka and Lillian who are living the dream in Singapore—until their carefully constructed lives are upended by a handsome and mysterious arrival...
Tembe Denton-Hurst Homebodies HQ, 6th July, £16.99, HB, 9780008607715 A witty coming-of-age début novel following a Black woman in her 20s trying to navigate life and love when she returns to her hometown, after being unceremoniously fired from her job, and her post calling out racism within the media industry suddenly goes viral.
Chidi Ebere Now I Am Here Picador, 14th March 2024, £8.99, PB, 9781035004034 The fictional account of a soldier facing certain death who writes home to his love to explain how he ended up being trans- formed from gentle man to war criminal. An exami- nation of why we do what we do, this is a reflection on how good people can do terrible things—trans- formed by circumstances and the violence of war.
Kalaf Epalanga White Can Dance Too Faber, 15th June, £16.99, HB, 9780571371426 Tells the story of Kalaf, an African musician stopped at the Norwegian border on suspicion of being an
Mike Gayle
A Song of Me and You Hodder, 6th July, £16.99, HB, 9781529344813 Helen—mother of two and part-time teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband—reunites with world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rock star Ben 20 years after they parted as heart- broken 18-year-olds.
Donald Goines Street Players Kensington, 25th July, £15.99, PB, 9781496739360 This reissue of Goines’ 1973 “page-turning, bullet-riddled tale” is repackaged with a slick new look.
Jewelle Gomez The Gilda Stories Penguin, 7th Septem- ber, £16.99, HB, 9781784878627
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
