Connie Briscoe & Francesca Momplaisir - USA Today "100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read, from Abi Daré to Zora Neale Hurston"

USA Today | August 20, 2020

“Nonfiction books on race have resonated with readers across the country and on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list since the outcry spurred by George Floyd's death in May and the killing of Breonna Taylor in March – both Black, both dead at the hands of police. Readers are educating themselves on systemic racism and challenging their preconceptions about race.

But an equally powerful way to become more educated and enlightened is through fiction. Black authors give readers more insight into the Black experience, often by viewing the world through the lens of Black characters.

‘Fiction humanizes statistics; it humanizes people,’ says Farah Jasmine Griffin, pictured, an English professor who also chairs African American studies at Columbia University. ‘We invest in them ... in a way that we think their story is worthy of being told and we want to witness it. That’s profound, that’s absolutely profound. We care, it gives feeling and emotion and concern to something that might otherwise be easily stereotyped and caricatured. ... Fiction is an invitation to care.’

With input from Griffin and others, USA TODAY's Mary Cadden has culled a selection of 100 Black authors who write adult fiction. The list includes a variety of authors from established to debut, award-winning to best-selling, American and international. The authors specialize in a wide range of genres, including literary, speculative, fantasy, science fiction, romance, mystery and more. But keep in mind, for every novelist we have included, there are scores more to be read and discovered.”

Connie Briscoe and Francesca Momplaisir were both included in this fantastic round-up! Follow the link above to read the full article.

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