NYPL Releases Vibrant Voices: New Books from Authors of Color

By Shauntee Burns
January 13, 2022
colorful collage of book covers

Today The New York Public Library released a new book list, "Vibrant Voices: New Books from Authors of Color."

Explore new books from authors of color with NYPL’s Vibrant Voices book list, created by the Library’s expert staff to amplify and celebrate diverse voices, promote discussion, and expand understanding. Download the lists for kids, teens, and adults. Educators can also access the Educator Guide, created by the School Support team, for discussion questions, additional reading, and Library resources related to titles from the list. This list is presented by the Library's new Center for Educators and Schools.

Explore the top 10 titles for each age group below.

Kids

  1. Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year by Nina Hamza 
  2. Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith 
  3. Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood, edited by Kwame Mbalia
  4. Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera
  5. Dream Street by Tricia Elam Walker 
  6. Laxmi’s Mooch by Shelly Anand
  7. Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles 
  8. The Many Meanings of Meilan by Andrea Wang
  9. Thao by Thao Lam 
  10. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford 

Teens

  1. Black Birds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert
  2. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
  3. From a Whisper To a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo
  4. Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo
  5. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
  6. The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore
  7. Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney
  8. Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi
  9. Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin's Hijab by Priya Huq
  10. When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez

Adults

  1. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
  2. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour 
  3. Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans
  4. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
  5. Hola Papi! How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer
  6. My Time Will Come by Ian Manuel, foreword by Bryan Stevenson 
  7. Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
  8. Stone Fruit by Lee Lai
  9. Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump by Ben Philippe
  10. You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

Explore the full list. 

Thank you to the members of the BIPOC Book Committee: 

Co chairs: Lilian Calix, Amber Certain, Tiffany James

Chelsea Arnold, Dana Bello, Ann-Marie Braithwaite, Marilyn Bryant, Alexis Burgess, Tanya Burgess, Vanessa Carrasco, Jenny Chisnell, Marizel Esteves, Valerie Garcia, Linda Garraud, Ruth Guerrier-Pierre, Tessa Hamilton, Krystina Humbert, Breann Jeffries, Sasha Jones, Mleeka Khan, Michael Kirby, Carolyn Lawrence, Michael Maxwell, Mariel Matthews, Nicole Nelson, Erica Parker, Christal Pickett, Dana Sagona, Renee Scott, Susen Shi, Samantha Simoes, Wayne Walters, Sue Yee, Ricci Yuhico