By Megan Levick, Chloe Brown, Mollie Boardman, Laila Hulatt and Faith Manalili
Waterstones
In honour of Black History Month this October, Waterstones are celebrating the work of Black authors and commentators by curating a handpicked list of books and resources to familiarise yourself with before the arrival of Black History Month 2024. The list can be found online by visiting the Waterstones website.
Waterstones’ list features a selection of poetry, classic and contemporary fiction, science fiction, biographies and memoirs and also a handful of books aimed at young adults and children. Many of these books raise important issues and educate readers about the experiences of Black Britons throughout history – marking their culture, heritage and achievements.
Titles featured in the compilation include the major Sunday Times bestseller The List by Yomi Adegoke, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (which won The Booker Prize in 2019), White Teeth by Zadie Smith, Lemn Sissay’s poetry collection Let the Light Pour in, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Windrush by Mike Phillips and Trevor Phillips and the children’s book Sunshine Simpson Cooks Up a Storm by G.M. Linton.
Foyles
Foyles bookshops are celebrating Black History Month through their extensive reading lists “to inform, celebrate and inspire.”
The bookshop has collated a list of books which celebrate the life of James Baldwin, a civil rights activist and author, as it has been 100 years since he was born. He was such an excellent writer and powerful mouthpiece during the civil rights movement, whose vivid stories stand the test of time. Notable books from him are his tragic tale Giovanni’s Room, as well as Go Tell It on the Mountain and Another Country.
To celebrate creativity during Black History Month, Foyles have made lists called “Art and Music” and “Sport and Entertainment.” These include Billie Holiday’s Lady Sings the Blues and Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis, as well as the 2018 Sports book of the year, Ali: A Life by Jonathon Eig and Ian Wright’s autobiography A Life in Football: My Autobiography.
Foyles also has a “Heroes” section containing the Little People, BIG DREAMS series by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara. This champions inspirational figures such as Rosa Parks, Simone Biles, Kamala Harris, Stevie Wonder, Jesse Owens and Marcus Rashford. These bestselling children’s books are about true stories of role models who fought hard for their dreams.
Bookshop.org is a convenient way to support independent bookshops far and wide as it hosts an endless array of stores and publishers that may not be your local – but are someone else’s. This also means that it has an unbelievable number of resources to browse this Black History Month as bookshops curate lists specifically tailored to must-reads for October and beyond. This online dynamic allows for the careful thoughts of the bookseller to be demonstrated just as they are on the shop floor every day.
This access means that, whether you are more interested in fiction or non-fiction, there is always something for you. House of Books & Friends have highlighted some essential titles on their reading list such as the modern classic The Good Immigrant: Twenty-one writers reflect on race in contemporary Britain. If YA is more your speed, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by debut author Jamison Shea, has been highlighted by Bookshop.org themselves.
Blackwell’s Bookshop
Blackwell’s is a well-known bookshop among readers that has been around for over 140 years and has fourteen locations across the country. In celebration of Black History Month, Blackwell’s has compiled a reading list of essential books for its patrons to learn more about Black history. The collection includes acclaimed author James Baldwin, political writings and essays, and non-fiction exploring various eras and aspects of Black history. There are also titles accessible for children that discuss the different experiences of Black people and notable men and women throughout history, with a fair amount part of the well-known series Black Stories Matter, Little People, Big Dreams and Little Leaders. Whatever your age, Blackwell’s has something for you this Black History Month.
If you'd like books that tackle more modern history and ongoing problems, Blackwell’s Oxford Bookshop also has some author events on offer. Kehinde Andrews, a Professor of Black Studies, is going to discuss the topic of racism in our current society in his book The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World on 15 October, and Sarah Ladipo Manyika, a bestselling author, is going to discuss some of the most distinguished Black thinkers of our times in her book Between Starshine and Clay on 29 October. Both author events are £5 and are listed on Eventbrite and Blackwell’s website.
Cambridge University Press Bookshop
This October, Black History Month reading lists can be found in the websites of several bookshops all across the UK. For the non-fiction reader, Cambridge University Press Bookshop is a great site to browse. The press states that “[a]s a global publisher and education organisation, [they] believe [they] have a responsibility to help bring Black histories to a wider audience.”
Cambridge University Press Bookshop has compiled a list of forty scholarly books about Black history and culture. If you are unsure where to start, Cambridge also has a shorter reading list in which they recommend five books for Black History Month. The books are: Brooding over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women's Lethal Resistance by Nikki M. Taylor, Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race by Ian Smith, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages by Geraldine Heng, and The Cambridge Guide to African American History by Raymond Gavins and Voices of the Race: Black Newspapers in Latin America, 1870–1960 edited by Paulina Laura Alberto, George Reid Andrews and Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof.
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