Everyone loves and deserves a little bit of escapism. Whether it be in fiction, non fiction or just straight up entertainment, books are my way of completely relaxing, and entering a completely different world, through someone else’s eyes. Whether you’re a woman, or a person of colour, novels written by woman of colour are incredibly under represented, and their experiences and imagination can be life changing.
Check out these must read books written by women of colour.
Written by one of my absolute favourite authors, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. The Thing around your neck is a collection of short stories, including completely different characters events, and stories. However they center around the emotions, thoughts, events and feelings from female viewpoint. It covers topics such as sex, war, friendship, relationships, feminism, equality and more. What i love about this novel is its ease and comfort to read, and the desire i felt,to read more…
This novel, written by the amazing Maya Angelou, can be described as a beautifully elegant, yet tragic. Its the story of Maya Angelou’s early life. It’s incredibly detailed and explains and illustrates the hardcoming’s and difficulties she faces during her childhood, as a well as the hardships and struggle of her surroundings and the people around her. Its poetically written although discusses some tragic situations. The ability this novel has to transport you to another world is truly wonderful.
Slay in your lane: The Black Girl Bible,was written by Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke. This novel’s audience couldn’t be clearer, it is written for black British women and girls. Its purpose is developing a guide for black British girls and women, in navigating through life. It’s aim is to be an inspiration for this marginalized group. And encourage and teach them to essentially – Make lemons out of lemonade.
The idea of this book started off as a life experience article written by British writer Reni Eddo-Lodge. However it received so much discussion and discourse and basically went viral. So she decided to expand and turn that article into a novel. This talks about a number of issues and it is essentially a rant slash attempt of education, however it also dives into history and structural and cultural issues with race in the UK.
Chinese Cinderella is the tragic tale and auto biography of author Adeline Yen Mah. It is based in China during the second world war and describes the life of this young child which she describes herself as the unwanted daughter. This book is not for the completely tender hearted, but gives a beautifully written insight to the life and struggle of a young Chinese female.
Naughts and crosses is a classic teen novel written by British author and activist Malorie Blackman. Its the first novel of a series of books all based in a fictional world. The basis of this novel is tragic romantic, with similar themes to stories such as Romeo and Juliette. However this time its more racially motivated. This premise of the setting is that dark skinned people (crosses) are at a societal systematic advantage, and white skinned people (naughts) are at a disadvantage. People from each side fall in love which brings about drama and havoc.
Umami is a fiction novel set in deep Mexico City. It is a description of the story of a young girls life, and begins with a tragic death by drowing, written by Laia Jufresa. The story is old by 5 different voices. This is a great story of mystery and thought provoking perspective.
I tried to mix up the authors as much as possible but i just couldn’t resist! Americanah is one of my all time favourite books, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Its the fictional story of a Nigerian teenager, who moved to America to study. This is a coming of age story, full of drama and romance. It also identifies a variety of current issues many women of colour face in today’s society, along with a number of issues that just come with growing up and finding yourself. This story takes you on a true roller coaster of a journey, you’re destined to enjoy from start to finish.
Maru written by South African writer Bessie Head, is a story about acceptance, race, romance, drama and identity. It follows the journey of a young Masarwa (Bushman) woman who travels to a small village to teach but is treated unfairly and is alienated. Their are some brilliant characters in this book, and they all bring their own drama and tragedy.
Becoming is hotter than fire right now. It is written by lawyer, activist, and previous first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. This novel, she describes as a memoir of her life. It is a deeply descriptive and personal account of events in her life, and to be honest she keeps it 100% real. Michelle is an extra ordinary woman who has lived extra ordinary life. It is not only fascinating, but moving and beautiful.
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