Sales of books authored by Black writers have reportedly fallen in the first half of the year. According to Nielsen Data, during the first 24 weeks of 2026, there are just 14 Black authors within the top 1,000 for sales. Combined, these authors have earned £2.8m, which makes up 0.9% of the total money earned by all authors in that top 1,000; down by 1.6% from 2025. Black authors make up 1.2% of Nielsen’s list for 2026, compared to 4% of the population identifying as Black and a further 1.3% identifying as being mixed race Black.
According to Bookstagrammer, Claire Linney, this decline is not due to readers, of all races, not wanting to read book authored by Black writers but a disconnect between publishers and audiences. So, to help connect more readers to Black authors, here’s For Reading Addicts’ pick of Black-authored books published in recent years to add to your TBR.
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Queenie is Working on it by Candice Carty-Williams
The first novel of the series, Queenie, was adapted into a TV series for Channel 4. Now, Queenie is back in the highly-anticipated follow-up; tackling situationships and ticking biological clocks. Th question is, does Queenie even want kids?
Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter
A British Jamaican writer, William Rayfet Hunter won the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize in 2022 with their début novel Sunstruck which published in June 2026. The novel explores themes of themes of race, status and identity, as a working-class, mixed-race Black man attempts to navigate the opulent world of a wealthy family.
Honey by Imani Thompson
A British writer with Jamaican heritage and winner of the Vogue new writer’s prize, Thompson’s début novel, Honey published earlier this year. A humorous, sexy and addictive thriller, the novel explores the idea of the not-always-righteous path of taking justice into your own hands.
Kin by Tayari Jones
From the acclaimed author of An American Marriage comes Kin, the story of two girls with absent mothers who together navigate the dangers and heartbreak of a racially segregated America in the 1950s and 60s.
Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi
From the British, bestselling author of Faebound comes a powerful new reimagining of Cleopatra. In this new novel about iconic Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra is shown on her own terms.
Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi
A non-binary, Nigerian fiction writer and visual artist, Emezi is best known for their novels including Freshwater, Pet, and the New York Times bestselling work The Death of Vivek Oji. Son of the Morning is their latest novel, publishing in 2026, and is pitched as a ‘spicy’ Southern Gothic paranormal romance filled with angels, demons and forbidden desires.
The Quiet Girls by Dorothy Koomson
A contemporary British novelist of Ghanaian descent, Koomson is one of the bestselling Black authors in adult fiction. She is perhaps best known for penning The Ice Cream Girls which was adapted for TV, and her latest novel The Quiet Girls is another twisting thriller full of secrets.
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
From the award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, Dream Count is the feminist novel that was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025. A tale of four women, their lives, their loves, their longings and their desires.
Bitter Melon by Liv Little
Founder of gal-dem, an English online and print magazine run by women of colour, Liv Little published her début novel, Rosewater in 2023. Later this year she publishes her next novel, Bitter Melon. The novel which is a tender Roadtrip through the fragile and difficult father daughter relationship, sees Jalissa head to her homeland of Jamaica.
Big Man by Dean Atta
A British poet and author of Greek Cypriot and Caribbean descent, Dean Atta returns later this year with his latest work. Big Man follows the life of Big, a middle-aged, Black British gay man who lives a gentle life with his boyfriend, Little, in their home in East London. Until that is, he reconnects with Mother, an African-American trans woman whose watchful eyes were on Big as he came of age in the club scene. Mother is releasing a memoir, and Big finds himself having to confront a long-repressed past.
We hope you find some good suggestions there and we’ll be back with more recommendations lists soon!
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