There’s something sacred about watching Black stories arrive into the world.
Like… every release is proof that we’re still here… imagining, remembering, healing, risking, laughing, loving.
And 2026? Baby. It’s looking STACKED. We’re about to have a timeeeee!
So here’s your living TBR list the one you keep coming back to, adding to, and sending to your group chat like: “Which one we reading??”
Save this post for later + drop your most anticipated 2026 release in the comments so we can keep building the list. 👇🏾
Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson: An intergenerational story spanning post-war Germany to 1960s Maryland. The vibe is sweeping, emotional, history-with-heart. Buy Book
Honey by Imani Thompson: A little dark. A little funny. A little “oh this is about to go LEFT.”
This one is giving sharp, messy, can’t-look-away energy. – Buy Book
Big Girl Blitz by Danielle Allen: This one is all romance with plus-size joy, grown decisions, and chemistry that feels earned. The vibe is giving flirty, affirming, feel-good. Buy book
Love by the Book by Jessica George: A bookstore moment that turns into friendship, secrets, and life shifting. Vibeis cozy-ish but real, with heart. Buy Book.
Kin by Tayari Jones: Best friendship. Big feelings. One tragedy that changes everything. Vibe: tender, devastating, beautifully grown. Buy Book
Black. Single. Mother. by Jamilah Lemieux: Essays that widen the story and push back on tired narratives. The vibe is cultural commentary + truth-telling + tenderness. Buy Book
With Love From Harlem by ReShonda Tate: Harlem, glamour, genius, and a woman burning bright at the center of it all. This novel brings jazz icon Hazel Scott to life, her artistry, her activism, her love, and the cost of being unforgettable. The vibe is sweeping historical romance + Black cultural history + big feelings. Buy Book.
Score by Kennedy Ryan: A scorching second-chance romance where art, ambition, and healing collide. Screenwriter Verity Hill reunites with world-class musician Wright “Monk” Bellamy—and the project that could change both their careers also drags their unresolved past back into the light. Expect gorgeous Black history, big feelings, and Kennedy Ryan-level emotional precision. The vibe is cinematic romance, Black art + legacy and mental health rep. Buy Book
On Witness and Respair: Essays by Jesmyn Ward: Witnessing, grief, language, Black life, and the long work of living through what tries to undo us. The title uses “respair” (an older word meaning fresh hope after despair), which already tells you what kind of book this will be: honest, piercing, and still reaching for light. The vibe is lyrical nonfiction, grief + resilience and brilliance on the page. Buy Book
Buy Book
How Black Music Took Over the World by Melvin Gibbs: A master musician’s journey through the rhythms that shaped the modern world, tracing how the musical inheritance of Africa became the foundation for so much of what we listen to now. Expect history, craft, cultural context, and real “behind the music” insight from someone who’s lived it. The Vibe is music history, Black diaspora and culture + theory • for the playlists and the thinkers. Buy Book
Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani Akinola: A big-hearted, funny, and deeply poignant family drama about four Nigerian American siblings whose secrets and old wounds surface when they reunite for the first time in a decade. Everybody’s grown… but everybody’s still carrying something. The vibe is messy family dynamics and unconditional love . Full of “we need to talk” energy. Buy Book
The Art of Loving You by Natasha Bishop: From the viral romance wave that started with Only for the Week, this is giving bucket list road trip + second chance + banter + grown Black joy. Dani’s trying to keep love casual… until grief brings her face-to-face with the man who broke her heart, and the feelings don’t stay buried for long. The vibe is second-chance romance and forced proximity. Buy Book
The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams: An unforgettable, multi-generational story centered on the Dupree women, seven daughters, deep roots, and secrets braided tight through family history. This is the kind of novel that feels like lineage on the page: love, survival, inheritance, and the things we don’t say out loud until we have to. Vibe: literary family saga • Black women + ancestry • Southern roots • secrets + resilience. Buy Book
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield: An often brutal but beautiful Southern Gothic horror that digs into generational trauma, vengeance, and the complicated work of forgiveness—where the past doesn’t stay buried, it blooms. The vibe is Southern Gothic, haunting + cathartic with a touch of “the women in this family know too much.” Buy Book.
Shut Up and Read by Jeannine A. Cook: Bookshop/community-building memoir energy (with receipts).
The vibe is inspiring, grounded and“keep going.” Buy Book
Additional books coming out in 2026.
Before you go, tell me what you’re adding to your 2026 list. 🖤📚
Drop a comment with:
- the one book you’re claiming first (no shame if you picked three 😭)
- any Black author release I missed
- and if you’ve read any of these authors before, tell me which book made you a fan
I’m building this list all year long, so your comments help me keep it updated, and help the whole community find their next great read. ✨
