The 14 Most-Anticipated BIPOC Reads of 2023

Although 2023 has just begun, I’m slowly and eagerly making my way through the books I CANNOT wait to read and talk about in 2023, and I will say there are plenty. Of course, if you’re here you know that diverse books are my thing so here are all the diverse books I can’t wait to read…

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer – Release date January 31, 2023.

This book! I already love it and I haven’t read it yet. But I have pre-ordered and I’m ready to go. This is a redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery. Her search begins with the ending of slavery when she sets on a mission to find the children that were stolen from her. I cannot wait to read this.

Maame by Jessica George – Release date: January 31, 2023

This debut novel from Jessica George follows a 25-year-old Ghanian woman living in London,  working, and trying to have a normal life despite her troubled family life and her struggle with depression. This is a book of self-discovery and family expectations. 

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert – January 3, 2023.

Talia Hibbert is an author I would read anything from. She has a way of making things just so charming and hilarious at the same time.I am excited that she is was making her YA debut in 2023. This tale of academic rivals forced to team up is at the top of my tbr pile. 

Sun Keep Rising by Kristen R. Lee – January 23, 2023.

Sun Keep Rising features a teen mom who is trying her best to get by as she faces gentrification, food insecurity, and learning to be a parent for the first time.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo – Release Date: August 1, 2023. 

This book doesn’t yet have a heart but it already has my coins, no joke! I love Acevedo’s YA books but this her adult debut and I’m excited.  In this one, Elizabeth Acevedo traces the lineage of one Dominican American family through the lives of women who hope their past can provide a roadmap for the future.

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead – Release Date: July 18, 2023.

At this point I think Colson Whitehead can do no wrong in my eyes, just send me everything he writes and I will read it. This new crime novel picks up where 2021’s Harlem Shuffle left off. In 1970s Harlem, former fence-turned-furniture store owner Ray Carney is trying to lay low as crime skyrockets all around the city. But when he needs a little help getting Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter, Ray finds himself falling back into bad habits that could have deadly consequences. Yes please! Can’t wait to get my hands on this. 

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum – Release Date:  March 28, 2023.

After Yara is placed on probation at work for fighting with a racist coworker, her Palestinian mother claims the provocation and all that’s come after were the result of a family curse. While Yara doesn’t believe in old superstitions, she finds herself unpacking her strict, often volatile childhood growing up in Brooklyn, looking for clues as to why she feels so unfulfilled in a life her mother could only dream of. Etaf Rum’s follow-up to her 2019 debut, A Woman Is No Man, is a complicated mother-daughter drama that looks at the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma and what it takes to break the cycle of abuse.

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Bouley  – Release Date: May 2, 2023

Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known her role in her indigenous tribe on Sugar Island. When Native women start disappearing and her family is caught in the middle of a high-profile murder investigation, Perry questions her place as the laidback twin. As grave robbers strike the tribe, Perry must fight to save her ancestors and her tribe members before all is lost.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez  – Release Date: March 7, 2023. 

In this debut novel, a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island discovers that their long‑missing sister is potentially alive—and cast on a reality TV show—and set out to bring her home.

Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah – Release Date: July 15, 2023 

I’m truly excited for this one because Friday Black is still all all time favourite collection. This book though is a ferocious attack on America’s for-profit prison systems and depicts a dystopian future of gladiatorial spectator sports in which female prisoners fight in mandatory death matches for a shot at freedom. Whew! This book sounds interesting. 

Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood – Release Date: February 7, 2023. 

I read ‘These Wicked Walls’ by Blackwood and there’s something about her writing and the worlds that she creates that just speaks to me. Needless to say, I anticipate loving this book just as much. In this one, Jamaican tour guide Victoria is good at her job—she uses her inborn magic to protect travelers from savage monsters in the jungle. When romance blooms with a tour client, Victoria must make some hard decisions about love, loyalty, and working for her corrupt corporate bosses.

The God of Good Look by Breanne Mc Ivor  – Release Date: May 16, 2023.

A joyously satisfying will-they-won’t-they love story about a young woman finding her feet and forging her own destiny, set against the backdrop of the Trinidadian beauty industry.

Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah – Release Date: March 7, 2023.

This is a debut from the author and I’ve heard so many great things about it. A provocative debut novel about a marriage in crisis that asks the question: Can you ever be rooted in a home that’s on the brink of collapse?

Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury  – Release Date: February 28, 2023. 

This is the third book by Trinidadian-Canadian author and Sambury 

This book is a psychological thriller by the Trinadadian-Canadian author Blood Like Magic. The story follows two teen girls who are navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion.