Summer Sizzlers: 10 Must-Read August Books by Black Authors
Summer 2025 is heating up with a literary lineup as bold, brilliant, and boundary-breaking as the authors behind them.
From speculative fiction and cultural biography to fierce feminist poetry and Caribbean thrillers, these ten August releases by Black authors offer a powerful range of voices and visions. Whether you’re craving a magical family saga, deep poetic meditations on identity, or a gripping resort-set mystery, this curated list is your passport to stories that challenge, celebrate, and reimagine the Black experience.
These books aren't just must-reads—they're cultural moments.
📖 Toward a Living Archive of African Poetry
Editors/Authors: Kwame Dawes & Chris Abani; ed. Siwar Masannat
Release Date: August 5, 2025
Synopsis: A curated collection of essays and reflections marking ten years of the New‑Generation African Poets chapbook series, exploring the evolution of contemporary African poetry
👪 Family Spirit
Author: Diane McKinney‑Whetstone
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Synopsis: Follows a multigenerational Black family in Philadelphia with psychic gifts—the "Knowing" gene—infused with McKinney‑Whetstone’s signature warmth and magical realism.
🐎 Mounted: On Horses, Blackness, and Liberation
Author: Bitter Kalli
Release Date: August 19, 2025
Synopsis: A collection of essays exploring the symbolism of horses in Black art and life, touching on themes from Beyoncé to equestrian culture, and reclamation of representation.
🖤 Resting Bitch Face: Poems
Author: Taylor Byas
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Synopsis: A hybrid collection examining Black female identity through the visual gaze—film, photography, painting—transforming the observed into the observer
📘 People Like Us
Author: Jason Mott
Release Date: August 5, 2025
Synopsis: A meta-novel weaving two Black authors' lives—one on a global tour, the other addressing a school community ravaged by gun violence—blending humor, grief, and surreal moments like time travel and sea monsters
🏖️ The Grand Paloma Resort
Author: Cleyvis Natera
Release Date: August 12 , 2025
Synopsis: Set over a tense week at a luxury Dominican resort, the novel follows Laura, the local resort manager striving for advancement, and her troubled sister Elena, whose babysitting leads to tragedy. As privilege and exploitation collide, the story delves into class, power, and family ties .
📗 Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
Author: Susana M. Morris
Release Date: August 19, 2025
Synopsis: A deeply researched cultural biography of celebrated sci-fi pioneer Octavia Butler, contextualizing her groundbreaking narratives within major social movements—from Civil Rights to Queer liberation—and examining themes such as climate collapse, hierarchy, power, and resistance.
📙 This Kind of Trouble
Author: Tochi Eze
Release Date: August 5 , 2025
Synopsis: A sweeping, emotionally resonant debut novel spanning three timelines (early 1900s, 1960s, and 2005). It centers on estranged lovers Margaret and Benjamin, whose intertwined histories—rooted in a Nigerian village and Atlanta—unfold across generations, exploring ancestral curses, mental health, and reconnection.
🕵️♂️ The Dancing Face
Author: Mike Phillips
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Synopsis: A Black British university lecturer, Gus, orchestrates a daring theft of the historic Benin mask—the “Dancing Face”—from a London museum, aiming to spark reparations discourse. The plot escalates into a tense thriller involving family ties, power plays, colonial legacy, and moral reckoning..
🧠 Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing
Author: Jen Soriano
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Synopsis: A memoir in essays by the daughter of a neurosurgeon, mapping chronic pain, mental health, and intergenerational trauma into a call for healing .