This week, you can be part of a campaign to “Black Out” the bestseller lists:
This initiative, being shared across social media with the hashtag #BlackoutBestsellerList, has the sole mission of demonstrating Black writers’ power in the publishing industry one book at a time.
Purchase any two books by Black writers before June 20 to demonstrate the power and clout of Black writers in the publishing industry.
And, ahem, if we may make some recommendations? Why not start with a few books by inductees of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame?
- Proud Shoes by Pauli Murray
- If I Had Two Wings by Randall Kenan
- Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Boston Weatherford
- Breath of the Song by Jaki Shelton Green
- The Conjure Woman by Charles Waddell Chestnutt
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
All books are available from your local bookstore, or you can support indies everywhere by ordering through Bookshop.org.
Looking for more? Other Black inductees to the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame include:
- Gerald Barrax
- John Hope Franklin
- George Moses Horton
- Harriet Jacobs
- James Ephraim McGirt
- Samm-Art Williams
It’s gonna be a long summer. Why not stock up?









