We’re celebrating #BlackOutTuesday by starting a thread of Black historical fiction authors. There are so many great books to get your hands on! First up is @Sherri_L_Smith, who has novels set during WW2 for all who enjoy that era (which is a lot of people)!

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We’re continuing our thread of Black authors who write historical fiction. For the romantics out there, @piperhuguley writes Christian historical romance set in the American South.

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Canadian author Lawrence Hill offers huge, sweeping sagas about slavery, injustice, love, loss, identity and Black people's fight for freedom and equality.

(Note: THE BOOK OF NEGROS has an alternate title of SOMEONE KNOWS MY NAME)

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SHOUT OUT to @CarolynTara and her 2021 debut DAUGHTERS OF A DEAD EMPIRE! Follow her and find out through this chat why she's so excited about her retelling of Anastasia and why it's relevant right now!

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She's been mentioned, but not in the thread. Time for a shout out to the amazing @Dolen Dolen Perkins-Valdez for WENCH and BALM.

She was a keynote speaker at HNS2019 last year and was so inspiring. Thank you Dolen for giving us your words.

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A lot of us know about Ta-Nehisi Coates from his nonfiction writing but he wrote a novel as well! THE WATER DANCER brings magic realism to the Underground Railroad in the American South.

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A popular sub-genre within historical fiction is historical fantasy. As mentioned in the comments, @justinaireland’s DREAD NATION series brings zombies and zombie-slaying to the politics of the American Civil War/Reconstruction era.

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How about this gorgeous DEBUT?! Today we share powerful historical fiction by @AfiaAtakora which will make you wish for more of her writing.

Join us by adding this novel to your list (and then reading it!) as we continue our #AmplifyBlackVoices thread here at #HFChitChat

Speaking of Debuts, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing was amazing Her new book comes out in September. Why not preorder it?!

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And it’s time to read the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner. #TheNickelBoys @colsonwhitehead

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Did you know @AlyssaColeLit also writes #HistFic ? Here are her civil war novels, as well as her historical novellas.

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Here's another debut to watch for this year. As mentioned in the comments, @kaiawrites is bringing us the story of a battalion of African-American women during WW2.

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While we’re talking about debuts, check out @RitaWoodsAuthor's tale of historical fantasy/magical realism about four Black women in search of freedom and community over a span of 200 years.

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes novels set in Nigeria about family, colonialism and independence. She also has a compelling TEDTalk about the danger of a single story (stereotypes and reductive narratives). Have a listen https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

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Esi Edugyan won the Giller Prize for HALF BLOOD BLUES, a dual-timeline about WW2 and a decades-old mystery of a missing Black jazz musician. Her latest, WASHINGTON BLACK, involves a flight to freedom from slavery abroad a flying machine.

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The multiple award-winning WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith is about a friendship between two culturally different WW2 veterans in England, as well as England’s relationship to people from formerly colonized countries.

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Author @tonyaboldenbook was also mentioned in the comments. She has YA historical novels featuring Black girls in the American South during the Civil War, the post-Reconstruction era and the early 1900s.

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Author @MarlonJames5 won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS, which is set in 1976 Jamaica. He has two other historical novels also set 18th century (THE BOOK OF NIGHT WOMEN) and 1957 (JIM CROW’S DEVIL) Jamaica.

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Another historical fantasy rec for you, this one with a side of mystery. @ni_glover’s THE CONDUCTORS is about a magic-wielding former conductor on the Underground Railroad who solves murder cases with her husband in post-Civil War Philadelphia.

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Did you know that the 1980s is now considered historical? Afraid so. Blast back to 1986 for @thrillkinson’s Cold War spy thriller about a Black female FBI agent tasked with undermining a political figure known as “Africa's Che Guevara”.

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Currently #1 on the NYT Bestsellers list, THE VANISHING HALF by @britrbennett is a multi-generational tale spanning the 1950s to the 1990s about twin Black sisters and how their lives diverge when one of them is able to live a white-passing life.

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As we wrap up our thread this weekend, we will highlight some beloved classics. If you’ve read (and seen) Alice Walker’s beloved #THECOLORPURPLE, did you know there are more books in the collection?

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Alex Haley brought it all with Roots and Kunta Kinte! Did you know he also wrote about his maternal ancestress in Queen?!

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No list like this would be complete without the incomparable Zora Neale Horston and her complete works, including THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD.

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We will conclude this afternoon with one last name, stay tuned! Please do keep adding more

And finally, Toni Morrison. Beloved, Bluest Eye, Home, and many, many, more.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our #AmplifyBlackVoices #HFChitChat thread. Even more, we hope you read and support these and other black authors. Bookmark the thread, add to it, and enjoy!