Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today--Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.
Black is...sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson.
Black is...three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds.
Black is...Nic Stone's high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of.
Black is...two girls kissing in Justina Ireland's story set in Maryland.
Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more--because there are countless ways to be Black enough.
Contributors:
Justina Ireland
Varian Johnson
Rita Williams-Garcia
Dhonielle Clayton
Kekla Magoon
Leah Henderson
Tochi Onyebuchi
Jason Reynolds
Nic Stone
Liara Tamani
Renée Watson
Tracey Baptiste
Coe Booth
Brandy Colbert
Jay Coles
Ibi Zoboi
Lamar Giles
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Become an affiliateVarian Johnson est auteur de plus de dix romans, dont The Great Greene Heist, l'un des meilleurs romans de 2014 selon Kirkus Reviews, Saving Maddie et le troisième tome de la série Animal totem: Les bêtes suprêmes. Il habite avec sa femme et ses enfants dans les environs d'Austin, au Texas.
Dhonielle Clayton writes fiction for middle grade, young adult, and women and was named a Best Author of YA Fiction by BookRiot in 2019. She earned an MA degree in children's literature from Hollins University and an MFA in writing for children at the New School. She taught secondary school for several years and is a former librarian and cofounder of Cake Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent and diverse literary confections for readers.
Jay Coles is a graduate of Vincennes University and Ball State University. When he's not writing diverse books, he's advocating for them, teaching middle school students, and composing for various music publishers.
Lamar "L. R." Giles never met a genre he didn't like, having penned science fiction, fantasy, horror, and noir thrillers, among others. He is a Virginia native, a Hopewell High Blue Devil, and an Old Dominion University Monarch. He resides in Chesapeake, Virginia, with his wife.
Leah Henderson is the author of the middle grade novels One Shadow on the Wall, a Bank Street Best Book and a Children's Africana Book Award Notable, and The Magic in Changing Your Stars, as well as several picture books. Her work also appears in the anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America. Leah is on faculty in the Spalding University MFA program, and currently calls Washington, D.C., home.
Renée Watson is the New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Piecing Me Together, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, and Betty Before X, co-written with Ilyasah Shabazz, as well as two acclaimed picture books: A Place Where Hurricanes Happen and Harlem's Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. She is the founder of I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to nurturing underrepresented voices in the creative arts, and currently lives in New York City.
www.reneewatson.net; @reneewauthor
Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning novel One Crazy Summer, which was also a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, a National Book Award finalist, and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. She is also the author of six distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here; Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book); Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); Blue Tights; and Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. She is on the faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children an Young Adults program.
Jason Reynolds is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ghost and Long Way Down, and the coauthor, with Ibram X. Kendi, of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. He is a Newbery Award honoree and a two-time National Book Award finalist. Reynolds lives in Washington, DC.
Liara Tamani holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Duke University. She is the author of the acclaimed young adult novels Calling My Name, a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Finalist; All the Things We Never Knew, a 2020 Kirkus Best YA Book of the Year; and What She Missed. Before becoming a writer, she attended Harvard Law School and worked as a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Comets, production assistant for Girlfriends (TV show), home accessories designer, floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher. She lives in Houston, Texas. liaratamani.com
Ibi Zoboi holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her novel American Street was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of Pride and My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, a New York Times bestseller. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.
Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which was the winner of the 2022 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the American Library Association's Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. Her other acclaimed books include Pointe, The Voting Booth, The Only Black Girls in Town, and the Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion. A member of the faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children, Brandy lives in Los Angeles. You can find her online at www.brandycolbert.com.
Justina Ireland is the New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation and its sequel, Deathless Divide, as well as Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows. She is also one of the authors creating the next generation of Star Wars novels entitled the High Republic and is the author of the middle grade Star Wars adventures Lando's Luck, Spark the Resistance, and A Test of Courage. She lives with her family in Maryland, where she enjoys dark chocolate and dark humor and is not too proud to admit that she's still afraid of the dark. You can visit her online at www.justinaireland.com.
Nic Stone is an Atlanta native and a Spelman College graduate. After working extensively in teen mentoring and living in Israel for several years, she returned to the United States to write full-time. Her debut novel for young adults, Dear Martin, was a New York Times bestseller and a William C. Morris Award finalist. Odd One Out was an NPR Best Book of the Year and a Rainbow Book List Top Ten selection.
Tracey Baptiste is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade novels Minecraft: The Crash, The Jumbies, Rise of the Jumbies, and The Jumbie God's Revenge. A former elementary school teacher, Tracey is now on the faculty at Lesley University's creative writing MFA program. Raised in Trinidad until she was fifteen, she now lives with her family in New Jersey. You can visit her online at traceybaptiste.com.
Coe Booth is a graduate of The New School's Writing for Children MFA program, and a winner of the LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction. She is the author of Tyrell and Kendra, and was born and still lives in the Bronx.
★ "A poignant collection of stunning short stories by Black, rock star authors" -- Booklist (starred review)
★ "A breath of fresh air...nuanced and necessary." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ "Each entry is deftly woven and full of such complex humanity that teens will identify with and see some of their own struggles in these characters... This collection presents the beauty of black humanity in all its many forms." -- School Library Journal (starred review)
★ "The stories, all worth savoring, share a celebratory outlook on black teenagers fully and courageously embracing life." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Ibi Zoboi, author of National Book Award finalist American Street and Jane Austen update Pride, dazzles again with this stunning, marvelously diverse collection of 17 stories of the teen experience by black authors [writing] 'about teens examining, rebelling against, embracing, or simply existing within their own idea of blackness.'" -- Buffalo News
★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Mixing gritty street life with the tenderness of first love, Haitian Vodou, and family bonds, the book is at once chilling, evocative, and reaffirming." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Filling her pages with magic, humanity, tragedy, and hope, Zoboi builds up, takes apart, and then rebuilds an unforgettable story. This book will take root in readers' hearts." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Zoboi's stunning debut intertwines mysticism and love with grit and violence...Fierce and beautiful." -- Booklist (starred review)
★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "A breathtaking story about contemporary America that will serve as a mirror to some and a window for others, and it will stay with anyone who reads it." -- School Library Journal (starred review)
Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Zoboi urges us to examine the American dream to see if there is room within it to hold the ones we love." -- Ebony Magazine
Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Will reach young readers regardless of their background." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "A poignant meditation on one girl's struggle to find her way in a new world." -- Nicola Yoon, New York Times bestselling author of The Sun is Also a Star and Everything, Everything
Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Brimming with culture, magic, warmth, and unabashed rawness, "American Street" is ultimately a blistering tale of humanity. This is "Manchild in the Promised Land," for a new generation, and a remarkable debut from Zoboi, who without question is an inevitable force in storytelling." -- Jason Reynolds, award-winning co-author of All American Boys
Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Zoboi's nascent storytelling gifts ensnare from page one. To this spellbinding voice of the next generation, I bow." -- Rita Williams-Garcia, New York Times bestselling author and three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award