11 Bestselling Nonfiction Books
Period: November/December - 2023
Celebrating books written by or about Black people, the African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998 (Learn More ▶). In 2026, we began publishing our list quarterly, focusing our efforts on America’s top-selling titles: The BLK Bestsellers.
Fiction:
Parable of the Talents is the #1 book for this period. The alarmingly prescient science fiction novel by Octavia E. Butler was first published in 1998 and is the sequel to Parable of the Sower. Both books are bestsellers for all of 2023, making Butler the only author to hold that distinction this year.
Nonfiction:
The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power by Robin L. Smith and Courtney B. Vance is not only the #1 bestselling nonfiction book for this period it is also the number #1 book for the year—and it wasn’t published until Nov 7, 2023!
Children’s Books:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander describes the #1 Childrens book Jelani’s Key by D. Amari Jackson as “Dramatic, daring, and authentic, Jelani’s Key is a page-turning epic chock full of culture, history, and all the things that will enlighten and inspire young readers.”
Poetry:
1919 by Eve L. Ewing tops all Poetry book sales this period.
More About our Bestsellers List
View a printer-friendly version or a collage of the book covers.
You will learn about books selling well in the Black community that may never show up on lists published by corporate entities. Spread the word about our list; don’t let one or two lists, which we don’t control, determine which books are important.
We collect our bestselling titles from all our sales channels. The majority of our sales come from this website and our in-person events. We also include sales generated through our affiliate relationships, including Bookshop.org, Libro.fm (audiobooks), and Amazon.com*.
*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice to ensure we do not exclude authors who are exclusive to that platform. We still discourage exclusivity but support all Black authors.
Related Links
