6 Bestselling Nonfiction Books
Period: September/October - 2019
Celebrating books written by or about Black people, the African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998. In 2026, we began publishing our list quarterly, focusing on The BLK Bestsellers.
Children’s books outsold all other categories this period. The #1 bestselling book this period is the awarding winning I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can’t by Leo & Diane Dillon. Wonderfully illustrated and “Brimming with joy and enthusiasm, Zoe playfully explores all the things she can be. A world of opportunities are within her reach, from becoming an archeologist to becoming U.S. President!’
Fiction sales were led by the final book in the Wolf Queen series, The Promise of Aferi. The author, Cerece Rennie Murphy, brings us another epic fantasy/historical novel.
Nonfiction sales was led by Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy DeGruy Leary. Originally published in 2005 this book helps us understand the generational, epigenetic and genetic, influences on our psyches after hundreds of years of extreme trauma.
Not enough poetry books were sold to generate a bestsellers list, however A Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib and the National Book Award finalist, The Tradition by Jericho Brown, sold this period and are worth checking out.
