6 Bestselling Poetry Books
Period: July/August - 2023
The African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998. It celebrates the bestselling titles from our curated selection of books written by or about Black people. Learn More below.
★ New: The BLK Bestsellers: America’s Bestselling Books
Fiction:
Voices of the Harlem Renaissance tops the fiction list due to the strength of sales at the Tulisoma South Dallas Book Fair. The #2 book this period, Coleman Hill: A Biomythography by Kim Coleman Foote deserves special note because its publication date is September 5, 2023, but it has been a bestselling book since our March /April list!
Nonfiction:
In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom by activist Latino Hamilton, who was wrongly jailed for 26 years because of a wrongful conviction, is the #1 fiction title this period. In our review, Robert Fleming favorably compares it to the work of George Jackson, Huey Newton, Angela Davis, Eldridge Cleaver, and Malcolm X.
Children’s Books:
Jelani’s Key by D. Amari Jackson debuts at #1 on the strength of presales. Published by AALBC Books for Young Readers, we will have the book launch in Atlanta, GA on Saturday, September 9.
Poetry:
So to Speak, “a powerful, timely, dazzling new collection of poems from the National Book Award-winning author of Lighthead,” Terrance Hayes tops all poetry book sales this period.
More About our Bestsellers List
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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.