5 Bestselling Poetry Books

Period: March/April - 2023

Celebrating Black stories and authors since 1998, the AALBC Bestsellers List is now published quarterly. Here’s a printable list and collage of this period’s titles. Also check out the BLK Bestsellers—the definitive monthly guide to America’s bestselling books by Black writers.

Fiction:
The literary magazines Killens Review of Arts & Letters and midnight & indigo dominated our bestsellers lists this period. Coleman Hill: A Biomythography by Kim Coleman Foote — six months before its publication date!

Nonfiction:
Reparations on Fire: How and Why it’ss Spreading Across America by Nkechi Taifa has been a #1 bestseller since its publication last year.

Children’s Books:
The #1 bestselling book, Sailing Commitment Around the World with Captain Bill Pinkney, written by Bill Pinkney and illustrated by Pamela C. Rice, is a six-time AALBC.com Bestseller.

Poetry:
2023 has been one of the best years for poetry book sales in several years. The bestselling poetry books this period spans more than four decades from Ntozake Shange’s Three Pieces, originally published in 1981, to Clint Smith’s 2023 book of poetry Above Ground.