7 Bestselling Poetry Books for January/February - 2023
Our bestsellers list has been published continuously since 1998. Learn More ▶
Fiction:
For the first time, The top three fiction “books” are literary journals. The Killens Review is a fixture on our list making it 8 times. midnight & indigo, a literary journal dedicated to short fiction and narrative essays by Black women writers, makes its debut on our list this period.
Nonfiction:
Reparations on Fire: How and Why it’s Spreading Across America by Nkechi Taifa is an AALBC bestseller not just because it is an important book, but Taifa makes a point of encouraging readers to buy her books from black-owned bookstores.
Children’s Books:
An American Story, written by Kwame Alexander and Illustrated by Dare Coulter is not only the bestselling children’s book, it is the bestselling book overall this period!
Poetry:
Poetry did well during this period with work from award-winning poets Yusef Komunyakaa, John Keene, and Tyehimba Jess making the list.
View a printer-friendly version and a collage of the book covers. Also, check out links to more great books. Enjoy ♥
#1
The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry
by Arnold Rampersad and Hilary Herbold
(Sold by Alternative Sources)
More About our Bestsellers List
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), Black History 365 Education, and Amazon.com*.
We aggregate all formats of a book sold (print, ebook, and audio) into one format, usually the most popular print format
*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice, as many of our authors have made their books exclusively available from Amazon. While we discourage giving Amazon the exclusive right to sell a book, we do not want this to be a reason to exclude an author from our site. Amazon also has an effective monopoly on eBooks and out-of-print books, which we highlight on this site.
Related Links
The Most Critically Acclaimed Books
Bestselling Books By Year May be Found Here
Our All-Time Bestselling Books May be Found Here