8 Bestselling Fiction Books
Period: July/August - 2021
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.
Sales for this period also include sales from AAALBC’s Black Wall Street Book Store, a pop-up bookstore which began operating on Black Wall Street, in Tulsa OK, in August of 2021.
Fiction: Sales this period were dominated by writers with decades of experience, including contemporary authors Jewel Parker Rhodes and Terry McMillan and venerable writers, no longer with us, like John Oliver Killens and Donald Goines.
Nonfiction: There was a excellent mix of classic titles from Black writers and important new books from non-Black writers like Richard Rothstein whose research on how governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide adversely impacting Black Americans.
Children’s Books: Children’s books were strongly influenced by our Black Wall Street Bookstore’s sales which focused on Oklahoma related stories including the top three selling books, Unspeakable, Opal’s Greenwood Oasis, and Papa’s Free Day Party
Poetry: The impressive anthology of Black poetry, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, which includes poetry from the colonial period to the present, make our list for the second time this year.
