21 Bestselling Fiction Books

Period: September/October - 2022

AALBC Bestseller Seal

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:
Brittani Williams’ novel, The Streets Keep Pulling Me Back, tops our fiction category this month. Williams is brand new to our website—we’re still updating her profile and adding the rest of her titles to our site!

Nonfiction:
Viola Davis’s memoir, Finding Me is the top-selling book across all categories for this period. Finding Me has been on our bestsellers list since it was published in April of this year.

Children’s Books:
Sailing Commitment Around the World with Captain Bill Pinkney by Bill Pinkney, Illustrated by Pamela C. Rice tops our children’s list and is one of the bestselling children’s books this year.

Poetry:
A 4-time AALBC bestseller, The 100 Best African American Poems edited by award-winning poet Nikki Giovanni is one of AALBC’s all-time bestselling books of poetry.

5
Cover for Our Gen

Our Gen

by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Add to Cart
6
Cover for The Quarter Storm

The Quarter Storm

by Veronica G. Henry
Add to Cart
7
Cover for Dark Reflections

Dark Reflections

by Samuel R. Delany
Add to Cart
8
Cover for Bruised Hibiscus

Bruised Hibiscus

by Elizabeth Nunez
Add to Cart
9
Cover for Derelict

Derelict

by Relentless Aaron and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
Add to Cart
10
Cover for Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

Kindred

by Octavia E. Butler
Add to Cart
11
Cover for Cane

Cane

by Jean Toomer
Add to Cart
14
Cover for Black Gangster

Black Gangster

by Donald Goines
Add to Cart
15
Cover for Dopefiend

Dopefiend

by Donald Goines
Add to Cart
16
Cover for Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Originally Published as The New Negro an Interpretation

Voices of the Harlem Renaissance

by Alain Locke and Introduction by Troy Johnson
Add to Cart
17
Cover for Four Degrees of Heat: A Collection of Sexy Summer Escapades

Four Degrees of Heat

by Brenda L. Thomas, et al.
Add to Cart
19
Cover for Wolf Hustle: A Black Woman on Wall Street

Wolf Hustle

by Cin Fabré
Add to Cart
19
Cover for Street Players

Street Players

by Donald Goines
Add to Cart
20
Cover for Inner City Hoodlum

Inner City Hoodlum

by Donald Goines
Add to Cart

More About our Bestsellers List

View a printer-friendly version or a collage of the book covers.

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.