AALBC Search
DuEwa M. Frazier
DuEwa M. Frazier NONE DuEwa Frazier is an accomplished writer, educator, and poet, renowned for her literary contributions and educational initiatives. Born in Brooklyn and raised in St. Louis, she f...
Stephanie Stokes Oliver
Stephanie Stokes Oliver NONE Stephanie Stokes Oliver is an accomplished publishing professional, heading SSO Media, serving as a literary scout for Atria Book Group and as author curator for Anguilla...
Lauren Lacey
Lauren Lacey NONE Lauren Lacey, an indie Romance author and digital strategist, has optimized global brands including PwC. She's the former marketing lead for Mastercard and AMEX gift cards, and a Fo...
Troy Andrews
Troy Andrews 0000000114882786 Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, a Grammy-nominated artist from Tremé, New Orleans, became a band leader at six. Known for his prodigious trombone skills, he now headlin...
L.L. McKinney
L.L. McKinney NONE L.L. McKinney is a writer and poet deeply involved in the kidlit community. She advocates for equality in publishing, co-founded the Juneteenth Book Fest, and created popular hasht...
Nick Brooks
Nick Brooks NONE Nick Brooks, an award-winning filmmaker and author from Washington, DC, is known for his short film 'Hoop Dreamin''. A 2020 USC graduate, he won the George Lucas Scholar Award and wa...
Jonathan Todd
Jonathan Todd 0000000028238169 Jonathan Todd, co-founder of Boston Kids Comics Fest and former teacher, is a distinguished comics author and illustrator. A Jacqueline Woodson Fellow, he studied writi...
Sallie Ann Robinson
Sallie Ann Robinson NONE Sallie Ann Robinson, a native of Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, is deeply rooted in the island's Gullah culture. Despite slow technological advancement, she embraces tradi...
Jay-Z
Jay-Z 0000000118335528 Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, born December 4, 1969, is a highly influential rapper with a net worth over $1B. He founded Roc Nation, an entertainment company launching a new publishin...
Brenda Jones and Krishan Trotman
Brenda Jones and Krishan Trotman MULTIPLE Brenda Jones, renowned for her 15-year role as communications director for Rep. John Lewis and co-author of an NAACP award-winning book, has vast experience ...
Oge Mora
Oge Mora 0000000485186579 Oge Mora, a BFA graduate in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, splits her time between painting in her studio and cooking her grandmother's recipes in Prov...
Ellen Mitchell
Ellen Mitchell 000000004491565X Ellen Mitchell is a seasoned journalist from Long Island, with a career spanning “man on the street” interviews to anchoring news. She was the exclusive Long Island re...
Emily Meggett
Emily Meggett NONE Emily Meggett, 87, is a prominent figure in South Carolina's Gullah community, featured by PBS, Food Network, and NPR. Raised in a 19th-century slave cabin, now a central Smithsoni...
Jazzmen Lee-Johnson
Jazzmen Lee-Johnson NONE Jazzmen Lee-Johnson is an accomplished visual artist, scholar, and curator with a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and MA from Brown University. She has extensive exper...
Danielle Y. C. McClean
Danielle Y. C. McClean NONE Danielle Y. C. McClean is an award-winning children's author, translator, and interpreter from Trinidad and Tobago. Her notable works include 'The Protectors’ Pledge' and ...
Darcel Turner
Darcel Turner NONE Darcel Turner, a New York native, is an accomplished author known for her novel, “Dana Dances on Paper.” She has attended various colleges, transcribed for The 4th National Black W...
J.M. Holmes
J.M. Holmes NONE J.M. Holmes, a Denver-born, Rhode Island-raised author, won the Burnett Howe Prize at Amherst College. With fellowships to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Napa Valley Writers’ Con...
Patricia Smith
Patricia Smith 0000000110775334 Patricia Smith, celebrated poet and professor, is known for her direct and adventuresome style. She’s authored six books, including award finalists 'Blood Dazzler' and...
Krishan Trotman
Krishan Trotman NONE Krishan Trotman is Vice President and Publisher of Legacy Lit, the Hachette Book Group imprint she launched in 2020 to publish narrative nonfiction, fiction, and mission-driven ...
Vincent Tirado
Vincent Tirado NONE Vincent Tirado, a non-binary Afro-Latinx from Bronx, holds a Bachelor's in Biology and a Master's in Bioethics. They've contributed short stories to Desert Rose Lit Mag and FIYAH!...
Debra Phillips
Debra Phillips 0000000080337535 Debra Yvette Phillips is a diverse writer, creating works in categories like romance, mainstream, and chick-lit. She also writes under the pseudonym D.Y. Phillips, spe...
La Jill Hunt
La Jill Hunt NONE La Jill Hunt, a best-selling author from Mobile, AL, is known for her urban chic-lit novels and contributions to the 'Around the Way Girls' series. Also an erotica writer, her works...
J.M. Benjamin
J.M. Benjamin NONE Allow me to introduce you to one of the hardest working hustlers in urban lit: J.M. Benjamin J.M. Benjamin is a successful, powerful and impacting ...
Tyriek White
Tyriek White 0000000517767141 Tyriek Rashawn White, a Brooklyn-based writer, musician, and educator, serves marginalized communities and leads Lampblack Lit, a literary foundation for Black writers. ...
Prince Shakur
Prince Shakur NONE Prince Shakur is a queer, Jamaican-American freelance journalist and cultural essayist. His work has been featured in prominent publications like Teen Vogue and Electric Lit. Shaku...
Nicola Yoon
Nicola Yoon 0000000445354582 Nicola Yoon, a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author known for her debut novel, 'Everything, Everything', is a proud member of We Need Diverse Books team. Residing in Los ...
Tai Allen
Tai Allen NONE Tai Allen, a renowned Brooklyn-based creative director, poet, and musician, has excelled in multiple disciplines. His poetry and music have gained recognition from notable publications...
Louis Edwards
Louis Edwards 0000000028382400 Louis Edwards, a Guggenheim Fellowship and Whiting Award-winning author, has written four novels including Ramadan Ramsey and Ten Seconds. Louisiana-born Edwards is als...
Phill Branch
Phill Branch NONE Phill Branch is a writer, live performance storyteller, and regional Emmy Award–winning filmmaker. He is a 2025 recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Creativity Gran...
Mateo Askaripour
Mateo Askaripour NONE Mateo Askaripour is a Brooklyn-based author, known for his debut novel 'Black Buck', a New York Times bestseller. His writings, touching on race, technology, and the American dr...
Jeannette Caines
Jeannette Caines 0000000084545104 Jeannette Franklin Caines, a celebrated author of children's picture books, is recognized by the National Black Child Development Institute. She hails from Harlem an...
Tricia Rose
Tricia Rose 0000000108726760 Tricia Rose, a professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, specializes in African-American culture, politics, and gender issues. She is the author of 'Black Noise'...
Kristina Swarner
Kristina Swarner 0000000114875391 Kristina Swarner, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, is an award-winning artist known for her illustrations. Based in Chicago, she has showcased her work glob...
Glenn C. Loury
Glenn C. Loury 0000000110777735 Glenn C. Loury, born in 1948, is a renowned social critic, economics professor at Brown University, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He resid...
Thomas Norman DeWolf
Thomas Norman DeWolf 0000000074225246 Author of 'Inheriting the Trade', explores his family's past as the largest slave-trading dynasty in U.S. history. Featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary 'Tr...
Bolaji Campbell
Bolaji Campbell NONE Bolaji Campbell is Professor of the Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Campbell holds a Ph.D. in Art Histo...
Megan Kayleigh Sullivan
Megan Kayleigh Sullivan NONE Megan Kayleigh Sullivan, a 2012 Rhode Island School of Design graduate, is a freelance illustrator and storyboard artist who aspires to work in film and animation. She en...
Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott 0000000114709596 Winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature Walcott, won the Nobel Prize for Literature (1992). The motivation for the Prize was, “…for a poetic oeuvre of great lumino...
Charlie Murphy
Charlie Murphy 0000000114942873 Born on July 12, 1959, Charles Quinton Murphy, Jr. grew up in Roosevelt, Long Island. He served in the U.S. Navy before following his brother Eddie into show business....
Leo Espinosa
Leo Espinosa 0000000028372296 Leo Espinosa is an award-winning illustrator and designer from Colombia. His work, featured globally in publications and products, includes contributions to The New York...
Jamal Joseph
Jamal Joseph 0000000049459104 Jamal Joseph, once a fiery advocate for the Black Panther Party, transitioned from the streets of Harlem and prison stints to becoming the chair of Columbia University's...
William Fredrick Cooper
William Fredrick Cooper NONE William Fredrick Cooper, a legal assistant in New York, is known as “Mr. Romance” for his sensitive and caring nature. His writing, full of honesty and complexity, explor...
Rosamond S. King
Rosamond S. King 0000000045056762 Rosamond S. King is an award-winning author, performer, and Associate Professor at Brooklyn College. Known for her scholarly work on literature, sexuality, and perfo...
Neoma Nwasike
Neoma Nwasike NONE Neoma Nwasike, born in Manhattan and raised in a Nigerian household in Long Island, is a hardworking undergraduate student at Medgar Evers College. Despite her father's death, she ...
Jerome Lagarrigue
Jerome Lagarrigue 0000000403502938 Jerome Lagarrigue, a Paris-raised artist, moved to the US in 1992 and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design. He has won prestigious awards including the Core...
Gaia Cornwall
Gaia Cornwall NONE Author and illustrator Gaia Cornwall, known for her acclaimed debut children's book, “Jabari Jumps.” Her work has been recognized by People Magazine, The New York Times, Amazon, an...
Jennifer K. Mann
Jennifer K. Mann NONE Jennifer K. Mann, a former architect turned full-time children's book author, resides on an island near Seattle with her family and pets. Known for her love of nature and campin...
Karrine Steffans
Karrine Steffans 0000000114494281 Karrine Steffans, born on August 24, 1978, is a former hip-hop video performer, actress, and bestselling author of “Confessions of a Video Vixen.” She's also the cre...
Andrea Levy
Andrea Levy 000000012139721X Andrea Levy (1956-2019), a London-born author of Jamaican descent, penned award-winning novels like “Small Island” and “The Long Song.” Her works, adapted for TV by the B...
Jordan Scott
Jordan Scott 0000000503783001 Jordan Scott is an acclaimed Canadian poet known for works like Silt, Blert, DECOMP, and Night & Ox. His exploration of stuttering in Blert inspired two film projects. W...
Mahogany Star
Mahogany Star NONE Mahogany Star, a Brooklyn-born author, has written four books including the acclaimed 'Where Secrets Lie'. With a degree in Organizational Management, she worked in Healthcare Admi...
Gracey Zhang
Gracey Zhang NONE Gracey Zhang, a Vancouver-born illustrator and animator, is known for her storytelling and verse. She's the author of “Lala’s Words” and illustrator of several books. A Rhode Island...
Monique James-Duncan
Monique James-Duncan NONE Monique James-Duncan holds a BA in Business Management from Golden Gate University and is passionate about creating literature that provides representation and mirrors for c...
Michael S. Harper
Michael S. Harper 000000011480004X Michael S. Harper was an American poet and English professor at Brown University. He was the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island from 1988 to 1993. Michael S. Harper (Ma...
Sylvia Rodriguez
Sylvia Rodriguez NONE Sylvia Rodriguez was born in Providence, RI. After growing up in a large family of eight, as a teenager, she was taken in by her now adoptive family, who continuously supports ...
Pat Cummings
Pat Cummings 0000000067231736 Pat Cummings is an award-winning author and illustrator, known for creating over 30 children's books. She's worked on TV shows like Gullah Gullah Island and Cover to Cov...
Patricia Spears Jones
Patricia Spears Jones 0000000031494569 Patricia Spears Jones, born in Arkansas, is the 2024 New York State Poet Laureate, a Jackson Poetry Prize laureate, and a cultural activist. An esteemed poet, p...
Billy Johnson
Billy Johnson NONE Billy Johnson is an African American writer originally from Staten Island, New York. A graduate of Curtis High School, he went on to attend Triton College in River Forest, Illinoi...
Saint Solomon
Saint Solomon NONE Saint Solomon, born Randy Brown in Brooklyn, was raised between city and suburb, shaping his understanding of African-American life. After a stint in prison, he turned to writing, ...
Treasure Blue
Treasure Blue NONE Treasure Blue is an Essence Magazine best selling author. A former fire inspector with the New York City Fire Department, he is also winner of the Black Issue Book Reviews Urba...
P.C. Verrone
P.C. Verrone NONE P.C. Verrone’s work has appeared in FIYAH, Nightmare, PodCastle, Strange Horizons, and numerous anthologies, including multiple “best-of-the-year” series. His plays have been devel...
Al-Saadiq Banks
Al-Saadiq Banks NONE Al-Saadiq Banks is a best-selling author of nine urban fiction and crime drama books. He entered the literary scene in 2002, co-founding True 2 Life Publications with his brother...
Margeaux Weston
Margeaux Weston NONE Margeaux Weston is an editor, sensitivity reader, and writer. She has written four children's books and edited many more. Margeaux is also an editor at the Hugo-nominated Fiyah M...
Yah Yah Scholfield
Yah Yah Scholfield NONE Yah Yah Scholfield’s work has been featured in a number of horror and speculative fiction magazines and anthologies, including Fiyah Lit Mag and Death in the Mouth Vol. 1. Th...
Charmaine R. Parker
Charmaine R. Parker NONE Charmaine R. Parker, author of 'The Trophy Wives' and 'The Next Phase of Life', is a journalist turned publishing director for Strebor Books under Atria/Simon & Schuster. Ori...
Larry Neal Shorter
Larry Neal Shorter NONE Larry Neal Shorter, also known as “Big Larry”, is a Baltimore-born author who has made a name for himself in the urban literature scene. After moving to Los Angeles and studyi...
Darline Dorce-Coupet
Darline Dorce-Coupet NONE Darline Dorce-Coupet was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti but was raised in Miami, Florida, which was home for years. However, Ms. Dorce-Coupet has recently relocated...
John Strausbaugh
John Strausbaugh 0000000067554770 John Strausbaugh, born in 1951, is a renowned author and cultural commentator. Known for his authority on New York City's history, he also hosts The New York Times' ...
Wahida Clark
Wahida Clark 0000000035597565 Wahida Clark, a New Jersey native, began her writing career while incarcerated and has published bestselling novels including the Thug Series. After her release, she bec...
Jay Lemming
Jay Lemming NONE Jay Lemming is a Washington, DC-based author known for dark literary fiction and horror. Works include 'Billy Maddox Takes His Shot', 'The Curse of Jaxx', and 'Death to the Children ...
Beauty Bragg
Beauty Bragg 0000000125620829 Beauty Bragg is a Professor of African American Literature at Georgia College with a BA from USC and a MA and Ph.D from UT Austin. She authored a book exploring black wo...
Patrice Caldwell
Patrice Caldwell NONE Patrice Caldwell, a Wellesley College alumna, is the founder of People of Color in Publishing. She's an ex-children's book editor, current literary agent, and author, known for ...
Aya de León
Aya de León NONE Aya de León is an award-winning author, activist, and educator at UC Berkeley. She's known for her Justice Hustlers series and has written for numerous publications. A Harvard alumn...
Joylynn M. Jossel
Joylynn M. Jossel NONE Check the “Act Like an Author, Think Like a Business” 2018 Conference presented by Joylynn’s Path To Publishing (September 20 – 22, 2018) Joylynn M. Joss...
Kevin M. Weeks
Kevin M. Weeks NONE Kevin M. Weeks is an acclaimed self-published Urban Fiction author known for his debut, The Street Life Series. Honored as the Best New Urban Author of 2007, his fresh approach te...
Kim Coleman Foote
Kim Coleman Foote NONE Meet Kim Coleman Foote on Tour Kim Coleman Foote is an award-winning author from New Jersey recognized for her contributions in anthologies and literary reviews. She's earned mu...
Thembisa S. Mshaka
Thembisa S. Mshaka NONE Thembisa S. Mshaka is a versatile creative executive, author, producer, filmmaker, and voice actor, renowned for her award-winning global ad campaigns and writings. She is the...
Chantal James
Chantal James NONE Chantal James is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, and book reviewer. Honors include a Fulbright Fellowship in creative writing to Morocco and a finalist position for the Alex Albr...
Taylor Byas
Taylor Byas NONE Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. is a Black poet and essayist. Originally from Chicago, she moved to Alabama for six years, where she received both her Bachelor’s degree in English and her Ma...
Nnedi Okorafor
Nnedi Okorafor 0000000037028083 Nnedi Okorafor, Ph.D., is a Nigerian-American novelist known for blending African culture into her creative works. The New York Times has praised her stunning imaginat...
Richard Jeanty
Richard Jeanty NONE Richard Jeanty is a nationally bestselling author and the founder of RJ Publications, a leading independent publishing house focused on Black literature. As an author, Jeanty has...
Shay Youngblood
Shay Youngblood 0000000066793518 Shay Youngblood is an award-winning novelist and playwright, known for her drama 'Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery'. Passionate about reading and writing since childhood...
Tina McElroy Ansa
Tina McElroy Ansa 0000000116428851 Tina McElroy Ansa (November 18, 1949 – September 10, 2024) stories and essays have appeared in several anthologies. She lived with her husband, Joneé ...
Tony Medina
Tony Medina 0000000111019127 Tony Medina (Photo: WideVision Photography) was born in the South Bronx, raised in the Throgs Neck Housing Projects, and currently lives in the Washington, D...
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay 0000000066540035 Ariella Aïsha Azoulay is a filmmaker, curator, and professor at Brown University, where she teaches political theory through an anti-colonial lens, drawing on ...
A. H. Jerriod Avant
A. H. Jerriod Avant NONE A. H. Jerriod Avant was born and raised in Longtown, Mississippi. A graduate of Jackson State University, he earned MFA degrees from both Spalding University and New York Un...
Gillian Royes
Gillian Royes NONE Gillian Royes, creator of the Shad detective series set in Jamaica, is also the author of nonfiction books. Born in Jamaica, she earned her doctorate from Emory University and now ...
Frederick K. Foote, Jr.
Frederick K. Foote, Jr. MULTIPLE Frederick K. Foote, Jr., born in Sacramento, California, experienced racial segregation in education before serving in the USAF. After retiring from the State of Cali...
Ben Brooks
Ben Brooks 0000000358343148 Ben Brooks, born in 1992, is a prolific author from Gloucestershire. Known for six novels including the AALBC bestseller 'Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different', Brook...
Lauren K. Alleyne
Lauren K. Alleyne 0000000434680630 Lauren K. Alleyne, from Trinidad and Tobago, is a renowned author. Her fiction, poetry, and non-fiction works have been published in numerous journals and anthologi...
Lowell Hawthorne
Lowell Hawthorne NONE Lowell Hawthorne, born in Jamaica, moved to the U.S. in 1981 and worked as an accountant while studying at Bronx Community College. In 1989, he, his wife, and siblings establish...
Montague Kobbé
Montague Kobbé NONE Montague Kobbé, a Caracas-born ambilingual author, is known for his novels “The Night of the Rambler” and “On the Way Back.” He also co-edited “Crude Words: Contemporary Writing ...
Keisha-Gaye Anderson
Keisha-Gaye Anderson NONE Keisha-Gaye Anderson is a Jamaican-born poet, creative writer, visual artist, and media professional, whose multi-platform storytelling has examined subjects like art, cult...
Wil Clay
Wil Clay NONE Wil Clay, a renowned artist, began his journey in art at a young age. He studied at prestigious art institutions before establishing studios in Providence and Houston. Initially focusin...
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez NONE Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is a publishing professional and poetry enthusiast with a diverse background, including service in the US Army and political campaigns. A firm belie...
Emily Cannon
Emily Cannon NONE Emily Cannon studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA in illustration. She currently lives in St. Pete, Florida, where she continues to create stories. Ghost Roa...
Laureen Cantwell and Leonard Gill
Laureen Cantwell and Leonard Gill MULTIPLE Laureen P. Cantwell, a former librarian at the University of Memphis, loved the city's dark side and Elvis. Leonard Gill, a Memphis native, writes for the M...
Velma Maia Thomas
Velma Maia Thomas NONE Velma Maia Thomas is an award-winning author known for her nonfiction books on African American history. She is also the creator of the Black Holocaust Exhibit. With degrees fr...
AlTonya Washington
AlTonya Washington NONE AlTonya Washington is an award-winning romance novelist with 12 years of experience. She's won two Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Awards and the Romance Slam Jam EM...
Tracy Brown
Tracy Brown 0000000037835870 Bestselling author Tracy Brown, known for her inspiring novels and contributions to anthologies, dedicated her life to empowering women and youth through her work and non...