Published on Feb. 24, “Kin” is Jones’ latest novel and an Oprah’s Book Club pick. The book follows two motherless girls from Honeysuckle, Louisiana — lifelong friends whose lives split in very different directions, including one woman’s journey to Spelman College, before a tragedy pulls their worlds back together.

Released March 10, Lemieux’s book is a personal meditation on Black single motherhood built from essays and candid interviews. The memoir digs into longing, belonging, and the reality of parenting on your own, while also making room for humor, history, and the kind of cultural critique Lemieux has become known for online. 

Also out in March, this picture book is inspired by Bailey Rae’s hit song and centers a little girl who loves spending time with her great-aunt, dancing and listening to old records. It is a sweet, music-rooted read that brings intergenerational Black joy to the page. 

Ericka Hart’s Nasty Work blends sharp research with personal storytelling to take down colonial ideas about sex and gender. It is a liberatory, eye-opening read that asks readers to rethink pleasure, power, and what it means to feel at home in your own body. 

Dropped March 3, Nolan’s collection sits somewhere between memoir and history, exploring what it means to move through the world as a woman in a man’s world. The book pushes back on the idea that women should shrink themselves into a socially approved box. 

If you want romance with a little mess, Sosa’s March 10 release is the one. The story follows Vanessa, who literally dates people’s crushes for money, until a new assignment with commitment-phobe Jason starts turning into something much more complicated. 

Cook’s memoir, out March 10, tells the story of opening Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia and trying to keep it alive through the pandemic and the ongoing fight over banned Black books. It is part business story, part love letter to reading, and part reminder that Black women are building institutions, not just brands. 

Adjoa’s YA debut lands March 24 and blends poetry, romance, and secrecy as two emotionally-charged young adults try to work through trauma inside a school poetry club. It is the kind of coming-of-age story that makes room for softness, tension, and first love all at once. 

Arriving April 14, Akinola’s debut novel centers four siblings who are forced back together for Thanksgiving and have to deal with all the resentment, history, and unconditional love that comes with family. If your spring reading list needs drama with heart, this one should be on it. 

Edwidge Danticat’s upcoming novel “Dèy” is a tender, aching story about grief, family, and the hard choices that shape a life. The book follows Magnolia as she’s pulled between Miami and Haiti, love and loss, the living and the dead, in a novel whose title comes from the Creole word for mourning. Look for it on shelves August 25.

​​In “Love, Me: A Letter to Black Women in a Toxic Country, Career, and Relationship,” Tiffany D. Cross delivers a bold meditation on what Black women are asked to carry and what they deserve in return. The book pushes readers from hopeless to hopeful while arguing for self-preservation, love, and joy in a world that keeps testing all three. Look for it on shelves, May 5.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s “The Edge of Space-Time” is a fresh, socially conscious journey through the mysteries of the universe. The book invites readers to think about space-time, wonder, and the big picture from a vantage point that is both scientific and deeply human. Look for it on shelves, April 7. 

Jesmyn Ward’s “On Witness and Respair” is a powerful collection of essays that traces more than a decade of her thinking, writing, and grieving. From Mississippi roots to literary touchstones like Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, Ward turns personal memory into a moving meditation on witness, repair, and hope after despair. Look for it on shelves, May 19.

From the author of “Queen Sugar,” Natalie Baszile’s “Friends and Family” is a sharp, emotionally rich story about friendship, loyalty, and the ways love can be tested by race, identity, and politics. The novel follows Babs and Nora, two women who became close through their children, only to find themselves on opposite sides of a widening divide over how to protect them. What starts as a bond built on shared motherhood turns into a layered examination of allyship, family, and the cost of disagreement when the stakes are personal. Look for it on shelves, Oct. 6.