Black Enough

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.

Black is...sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson.

Black is…three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds.

Black is…Nic Stone’s high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of.

Black is…two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland.

Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more—because there are countless ways to be Black enough.

Contributors:

Justina Ireland

Varian Johnson

Rita Williams-Garcia

Dhonielle Clayton

Kekla Magoon

Leah Henderson

Tochi Onyebuchi

Jason Reynolds

Nic Stone

Liara Tamani

Renée Watson

Tracey Baptiste

Coe Booth

Brandy Colbert

Jay Coles

Ibi Zoboi

Lamar Giles

More by Ibi Zoboi

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9 books
Ibi Zoboi
Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist; Nigeria Jones, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; Pride; My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich; Okoye to the People: A Black Panther Novel for Marvel; and the Walter Award and LA Times Book Prize–winning Punching the Air, cowritten with Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam. She is also a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for her picture book The People Remember and her middle grade biography of Octavia Butler, Star Child. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her family. You can find her online at ibizoboi.net.
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7 books
Tracey Baptiste
Tracey Baptiste was born in Trinidad and moved to Brooklyn, New York, when she was fifteen. Ms. Baptiste is a former elementary school teacher. She lives with her husband and daughter in Englewood, New Jersey, where she is at work on another novel.
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12 books
Dhonielle Clayton
Dhonielle Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of the Belles series and The Marvellers and the coauthor of The Rumor Game and the Tiny Pretty Things duology, which was made into a Netflix original series. She is COO of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books and the owner of Cake Creative.
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7 books
Brandy Colbert
Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which was the winner of the 2022 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the American Library Association's Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. Her other acclaimed books include Pointe, The Voting Booth, The Only Black Girls in Town, and the Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion. A member of the faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children, Brandy lives in Los Angeles. You can find her online at brandycolbert.com.
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5 books
Leah Henderson
Leah Henderson is the author of One Shadow on the Wall and Together We March. She has always loved getting lost in stories. When she is not scribbling down her characters’ adventures, she is off on her own, exploring new spaces and places around the world. Many of the hopes, struggles, and traditions witnessed on her travels find a home in her work, hopefully offering added color and new perspectives to her characters’ lives. Leah received her MFA in writing from Spalding University and currently calls the Washington, DC, area home. Visit her at LeahHendersonBooks.com.
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14 books
Justina Ireland
Justina Ireland enjoys dark chocolate, dark humor, and is not too proud to admit that she’s still afraid of the dark. She lives with her husband, kid, and dog in Pennsylvania. She is the author of Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows. Visit her at JustinaIreland.com.
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6 books
Kekla Magoon
Kekla Magoon has worked with youth-serving nonprofit organizations in New York City and Chicago. She holds an MFA in writing for children from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and her first novel, The Rock and the River, won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent. She resides in New York City and you can visit her at KeklaMagoon.com.
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18 books
Nic Stone
Nic Stone is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the William C. Morris Award finalist Dear Martin, Dear Justyce, Odd One Out, Jackpot, and Clean Getaway and the Shuri novel series with Marvel Comics.
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4 books
Liara Tamani
Liara Tamani holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Duke University. She is the author of the acclaimed young adult novels Calling My Name, a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Finalist; All the Things We Never Knew, a 2020 Kirkus Best YA Book of the Year; and What She Missed. Before becoming a writer, she attended Harvard Law School and worked as a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Comets, production assistant for Girlfriends (TV show), home accessories designer, floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher. She lives in Houston, Texas. liaratamani.com
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2 books
Renée Watson
Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her young adult novel Piecing Me Together received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her children’s picture books and novels for teens have received several awards and international recognition. Her picture books include A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, Summer Is Here, and The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, written with Nikole Hannah-Jones. Renée grew up in Oregon and splits her time between Portland and Harlem.
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9 books
Rita Williams-Garcia
Rita Williams-Garcia is a writer of novels for children and young adults.
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Black Enough

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First Day Around the World

Ibi Zoboi

(S)Kin

Ibi Zoboi

A Little Bit Super : With Small Powers Come Big Problems

Gary D. Schmidt, Leah Henderson, Pablo Cartaya, Nikki Grimes, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Remy Lai, Kyle Lukoff, Meg Medina, Daniel Nayeri, Linda Sue Park, Mitali Perkins, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Brian Young, Ibi Zoboi

Nigeria Jones : A Novel

Ibi Zoboi

The People Remember

Ibi Zoboi

Punching the Air

Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam

Pride : A Pride & Prejudice Remix

Ibi Zoboi

American Street

Ibi Zoboi

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