Written by Paige Tamasi
October is Black History Month here in the United Kingdom, and to honour it, Insanity Radio wants to highlight some of our favourite black authors. This will not be an extensive list, not by a long shot. Still, it will contain many coming-of-age stories and narratives on the interrelationship between marginalised identities and wider society.
Let us start with a novelist who wrote one of the most notable coming-of-age stories during the Harlem Renaissance —Zora Neale Hurston. With a background in folklore and anthropology, Hurston’s stories are rich with culture and feel as real as the grass beneath. One of her most notable novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God, has some of the most real and earnest characters ever seen in literature. Literary critic Carter Woodson attributed Hurston’s skill to her anthropologic skills.
When discussing black literature, you simply have to mention Toni Morrison. Morrison has been applauded for her mastery of literary techniques and the language. In one of her books, Beloved, Morrison toys with chronology and character perspectives to emphasise the trauma and power dynamics explored in the novel.
Alice Walker and her Color Purple must also be mentioned when discussing black authors. Famous for her activism for people of colour and women, Walker uses The Color Purple to present the life of black women and how they are marginalised in both global society and black culture.
When focusing on authors who tackle racism directly and head-on, Malorie Blackman may as well have written the textbook. In Noughts & Crosses, Blackman explores a segregated world where people of colour hold control and power over light-skinned people. Blackman won multiple awards for Noughts & Crosses and her other works, each presenting her mastery and talent in unique ways.
While she is slightly more unknown than other authors, Candice Carty-Williams is no less deserving of notoriety and adoration. Her story, Queenie, follows Queenie Jenkins as a young black woman. It sounds simple but Carty-Williams’ writing has a special way of transporting you into the shoes of her protagonist, allowing you to experience the everyday racism and microaggressions that millions of people deal with.
Maya Angelou’s poetry is famous and for good reason too. She writes about her life and her experience, and she does so without apology or sugar-coating. Each sentence she writes is who she is boiled down to a tee. If you have not been graced by Anglou’s words then go and look them up, and buy I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
How Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is not commonly known, I will never know. Adichie writes some of the most persuasive, deep-feeling, and intelligent essays. She has been sampled and featured in clothing from Dior and music by Beyonce, and if that is not reason enough to look at her works, then perhaps the plethora of awards and recognition will.
These authors are some of our favourites here at Insanity Radio, so when learning about black history and immersing yourself in often-overlooked art and products why not look into any of the above black authors? They have individual styles of writing and provide entertaining and informative perspectives on racism and discrimination in a variety of cultural societies.
If you would like to explore more products created by people of colour, go explore the Black History Month website; they have articles to help you discover and learn more!
Written by Paige Tamasi, Edited by Paige Tamasi, Photography by Tim Wildsmith with permission through the Unsplash License, Published by Paige Tamasi.