Urban Literature
Explicit Content
Black Artemis, 2004
This debut novel follows the story of two tough female friends who set out to succeed in the hip-hop industry, only to find intrigue and betrayal.
F / ARTEMIS
Big Girls Don’t Cry
Connie Briscoe, 1996
In this coming-of-age tale, a middle class woman reflects on her journey through adolescence during the Civil Rights movement on to her current professional success.
F / BRISCOE
72 Hour Hold: A Novel
Bebe Moore Campbell, 2005
In an emotional story, a mother strives to care for her manic-depressive daughter while fighting the stigmas against mental illness within her African American community.
F / CAMPBELL
Baby Brother’s Blues: A Novel
Pearl Cleage, 2005
This fast moving thriller, set in Atlanta, focuses on a young army deserter and his family.
F / CLEAGE
In the Company of My Sistahs
Angie Daniels, 2006
In this emotional and uplifting story, four sisters come together in Jamaica and confront the news that one of them has been diagnosed with cancer.
F / DANIELS
Chasing Destiny
Eric Jerome Dickey, 2006
Set in the Los Angeles biker scene, this gritty urban novel follows the story of a troubled 15-year-old girl and her parents.
F / DICKEY
Bombingham: A Novel
Anthony Grooms, 2001
A Vietnam veteran struggles to compose a letter to the family of a fallen comrade, and in doing so confronts his troubled childhood in the American south.
F / GROOMS
I Say a Little Prayer
E. Lynn Harris, 2006
An Atlanta businessman rediscovers his dream of a career in music at his local church, but wrestles with reconciling his faith and his homosexuality.
F / HARRIS
Bad Girlz: A Novel
Shannon Holmes, 2003
Three young women turn to stripping to survive the streets in North Philadelphia. Their friendship helps them fight exploitation in this gritty and sometimes explicit story of sex, money, and murder.
F / HOLMES
Street Life
Jihad, 2004
This inspirational novel tells the story of one young black male struggling to survive and succeed on the inner city streets despite violence and poverty.
PB / F / Jihad
Leaving Atlanta
Tayari Jones, 2002
Told from the perspective of three fifth-graders living in Atlanta during the child murders of the 1979-1980, this moving story illustrates how their day-to-day lives were affected by their community in crisis.
F / JONES
Who Does She Think She Is?: A Novel
Benilde Little, 2005
This novel alternates between the perspectives of Aisha, a young and successful woman living in Manhattan, her mother, and her grandmother and illustrates their family bonds and their individual struggles.
F / LITTLE
A Family Affair
Marcus Major, 2005
This family drama explores the conflict of generations when a rebellious 17-year-old girl is taken in by her loving but strict aunt and uncle.
F / MAJOR
Jump At the Sun
Kim McLarin, 2006
This novel interweaves the story of three generations of mothers and how they confront the demands of family in the quest for personal fulfillment.
F / McLarin
The Interruption of Everything
Terry McMillan, 2005
This is a dramatic yet humorous tale of one woman’s crisis of middle age and how she balances the need to take care of herself with the demands of her friends and family.
F / MCMILLAN
LP / MCMILLAN
BOD / F / MCMILLAN
Using What You Got: A Novel
Karen E. Quinones Miller, 2003
18-year-old Tiara grows up spoiled by her single father in the Harlem projects, and has to make some tough choices when presented with options for her future.
F / MILLER
When Somebody Loves You Back
Mary B. Morrison, 2005
Darius Jones is embarking on a career in the NBA while facing dramas with his love life, his parents, and his health.
F / MORRISON
Love
Toni Morrison, 2003
Morrison tells a tale about the seaside African American community of Up Beach and how it has been shaped by one influential man.
F / MORRISON
BOD / F / MORRISON
Fortunate Son
Walter Mosley, 2006
This is a story of two unlikely stepbrothers, one white and one black, who are separated and then later reunited.
F / MOSLEY
LP / MOSLEY
Way Past Cool: A Novel
Jess Mowry, 1993
This vivid and harrowing tale of gang life on the streets of Oakland depicts the violent lives of young teens in rival gangs.
F / MOWRY
Haarlem: A Novel
Heather Neff, 2005
Abel, a biracial New Yorker battling alcoholism, journeys to Europe after his father’s death to search for his mother and finds a second chance at love and life along the way.
F / NEFF
Days of Rage
Kris Nelscott, 2006
A private investigator living in Chicago’s South Side during the trial of the Chicago Eight makes a gruesome discovery that opens up a mystery from the turbulent past of the city.
M / NELSCOTT
Changing Faces
Kimberla Lawson Roby, 2006
Three very different women manage to maintain their close friendship through life’s dramatic twists and turns.
F / ROBY
Coffee Will Make You Black
April Sinclair, 1994
This humorous and touching novel follows from childhood through high school the experiences of Stevie, a young girl growing upon the South Side of Chicago during the 1960’s.
F / SINCLAIR
The Coldest Winter Ever
Sister Souljah, 1999
This classic urban fiction novel tells the raw and gritty cautionary tale of Winter Santiaga and her experience as the daughter of a wealthy and powerful drug lord.
PB / F / Souljah
Nappily Ever After
Trisha R. Thomas, 2000
Venus Johnson cuts off all her hair and dumps her boyfriend in a quest for freedom, but then must confront societal ideals about beauty as well as what she herself wants from her career and her relationships.
F / THOMAS
What They Want: A Novel
Omar Tyree, 2006
In this juicy novel, male model Terrance Mitchell is forced to question his scandalous, promiscuous lifestyle when he finds out that he is the father of a three-year-old daughter.
F / TYREE
So You Call Yourself a Man
Carl Weber, 2006
James, Brent, and Sonny have been friends since childhood. Now they are adults who must try to cope with various romantic complications that ultimately threaten their friendship.
F / WEBER
Girls From Da Hood 2
KaShamba Williams, Joy & Nikki Turner, 2005
This novel is composed of three interwoven stories about Helena, Storm, and Keyshawn–three girls from the Marcy projects who are linked together by their relationship with the same man.
F / WILLIAMS
True to the Game: A Novel: A Terri Woods Fable
Teri Woods, 1994
This classic urban novel focuses on the drug trade in late 1980’s Philadelphia, and how one couple, Quadir and Gena, find themselves drawn into the violent underbelly of crime.
F / Woods
09/21/10
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