Books Culture

Kui Mwai March 01, 2024

Photo: Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

In case you missed it, Spotify recently added audiobooks to its content catalog and made them
available to premium users. Users can listen to 15 hours a month and have more than 200,000
audiobooks available as part of their subscription, many of which are written by Black authors.
Black History Month may be over, but check out these titles on Spotify.
Written and narrated by Hanif Abdurraqib, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us brings together
Abdurraqib’s sharp and evocative work exploring the intersection of music, Black culture, and
the nuances of being a Black man in today’s America. According to The Guardian, They Can’t Kill
Us delves into Ice Cube’s Death Certi�cate and its impact, The Notorious B.I.G.’s death, the fall
of Fall Out Boy’s career, and more while explaining what these moments in music history say
about being Black in America.

In The Fifth Season, author N.K. Jemisin’s talents as a robust world-creator sing. Set on a planet
with one supercontinent called the Stillness that is subject to a catastrophic climate change
every few centuries, The New York Times called The Fifth Season an “intensely moving and
scienti�cally complex” worth paying attention to.

Audre Lorde is one of the 20th century’s greatest American theorists. Often commenting on
race, sexuality, gender, and life and death, Lorde’s voice will forever have value, highlighting
universal truths about Blackness in America. A Burst of Light and Other Essays is a battle cry for
social action. In it, she explores intersectionality, sexuality and identifying as lesbian, Black
identity, self-care and more.

Written by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain Gain All Stars follows two female gladiators
�ghting for freedom in a private prison system reminiscent of America’s.

“I think the narrators embodied the words in a way that highlights the inherent humanity and
struggle of the characters. They expressed the dynamic range of the characters beautifully. And
hopefully it helps readers connect,” Adjei-Brenyah said in a statement shared with Blavity.

He hopes Chain Gang All Stars honors Black voices all year round, especially in February.

“Hopefully CGAS helps remind us that inherently the carceral state silences voices and in telling
this story Black voices and history are celebrated,” he said.

Deesha Philyaw tackles the complex coexistence of Black womanhood, desire and the church
culture in this collection of essays. In it, Goodreads noted nine stories from women of di�erent
generations exploring struggling with their values, desires and church demands.

An imperative piece of American literature, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an

American Slave tells the story of Frederick Douglass’ enslavement and eventual freedom. Oscar
Award-winner Forest Whitaker takes on narrating the 1845 memoir in Spotify’s version.

Cicely Tyson’s extraordinary life and career is the subject of Just as I Am, a memoir that,
according to The Washington Post, Tyson needed convincing to write. Journalist and critic
Tre’vell Anderson describes the book as a “400-page chronicle of a history as American as apple
pie, as Black as the dead of night, as rich, surely, as Tyson’s favorite meals, oxtails and okra,
cooked up by her late ex-husband Miles Davis.” Tyson and actors Viola Davis and Robin Miles
narrate.

Southern-style food is a pillar of American cuisine, and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty
lends his expertise to tell its story in The Cooking Gene. In the book, Twitty traces Southern
recipes’ roots back generations while illuminating parts of Black history unknown by most — a
must for food lovers.

The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are tells the story of Tariq Trotter,
better known by his stage name, Black Thought. The rejuvenating memoir uncovers his di�cult
childhood, friendship with fellow Roots member Questlove, and his passion for music, The
Washington Post reported.

Tia Williams, author of the award-winning novel turned Net�ix movie The Perfect Find, takes on
another epic love story in A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. Marrying romance with fantasy, Williams
tells the love story of Ezra and Ricki, two people who don’t seem to �t into their surroundings
and �nd refuge and magic in each other, Goodreads noted.

A Reese’s Book Club pick, Redwood Court is a poignant novel that, according to The New York
Times, o�ers much more than “nostalgia.” Protagonist Mika is assigned a school report on
emigration and her family’s origins, kicking o� a journey that spans decades and generations.
Mika’s story mirrors that of millions of Black Americans whose complicated past continues to
inform the present and likely future.

Black books Spotify

Tomas Kassahun February 13, 2024

Aria Bell February 12, 2024

Kyra Alessandrini February 12, 2024

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