BLACK LITERATURE:
SHORT STORIES
Black authors have reshaped the short story literary form and content, pushing the boundaries of genre while redefining the scope of narrative authority. Black authors have introduced alternative narrative structures and linguistic styles as part of their subversion of storytelling norms. Some writers offer fragmented, nonlinear, or polyvocal approaches that reflect the dislocations of diaspora, the multiplicity of Black identities, and the legacies of colonialism and systemic racism. Below is a selection of 20 short story collections, including anthologies and single author collections, and 20 individual short stories all written by Black authors. This list is not exhaustive, but it includes some of the best, most significant, or interesting works of Black fiction across a range of genres. Find out more about these works below.
Going to Meet the Man, James Baldwin. Penguin Books, 1965.
Buy Going to Meet the Man here.
Going to Meet the Man is a collection of eight short stories by American author, James Baldwin. The stories explore a range of issues from anti-Black racism, white supremacy, lynching and family relations within Black American families. The title story "Going to Meet the Man" focuses on a white police deputy in a Southern American town, and explores the impacts of the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws, police violence and racism.
The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, ed. Langston Hughes. Little, Brown & Company, 1967.
Read The Best Short Stories by Black Writers here.
Assembled by American writer and social activist Langston Hughes, this anthology brings together a range of short stories written by African American writers between 1899 and 1967. It features works by James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright as well as a story and introduction by Hughes himself.
Miss Muriel and Other Stories, Ann Petry. Houghton Mifflin. 1971.
Read Miss Muriel and Other Stories here.
Ann Petry was an African American author and journalist. She published short stories and children’s fiction, and her debut novel The Street (published in 1946) sold over a million copies becoming the first novel by an African American woman to reach this achievement. Her 1971 anthology Miss Muriel and Other Stories is a collection of her short stories published between 1945 and 1971 that explore the experiences of African American women. These stories examine the impacts of racism, the relationship between Black communities and the police, intergenerational conflicts that exist within Black communities and historical events like the violent 1943 Harlem riots.
Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia E. Butler. Seven Stories Press. 1995.
Buy Bloodchild and Other Stories here.
This collection features a selection of essays and science fiction stories written by American writer Octavia E. Butler, author of the science fiction novels Kindred (1979) and Fledgling (2005) as well as the Parable series. The title story of this collection, "Bloodchild", won the 1984 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. It explores the relationship between a race of lifeforms called the Tlic and a colony of humans, examining parasitic invasions of bodies, rape, pregnancy and reproductive exploitation, and also societal hierarchies and oppression.
Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction, ed. Nalo Hopkinson. Invisible Cities Pres. 2000.
Buy Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction here.
Edited by Nalo Hopkinson, Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root is an anthology of speculative fiction written by authors of Caribbean heritage who are writing either from within a Caribbean or Caribbean diasporic context. The stories are divided into seven sections, and include works by Wilson Harris, Jamaica Kincaid, Opal Palmer Adisa and Kamau Brathwaite. The stories span a range of genres and elements including fantasy, science fiction, horror, magical realism and folklore.
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, ed. Sheree Thomas. Aspect. 2000.
Buy Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora here.
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora is the first book in Sheree Thomas’s Dark Matter series of prose anthologies featuring science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories as well as essays written by people of African descent. This collection features stories by Octavia E. Butler, Tananarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Amiri Baraka, Charles W. Chesnutt and many, many more. It also includes Samuel R. Delany’s essay "Racism and Science Fiction" and Charles R. Saunders’s essay "Why Blacks Should Read (and Write) Science Fiction". The collection won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology in 2001, and was also named as the New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2000.
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, ed. Sheree R. Thomas. Grand Central Publishing, 2004.
Buy Dark Matter: Reading the Bones here.
The second book in Sheree R. Thomas’s Dark Matter anthology series, Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, continues to explore genre fiction and essays written by people of African descent. Authors featured in this volume include Nalo Hopkinson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Walter Mosley, Wanda Coleman and Kalamu ya Salaam. It also includes Carol Cooper’s essay "Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton".
Closure: Contemporary Black British Short Stories, ed. Jacob Ross. Peepal Tree Press. 2015.
Buy Closure: Contemporary Black British Short Stories here.
Closure features works by leading Black and Asian British writers including established and emerging writers such as Monica Ali, Bernardine Evaristo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tariq Mehmood, Raman Mundair, and Desiree Reynolds. Their stories engage with a range of diverse themes, writing styles and form across cultures and across time.
Ghost Summer: Stories, Tananarive Due. Prime Books, 2015.
Buy Ghost Summer: Stories here.
Tananarive Due’s debut short story collection, Ghost Summer: Stories, features 15 haunting short stories and a novella. The stories blend dark fiction, horror and speculative Afrofuturism to create stories of the past or the future. The short story "The Lake" was adapted into one segment of the 2021 anthology horror film Horror Noire, and the title novella, "Ghost Summer", was awarded a Kindred Award from the Carl Brandon Society.
Insurrections, Rion Amilcar Scott. The University Press of Kentucky, 2016.
Set in the fictional town of Cross River, Maryland, Rion Amilcar Scott’s debut short story collection Insurrections explores the lives of a range of African American characters in a Black settlement founded in 1807 following the only successful slave revolt in the United States. In 2017, the collection was awarded the PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
Sycorax's Daughters, eds. Kinitra Brooks, Linda D. Addison and Susana Morris. Cedar Grove Books. 2017.
Comprising 28 short stories and 14 poems written by African American women writers, Sycorax's Daughters is a horror anthology that sets out to recognise women of colour working in this genre. The works explore a range of supernatural creatures from demons and ghosts to shape-shifters, vampires and mermaids, as well as exploring everyday horrors experienced by Black women throughout history. Contributors include Tiffany Austin, Valjeanne Jeffers, Kai Leakes, RaShell R. Smith-Spears and Sheree Renée Thomas.
Friday Black, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. 2018.
Friday Black is Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut collection of short stories. The stories take place in a range of near-future, magical realist and dystopian settings, exploring Black identity and social issues in contemporary America. The title story "Friday Black" takes its name from the consumerist American holiday Black Friday, while the story "Zimmer Land" draws on the impact and legacy of George Zimmerman who fatally shot a 17 year old African American boy, Trayvon Martin.
Heads of the Colored People: Stories, Nafissa Thompson-Spires. 37 Ink, 2018.
Buy Heads of the Colored People: Stories here.
Nafissa Thompson-Spires’s debut collection of short stories, Heads of the Colored People, explores Black identity and the contemporary middle class in an era that is supposedly “post-racial”. Each story–some poignant and moving, some darkly humorous and satirical–offers a different perspective on Black experience in America from motherhood to life as a teenager; and from experiences of suicidal ideation to the grief caused by gun violence.
Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold, Bolu Babalola. Headline Publishing Group, 2020.
Buy Love in Colour: Mythical Tales From Around the World here.
Love in Colour is the debut short story collection from British-Nigerian author Bolu Babalola. Each story is a retelling of myths, folktales and histories from across the world. Focusing on the romance at the heart of these tales, Babalola reimagines and reinterprets magical folktales of West Africa as well as myths from Ancient Greece and ancient legends from the Middle East for contemporary readers.
Supporting Cast, Kit De Waal. Penguin, 2020.
British author Kit De Waal’s short story collection Supporting Cast is a series of vignettes presenting a range of different characters as they are celebrating extraordinary moments in their ordinary lives. The stories offer brief explorations of life, love and loss, taking the reader on a journey through wedding days, divorce, holidays and even a young man’s release from prison and his singular desire: to see his son again.
The World Doesn’t Require You, Rion Amilcar Scott. Bloomsbury, 2020.
Buy The World Doesn't Require You here.
Like his debut collection, Insurrections, the short stories in Rion Amilcar Scott's The World Doesn’t Require You also take place in the fictional town of Cross River, Maryland, that was established in the wake of America’s only successful slave revolt. These stories take place across multiple generations and examine the legacies of slavery and segregation in America.
The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans. Pan Macmillan, 2021.
Buy The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories here.
Comprising six short stories and one novella, Danielle Evans’s collection The Office of Historical Corrections explores topics of race, illness, misogyny, history and family legacy in America. These tales are filtered through unreliable or convoluted narrators, and Evans has stated that apologies, corrections, and "making things right" are at the core of these stories. In 2021 the collection was awarded the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize.
Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, eds. Sheree Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight. St Martin's Press, 2022.
Buy Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction here.
Edited by Sheree Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight, Africa Risen is the third instalment in Thomas’s speculative fiction anthology series Dark Matter. Originally, the collection was to be titled “Africa Rising” but this title was changed because, as Thomas now states, “Africa has risen”. Showcasing the varied and prolific range of fantasy and science fiction works from Africa and the African Diaspora, the stories in this collection explore a range of themes and topics from gender, LGBTQ perspectives, climate change and Afrofuturism. Contributors include Nuzo Onoh, Wole Talabi, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Tananarive Due and Maurice Broaddus.
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, ed. Jordan Peele. Picador. 2023.
Buy Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror here.
Curated by Jordan Peele–acclaimed writer and director of Get Out, a 2017 horror film that examines the horror of anti-Black racism–this anthology boasts a collection of new and established voices in Black horror fiction. Featuring an introduction by Peele and stories written by P. Djèlí Clark, Tananarive Due, N. K. Jemisin among others, this volume explores the realities of anti-Black racism through tales of demons, monsters and terrifying new technologies. In 2024 this collection won the Locus Award for Best Anthology.
The Wishing Pool: And Other Stories, Tananarive Due. Akashic Books. 2023.
Buy The Wishing Pool & Other Stories here.
The Wishing Pool: And Other Stories is Tananarive Due’s second collection of short stories, and the collection explores the past and the future through a range of genres including horror, science fiction and Afrofuturism. The book is divided into four sections: Wishes, which uses the supernatural to explore identity in times of struggle; The Gracetown Stories, which take place in her fictional setting of Gracetown that previously featured in her novel The Reformatory; The Nayima Stories, which delve into a post-apocalyptic/post-pandemic world; and Future Shock, which consists of haunting stories of imagined futures.
(A Few) Individual Stories
Victor Séjour, "The Mulatto" (“Le Mulâtre”). Revue des Colonies. 1837.
Victor Séjour 1837 short story “Le Mulâtre” (“The Mulatto”) is the earliest extant work of fiction by an African American author. Séjour was a free person of colour who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, and his story, which was originally written in French, was first published in Revue des Colonies, a Paris abolitionist journal, and it was later translated into English and published in the 1997 Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Described as a Gothic revenge narrative, the story takes place in Saint Domingue before the Haitian Revolution, and it focuses on the psychological struggles experienced by a mulatto as he searches for the identity of his father.
Charles W. Chesnutt, "The Goophered Grapevine," The Atlantic Monthly (August 1887): 254-260.
First published in 1887, Charles Chesnutt’s "The Goophered Grapevine" is the first short story by an African American to be published in The Atlantic Monthly. The story focuses on Uncle Julius, an old Black man, and a white couple, John and Annie, who have travelled from North America in order to purchase and fix up an old plantation. Uncle Julius had previously worked on the plantation, and he tells the couple about a curse that was placed on it, known as a goopher, as a result of the plantation owner's greed. Uncle Julius became very popular, and in 1899 Chesnutt published The Conjure Woman and Other Tales which feature stories about slavery told by Uncle Julius to the white couple, John and Annie.
Charles W. Chesnutt, "Dave's Neckliss," The Atlantic Monthly, 64 (October 1889): 500-508.
First published in 1889, Charles Chesnutt’s short story "Dave’s Neckliss" tells the story of plantation life during slavery. Dave is an enslaved man who lived his whole life on a plantation, and secretly taught himself to read the Bible. When this is discovered by his master, he escapes punishment by saying he has learnt Christian lessons from the Bible such as do not steal, and he is then allowed to preach to the other slaves. However, one day he is framed for stealing a ham and harshly punished. This story also includes a narrative frame, where Chesnutt’s popular narrator Uncle Julius tells this story to a white couple, John and Annie.
Jean Toomner, "Blood Burning Moon," Prairie. 1923.
Jean Toomner’s "Blood Burning Moon" takes place in an unnamed town in the American South against the backdrop of a full moon, which is an evil omen in African American folklore. The story centres on a love triangle between Louisa, a light-skinned African American woman who works as a servant for a white planter family, and her two lovers, Tom Burwell and Bob Stone. Tom is a Black man who works in the fields, and Bob is the youngest son of her employer who yearns nostalgically for the good old days of slavery. The night ends violently as both Tom and Bob are murdered, and through their relationships the story explores themes of racism, sexual possession and lynching.
Zora Neale Hurston, "Sweat". Fire!! 1926.
Zora Neale Hurston’s short story "Sweat" was originally published in 1926 in the first and only issue of the African American literary magazine Fire!! Set in a small town in central Florida, the story takes place on a hot summer’s day and focuses on a washerwoman, Delia, and her unemployed husband, Sykes. This is a time where, in the post-civil war period, employment opportunities were scarce for Black men in the south, but conversely the domestic service industry offered Black women stable work. While Delia works long hours, her husband is physically, emotionally and financially abusive, and the story explores the impact of domestic abuse, threatened masculinity and conflict between feminist empowerment and material survival.
Langston Hughes, “Rejuvenation Through Joy”. The Ways of White Folks. 1934.
"Rejuvenation Through Joy" was published as part of Langston Hughes’ first short story anthology The Ways of White Folks, a collection that brings together fourteen stories that examine the myth of white supremacy. In this story, Hughes focuses on con-man Eugene Lesche and the creation of his jazz-themed cult. Known as the Cult of Joy, this is a business venture that capitalises on Black culture and stereotypes. However, following an unsuccessful attempted double homicide, and the mysterious disappearance of Lesche, it is eventually revealed that he is in fact a Black man who has been passing as white.
Richard Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” (also known as “Almos' a Man”). Harper's Bazaar. 1940.
Originally published in 1940, Richard Wright’s "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" centres on a 17-year-old African American farm worker called Dave and his struggles with his identity. Dave wants everyone around him to start treating him like an adult, and decides that the way to make this happen is to buy a gun. However, Dave irresponsibly shoots the gun in the woods and kills a mule belonging to his employer and plantation owner, Jim Hawkins, and has to deal with the consequences of his actions.
Toni Cade Bambara, "Blues Ain't No Mocking Bird". Gorilla, My Love. 1971.
Toni Cade Bambara’s short story "Blues Ain't No Mocking Bird" was first published in 1971 as part of her collection, Gorilla, My Love. The story is told through the perspective of a young Black girl, and focuses on her family in North America and their interactions with two white filmmakers. These filmmakers are making a film for the county’s food stamp program, and they continually trespass on the family’s land and invade their privacy despite being asked to leave, and despite being given no permission by the family to film them.
Alice Walker, "Everyday Use". Harper’s Magazine. 1973.
"Everyday Use" is a short story by Alice Walker first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1973 and part of her first short story collection In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (also published in 1973). Like the other stories in Walker’s collection, "Everyday Use" tells the story of a Black woman. Here, the focus is Dee, an educated African American who wants to explore her cultural roots and embrace her African heritage, while her mother and older sister focus on the everyday preservation of their family traditions. These different ways of cultural preservation are embodied in the artistic tradition of quilting: Dee believes that this should be cherished and quilts protected in a display, while her mother and sister believe that quilts should be used every day, and if they end up in rags then more quilts can be made by the family.
Alice Walker, "The Child Who Favored Daughter," In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. 1973.
"The Child Who Favored Daughter" is one of 13 short stories included in Alice Walker’s first short story anthology, In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Each story in this collection tells the story of a different Black woman, highlighting the diverse range of backgrounds and situations of these women but also the threads that unite them all. This story exposes the cruelty and violence that women are often subjected to by the ones they love, and depicts the horrific abuse of a woman as she is tortured and then murdered by her father.
Jamaica Kincaid, "Girl". The New Yorker. 26 June 1978.
First appearing in the 1978 June issue of The New Yorker, and later published in the 1983 anthology At the Bottom of the River, "Girl" is a short prose poem written by Antiguan American author Jamaica Kincaid. The poem is structured as a mother-daughter dispute and Kincaid has said that it is partly based on her own relationship with her mother growing up. In the poem, the mother tries to teach her daughter how to be the perfect woman in society and as the mother instructs her through a to-do list and a how-to-do list, she often sounds condescending and critical.
Octavia Butler, "Speech Sounds". Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. 1983.
First published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1983, and later part of the collections Bloodchild and Other Stories (an anthology of Octavia Butler’s short stories) and Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (a science fiction anthology), Octavia Butler’s short story "Speech Sounds" was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1984, which was Butler’s first Hugo Award. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a mysterious pandemic that has destroyed communication: survivors cannot speak, understand speech or read. We follow Valerie Rye in Los Angeles who decides to take a bus to Pasadena in the hopes of joining her brother as her parents, sister, husband and children have been killed by the disease. On the way, Rye witnesses the violence that is frequently triggered by poor communication and misunderstandings.
Toni Morrison, "Recitatif," Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women. ed. Amiri Baraka and Amina Baraka. Morrow. 1983
First published in Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women in 1983, "Recitatif" is Toni Morrison’s first and only published short story. The story focuses on two female characters, Twyla and Roberta, and takes place across three time periods of racial struggle in America. Firstly, the 1950s, a period of Jim Crow segregation that also marked the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement and racial integration in schools following the case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Then, the 1960s which saw the expansion of the Civil Rights Movement but also the assassination of Martin Luther King. And then finally the 1980s which witnessed the Regan presidency, and with it continuing racial tensions. Describing her story, Morrison has said that it explores “the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial.”
Jewelle L. Gomez, "A Swimming Lesson". 1986.
Jewelle L. Gomez’s short story "A Swimming Lesson" tells the story of her relationship with her beloved grandmother and the lessons her grandmother taught her. The story centres on a summer in which the pair go swimming at the beach in the white part of Boston. As her grandmother teaches Jewelle how to swim, she also teaches her to be fearless and proud of who she is as an African American woman.
Ralph Ellison, “The Black Ball”. 1996.
Ralph Ellison’s posthumously published short story "The Black Ball" tells the story of one day in the life of John, a Black single father and explores the intersection of his struggles with class discrimination and racism. John juggles working as a janitor at a ritzy apartment building and raising his son, while also dealing with the threat of being fired by his manager who wants to replace Black employees with white workers and racial abuse directed at his son. During this day, John is approached by a Black organiser of a local union, and by the end of the day John decides to take up this stranger’s invitation and attend the union meeting.
ZZ Packer, "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," The New Yorker. 11 June 2000.
Originally published in The New Yorker in 2000, ZZ Packer’s short story "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" later featured as one of eight short stories in her 2003 collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. The story follows Dina, a young Black Yale University freshman, as she ostracises herself, shuns other Black students and transforms from honour roll student into a dangerous outcast. The root of Dina’s destructive behaviour is her struggle with her own identity.
Nalo Hopkinson, "Glass Bottle Trick," Skin Folk. Aspect. 2001
In this dark fantasy short story, Beatrice, a young woman married to the older, wealthy, and twice-widowed Samuel, prepares to tell him she is pregnant. As she gets ready, we learn through flashbacks about their relationship and Samuel’s disturbing views—especially his disdain for having children due to his self-hatred rooted in colourism.
Désirée Reynolds, "Born on Sunday Silent," The Book of Sheffield: A City in Short Fiction. Comma Press. 2019. Pgs 39-44.
Watch a video of the story read by Reynolds here.
Read about the story’s adaptation into film adaptation here.
Désirée Reynolds’s "Born on Sunday Silent" reveals the gaps in archives that are born out of the structured absence of Black presence. Focusing on a Ghanaian baby who was born in Sheffield, UK in 1902 and then died in the same year, and who was subsequently buried in a communal, unmarked grave in Sheffield General Cemetery, Reynold’s marks the presence of this baby through her short story. Later, through a collaboration with Chris Morris and Cole Morris, Reynold’s transforms this story into a short film.
Zin E. Rocklyn, "Summer Skin". Sycorax's Daughters. 2017.
Listen to the story (read by Laurice White) here.
Included in the Bram Stoker Nominated collection Sycorax's Daughters (2017), Zin E. Rocklyn’s short story "Summer Skin" is a body horror tale that focuses on a young Black woman with a skin condition.
Nicola Yoon, "Superhuman". Fresh Ink. 2018.
Written by Jamaican American author Nicola Yoon, "Superhuman" is one of ten short stories that features in Fresh Ink, a 2018 young adult fiction anthology. This collection brings together stories from a range of genres that explore themes such as racism, class and poverty, and Yoon’s story is no different. "Superhuman" focuses on X, a superhero gone rogue, and Syrita, a teenager who has been chosen by the American President to persuade X out of his mission to destroy humanity. Through X and Syrita, Yoon explores the struggles of systemic and everyday racism, the impacts of racial stereotypes perpetuated by media and the government, and also the importance of empathy and sympathising with those affected by marginalisation.
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