Books That Shaped Me

In celebration of Black History Month, I am sharing a list of books by Black authors and writers that have impacted me over the years. Some I read as a young teen like, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I never knew it was a banned book until I became an adult. However, it was was pivotal in my development as a young Black woman. Most recently, My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaaa Menakem deepened my understanding of the lasting impact of racialized trauma. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Notes on Grief helped me to reflect as I’ve struggled through my own grieving process. At different stages of my life, the work of Black authors expanded both my worldview and sense of cultural connection. My inner narrative is richer because of their work and I thank them. Representation matters.

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Notes on Grief

• Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

• James Baldwin – The Fire Next Time

• Gwendolyn Brooks – The Bean Eaters

• Ta-Nehisi Coates – Between the World and Me

• bell hooks - Rock My Soul

• Langston Hughes – I, Too, Am America

• Zora Neale Hurston -Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Nikole Hannah-Jones – The 1619 Project

• Mikki Kendall - Hood Feminism

• Ibrahim X. Kendi - How to be an Anti-Racist

• Audre Lorde - Sister Outsider

• Resmaa Menakem - My Grandmother’s Hands

• Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye

• Alice Walker – The Color Purple

• Isabel Wilkerson - The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

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I’m thrilled to be a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please explore and support the other writers in the group.

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

Tar Macias, Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up

Pat Kinney, View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo