Black History Month 2020: 10 #ownvoices books by Black Delaware authors

Black History Month is winding down — check out our updated Delaware Black-owned business list, now with more Milford — and with the #ownvoices movement in the publishing industry gaining traction recently with the controversy over the bestselling novel “American Dirt,” we decided to combine BHM, #ownvoices and, of course, Delaware for a list of 10 Black authors with Delaware ties.

Most titles available at major online booksellers. Check them out:

1. Marc Avery (Urban Renaissance)
   Check out: “Redemption Lost,” new adult/romance about a young man growing up too fast
2. Dr. Bertice Berry (Random House)
   Check out: “Redemption Song, A Novel,” romance/historical novel set around an African-American bookshop; Dr. Berry grew up in Wilmington
3. J. Alex Blane (Self published)
   Check out: “Where We Left Off,” romance about a young successful man with a secret fear of intimacy
4. The Fennell Family (Fennell Adventures)
   Check out: “The Adventure Series,” kids books by kids Jiyah, Jace and Merl Fennell of Newark, exploring places such as Atlanta, Cuba and New Orleans; their mother, Jennaye Fennell, is the author of “Hope & Happiness,” a guide to raising entrepreneurial children.
5. K.D. Harris (Cartel Publications)
   Check out: “Poison,” urban erotic fiction set in Delaware centering on a young woman facing harsh realities
6. Daneýa L. Jacobs (LitFire Publishing)
   Check out: “I Love Your Brown,” children’s book and a ” love letter from mothers to brown daughters everywhere”
7. Michelle Meadows (Henry Holt & Co.)
   Check out: “Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins,” children’s biography of the first Black ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera
8. Christine Pauls (Silver Pen Publications)
   Check out: “One Good Thing,” period (1970s) fiction about a Mississippi woman left by her sisters to care for her mother
9. Derrick D. Reed (Self published)
   Check out: “Mind Set Go: You’re Bigger Than You Know,” nonfiction giving insight into business coaching and leadership; Reed is a well-known barber in Wilmington
10. Bryan Stevenson (Spiegel & Grau)
    Check out: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” true story/memoir, soon to be a motion picture; Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, grew up in Milford

Did we overlook one of your favorite Black Delaware authors? As always, @ us on Twitter or email us at delaware@technical.ly.