7 of the Most Exciting New Books by BIPOC Authors Out This Week

This is being called a Nigerian Catcher in the Rye. It follows 15-year-old Dimkpa, a Nigerian teenager counting down the days until his father is made village head. Their family is the lowest Igbo caste, and this will be their chance to have an easier life. But instead, Dimkpa’s father is passed over for a younger man, breaking many years of tradition. Dimkpa decides to set off on his own to make a name for himself — but he soon learns that’s easier said than done.

Grace Zulu is a rookie lawyer who has just taken on her first pro bono case. She’s defending Bessy, a young queer dancer who has been arrested by corrupt police. When he shows up to their meeting with fresh injuries from being beaten, Grace protests — and loses all contact with Bessy. Now, he’s disappeared, and Grace is gathering a coalition of students, lawyers, unions, and more to take on this administration to save him.

This story was originally published in 1969 and is considered a Dutch classic, but this is a new English translation. It’s set in a Caribbean Dutch colony in the 1950s and follows Sita, an Indian young woman trying to help raise her brother after their mother died. When her best friend moves away and she is faced with an unwanted pregnancy, her options narrow even further.

This one has to be one of the most unsettling cover and title combos of the year. It follows Ji-won, who is reeling from her family’s dissolution after her father had an affair and then left. Even worse is her mother’s new white boyfriend, who seems to see Ji-won and her sister as competition for their mother’s attention. She begins to have endless dreams about strangely tantalizing eyes until she knows just how she can get her revenge on George. But she won’t stop there…

María Lunurin’s goddess is not happy with her. Despite being a stormcaller for the Aynilan goddess Anitun Tabu, she has to pretend to be a nun serving Aynila’s Codicían colonizers by day. This is the only way she can keep her family safe: her lover Catalina, and Cat’s younger sister Inez. When a shocking discovery upends the delicate balance of her life, she reaches out to the powerful Alon Dakila for help, but he’s been in love with her for years, and she’s soon caught between Alon and Catalina — and a vengeful goddess.

Fans of Children of Blood and Bone, it’s finally time to get all your questions answered in this concluding book in the trilogy. Zélie thought she was at the happy ending of her story after the monarchy fell — instead, she’s trapped in a cage on a foreign ship. King Baldyr, leader of the Skulls, will stop at nothing to harness Zélie’s power for himself. Zélie and her allies will have to face and defeat him before the Skulls destroy Orïsha.

The author of Cinderella is Dead and This Poison Heart is back with a new fairytale-inspired YA fantasy. Princess Eve has been training her whole life to defeat the Knight that tore apart her family and so many others. Her magic allows her to draw weapons from nature, and her training has made her prepared for the fight. But just as she turns 17 and is about to set out on her life’s mission, her mother begins acting strangely, speaking to a mirror, and a messenger from the Knight claims to have a secret about Eve that will make her rethink everything.