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Yaa Gyasi's Reading List

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By the Book: Yaa Gyasi (2020)

NYT By the Book column (2020-08-20).

Source: www.nytimes.com

Cover of Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
Saidiya Hartman · Buy on Amazon
"Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, by Saidiya Hartman left me awe-struck and grateful. I don't think I've ever read anything like it — radical, rigorous, lyrical, attentive."
Cover of Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler · Buy on Amazon
"It's unnervingly prescient and wise. A worthy read for those intent on building a better world."
Cover of Elsewhere, California
Elsewhere, California
Dana Johnson · Buy on Amazon
"It's such a brilliant, layered novel about a young woman coming of age, rooted in her family but growing up to be something all her own."
Cover of Changes
Changes
Ama Ata Aidoo · Buy on Amazon
"A novel that eschews easy answers."
Cover of Good Woman
Good Woman
Lucille Clifton · Buy on Amazon
"For comfort, I like to revisit Good Woman, by Lucille Clifton. The copy I've had since I was 17 is so dog-eared and underlined that, at some point, I realized I just love every word, every page."
Cover of Heads of the Colored People
Heads of the Colored People
Nafissa Thompson-Spires · Buy on Amazon
"Heads of the Colored People, by Nafissa Thompson-Spires."
Cover of Homie
Homie
Danez Smith · Buy on Amazon
"Homie, by Danez Smith, an absolute joy of a book."
Cover of Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin · Buy on Amazon
"Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin, was the first book I read that spoke to that part of my life and it moved me so deeply to see faith rendered on the page with such care and brilliance."

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Yaa Gyasi, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/yaa-gyasi-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

How We Get Free
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (also rec’d by Ibram X. Kendi ) · Buy on Amazon
"It’s a book that shares the mission statement of the Combahee River Collective along with interviews of the founding members and contemporary activists. A great reminder of the work that has been done and the work that is ongoing."

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