Black-and-white photo of an Afroed and smiling Paule Marshall on the front cover of Dr. Mary Helen Washington's new book, Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life, published in February 2026 by Yale University Press.

Always proud to share that Mary Helen Washington taught at the University of Maryland-College Park when I was an undergrad there. Her new book, Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life, was published in February by Yale University Press. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... #books #BlackWomen #ReadBlackWomen

Author headshot of Mary Helen Washington (left), next to a photo of the front cover of her new book, Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life. Washington is a senior-age Black woman with silver locs coiled in an updo. She is wearing purple-framed eyeglasses and smiling at the camera.

THURS, APRIL 2: Distinguished scholar of African American literature Mary Helen Washington in conversation with Edwidge Danticat and Farah Jasmine Griffin at Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, #Brooklyn, 7:30PM. FREE! www.eventbrite.com/e/mary-helen... #books #BlackWomen #ReadBlackWomen #NYC

Small stack of books: LIBERATING ABORTION by Renee Bracey Sherman & Regina Mahone, BLACK PANTHER WOMAN: THE POLITICAL & SPIRITUAL LIFE OF ERICKA HUGGINS by Mary Phillips, MARSHA by Tourmaline, OCTAVIA E BUTLER: THE LAST INTERVIEW, BLACK WITNESS by Amy McQuire, & LYNCH LAW IN GEORGIA & OTHER WRITINGS by Ida B Wells

#ReadBlackWomen

I purchased my trade paperback copy—published in January 2020 by Penguin Random House imprint Vintage International—from Washington, DC, bookstore Busboys & Poets while visiting my parents over the holidays. I actually started reading it on the train this morning. #books #AmReading #ReadBlackWomen

Color photo of my trade paperback edition of The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations, by Toni Morrison. On the cover is a closeup of Morrison’s face in profile, illuminated in the front, and her long gray locs pulled back. The book is resting on a floral bedspread. Feb 4, 2026.

This first week of #BlackHistoryMonth, I started reading The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations, a nonfiction collection by Toni Morrison first published in February 2019 by Knopf. Morrison passed that August. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sou... #books #ReadBlackWomen

Instagram post, dated Jan 5, 2026, from thefreeblackwomenslibrary about "The Free Black Women's Library Reading Challenge 2026." Illustrating the post is a black and white photograph of Eartha Kitt as a young woman reading a book on a couch.

The Free Black Women’s Library Reading Challenge 2026: Read 25 #books by Black women and/or Black nonbinary authors by Dec 31. Prompts include "Any book by or about Toni Morrison"; "romance or erotic novel"; "collection of poetry." docs.google.com/spreadsheets... #ReadBlackWomen #TFBWL #TFBWLReads

Black and white photo of June Jordan in 1954 in Brooklyn, where Jordan grew up. In the photo, she’s sitting on the wrought-iron railing of 681 Hancock Street. She’s wearing a hip-length coat over a dress that comes mid-calf, and her long black hair is straightened and pulled back in a low ponytail. Her smiling face is turned slightly toward the camera. In the background, across the street, is a row of brownstones, and period-era cars are parked on the street.

Jordan died of breast cancer in 2002 (I feel fortunate to have seen her read before she passed), but the #poetry she left us with is a guide for living, especially for #BlackWomen. It’s a gift, one that I need to sit with, which is why I said I’m not finished with this book. #LGBTQIA #ReadBlackWomen

PUTTING MYSELF TOGETHER | Kirkus Reviews A writer’s sharp opinions.

Kirkus reviewed Putting Myself Together, in which Kincaid gathered "more than 50 pieces of nonfiction—essays, introductions, memoir, and an interview with Athol Fugard—from 1973 to 2020." Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on Aug 5. www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews... #books #ReadBlackWomen

Screenshot, taken of an Aug 8, 2025, Instagram post by Womb House Books about its online event "Jamaica Kincaid in conversation with Jessica Ferri, Thursday, August 14th, 7pm EST / 4pm PST. Register to join." The visual is the front cover of Kincaid's new book Putting Myself Together against a floral backdrop of green leaves and pink blossoms.

THURS, AUG 14 @ 7PM EST/4PM PST: Womb House #Books, an abolitionist feminist bookshop based in #Oakland, California, is hosting online "Jamaica Kincaid in conversation with Jessica Ferri." Kincaid's new book is Putting Myself Together. Tickets: $18. www.eventbrite.com/e/jamaica-ki... #ReadBlackWomen

📚 Author Spotlight: @TananariveDue 📚

Master of Black horror. Legend in speculative fiction. Keeper of ancestral memory. 🖤✨

sistahscifi.com/search?type=...

#sistahscifi #TananariveDue #BlackHorror #SpeculativeFiction #ReadBlackWomen

Have you read Flooding the River yet?!?! #booksky #readblackwomen

Read Black. Read sapphic. Read bold. 🌈🖤
#SapphicBookBingo2025 #TaiSexton #PenSavory #WriterSpeakeasy #PrideReads2025 #BlackQueerLit #MascFever #EroticTemptations #QueerBookTok #ReadBlackWomen

Revisiting Assata Shakur's autobiography again today.

If you haven't read #Assata you are missing out.

At times heartbreaking, frustrating, bewildering. Her ability to highlight problems still prevalent in modern america hits the gut. Also she's hilarious.

#ReadBlackWomen #Assata

Three books: Assata Shakur's autobiography, The Selected Works of Audre Lorde, Difficult Women by Roxane Gay. The arm of a person choosing to give zero fucks today.

I know I'm having a good day when the only crisis I'm willing to let live free in my mind is: which of the books I'm reading is coming to the hammock with me?

#AssataShakur #AudreLorde #RoxaneGay #BookSky #ReadBlackWomen #OopsAllLegends #NotTodayOligarchy

Black Women Teach Us to Resist The third installment in this series includes books that help us understand systemic oppression and point to strategies for resistance

The third part in my Black Women Teach Us series features books on justice & liberation by @profcrunk.bsky.social @kalinicolegross.bsky.social @antheabutler.bsky.social @lisasharper.bsky.social @prentishemphill.bsky.social & others. #ReadBlackWomen #CiteBlackWomen open.substack.com/pub/drchaneq...

Did I just add @blackforager.bsky.social video as rec rdg to my students, yes, yes I did. Looking forward to how that contributes to food & memory convo this week :) #CiteBlackwomen #ReadBlackWomen

Front cover of book Angela Davis: An Autobiography.

Angela Davis: An Autobiography, edited by Toni Morrison and first published by Random House in 1974, covers Davis’s early life and early years in the struggle for Black liberation. It’s part of my personal library, and I think I’m perhaps overdue to reread it. ✊🏾📚 #books #BlackWomen #ReadBlackWomen

Angela Davis walking alongside Toni Morrison in 1974. Photo credit: Jill Krementz

Davis was encouraged to write her 1974 autobiography by Morrison, who also edited it while working as an editor at Random House. Here’s my favorite photo of the two taken by Jill Krementz in 1974. YouTube video of the 2010 NYPL talk: youtu.be/MCLDh7JJFV4?... ✊🏾💜 #activism #BlackWomen #ReadBlackWomen

NYC Dyke March is hosting a virtual book club ("Join us for a cozy night in") to discuss Audre Lorde's "The Black Unicorn." Wed, Feb 28 at 7pm ET via Zoom. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 📚💜 #LGBTQ #BlackWomen #ReadBlackWomen

Do you #readBlackwomen? When was the last time?