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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2015 by librairie mollat from

10 Most Famous Black Female Authors

These black female authors have made legacies in the world of literature. They have changed society nodding to the power of the written word.

What鈥檚 more, they have broken ground and provoked our thoughts on an array of concerns. Such as identity and race issues, love and family matters, and more. Thus they have influenced, inspired, and empowered many other writers as well as readers with their masterpieces. Get to know them better.

Here are the 10 Most Famous Black Female Authors.

1. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou reciting her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 by Clinton Library from

The American poet is applauded for her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings written in 1969. Her poem On the Pulse of Morning also enjoys international recognition.

Moreover, she recited this poetry piece during the first inauguration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The event was held on January 20, 1993. Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, and died on May 28, 2014, aged 86.

Facts about Maya Angelou

2. Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston by an Unknown author from

She is celebrated for her work Their Eyes Were Watching God published in 1937. Her other famed works are Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939), and Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” in 2018.

Hurston wrote short stories, novels, and plays. Many of her writings were themed on racial struggles. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Alabama and died in Florida on January 28, 1960, at the age of 69.

3. Toni Morrison

This 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature is appreciated for her 1987 novel Beloved. She penned her first novel, The Bluest Eye in 1970. Yet her rise to the spotlight was the novel Song of Solomon in 1977.

Besides the Nobel Prize, she received other awards such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She was born on February 18, 1931, in Ohio and died on August 5, 2019, at age 88 in New York City.

4. Octavia Butler

The science fiction author wrote literary works like Kindred in 1979. Later Speech Sounds pushed her to the limelight earning her a Hugo Award for Best Short story in 1984. Bloodchild and Other Stories published in 1995 earned her a Hugo award.

To add on, The Parable of the Talents (1998) won her a Nebula Award. The novel Fledgling published in 2005 marked the end of her writing journey. She was born on June 22, 1947, in California and died on February 24, 2006, at 58 years.

Sci Fi Authors Of All Time

5. Alice Walker

Alice Walker by Virginia DeBolt from

The Color Purple novel published in 1982 is what she is best known for. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 and the National Book Award the same year. Walker鈥檚 other popular works are The Temple of My Familiar written in 1989 and Possessing the Secret of Joy in 1992. She was born on February 9, 1944, in Georgia.

6. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Americanah novel published in 2013 is her most famous work. The other novels she is praised for are Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), The Thing Around Your Neck 2009, and Notes on Grief 2021.

On top of that, she was honored with a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2008 and a PEN Pinter Prize in 2018. In 2021, she was among BBC’s 100 women of 2021 listing. She was born on 15 September 1977 in Nigeria but moved to the U.S. at 19 years to study.

7. Ntozake Shange

She was born on October 18, 1948, in New Jersey. Her most celebrated work is the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1975). The play won an Obie Award.

Furthermore, other novels by Shange are Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo written in 1982, Liliane in 1994, and Betsey Brown in 1985. She died on October 27, 2018, aged 70 in Maryland.

8. bell hooks

bell hooks by Cmongirl from

Her official name was Gloria Jean Watkins, but she became popular by her pen name 鈥渂ell hooks鈥�. Her books were centered around race, capitalism, and gender themes. The famous books by the author are Ain’t I a Woman? published in 1981, and Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center in 1984.

Her other creations are All About Love: New Visions (2000) and We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (2004). She was born on September 25, 1952, in Kentucky and died on December 15, 2021, at the age of 69.

9. Audre Lorde

Lorde wrote books that challenged racial, sexual, classism, and homophobia injustices. Her most notable work was Zami: A New Spelling of My Name in 1982, and The Cancer Journals published in 1980. She was born on February 18, 1934, in New York City and died on November 17, 1992, at the age of 58 in the Virgin Islands.

Famous Black Authors of all Time

10. Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni speaking at Emory University on 6 February 2008 by Brett Weinstein from

She is a poet born on June 7, 1943, in Tennessee. Her headlined poetry includes Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968), and The Women and The Men (1975),

Additionally, Those Who Ride The Night Winds (1983), Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid (2013), Make Me Rain (2020), and I Am Loved (2018).  She also has a collection of children’s books like Spin a Soft Black Song (1971), The Sun Is So Quiet (1996), and The Grasshopper’s Song: An Aesop’s Fable (2008).

She has been awarded in various ways including NAACP Image Award over five times and a bat species named in her honor. This species is called Micronycteris giovanniae and is a leaf-nosed bat species discovered in Ecuador in 2007.

The voices of these women through literature are an expression of the diversity of thought and culture. Some of the authors narrate the African American experience like Chimamanda Adichie.

Additionally, many face the bold issues of society such as race, gender, and social justice. While some move ahead into the future through science fiction like Octavia Butler. Thus all have made a crucial impact on the world of literature. Enjoy their books.