Happy birthday Gary Phillips! Born August 24, Gary Phillips is an African American writer, editor, and community activist whose 1994 novel Violent Spring is considered a classic work of crime fiction and one of the essential crime novels about Los Angeles. His notable books are:
Happy birthday Mat Johnson! Born August 19, Mat Johnson is an African American fiction writer who works in both prose and the comics format. In 2007, he was named the first USA James Baldwin Fellow by United States Artists. Here are a few of his notable works:
Happy birthday Ibram X. Kendi! Born August 13, Ibram Xolani Kendi is an African American author, professor, anti-racism activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in the U.S. He is author of books including Stamped from the Beginning, How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Chain of Ideas.
Happy birthday Nic Stone! Born July 10, Andrea Nicole Livingstone, known as Nic Stone, is a New York Times best selling African American author of young adult fiction and middle grade fiction, best known for her debut novel Dear Martin and her middle grade debut, Clean Getaway. Her novels have been translated into six languages. Some of her best selling works are:
Miself in Books is an inclusive list of books curated by Michigan school librarians. You can access and download the pdf document here:
Book 1 PreK-Grade 1: Oshun and Me: A Story of Love and Braids by Adiba Nelson; illustrated by Alleanna Harris
Book 2 Lower Elementary: At Night, They Danced by Victoria Scott-Miller; illustrated by Toni D. Chambers
Book 3 Black Lives Great Minds of Science by Tonya Bolden; illustrated by David Wilkerson
Book 4 High School: Up in Smoke by Nick Brooks
Here is a sneak preview of the 2025 MISelf Booklist . MISelf Books is a list of books developed by Michigan school libraries. More titles will be revealed at a later date.
Book 1: Gamerville A Graphic Novel by Johnnie Christmas
Book 2: Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste
The CamaraIfe Maktaba 