8 Contemporary Authors Writing About Black Mississippians

I wrote this book to clear up misconceptions about autism, Mississippi, and Black romance. It allowed me to talk about the unique, beautiful, and sometimes heartbreaking experience of living in this state that the rest of the country loves to hate.

By 2x National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones follows a poor Black family living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. It reminded me so much of growing up in rural Mississippi, and Ward writes with a layer of warmth to comfort the reader through the more devastating parts.

This #1 New York Times bestseller explores police brutality, code-switching, and the harsher truths of racism in America. Geared towards a teenage audience, Thomas’s work always reflects the mix of hope and disappointment living in this state.

Inspired by the murder of Emmett Till, this middle grade historical fiction is set in the 1950s Mississippi Delta and follows a teenage girl living with her sharecropping grandparents on a cotton plantation. Exposing the horrors of the Jim Crow South, Jackson offers a thoughtful critique of racial injustice for young readers.

In her debut essay collection, Brownlow admits to knowing too much about herself and fears that this knowledge has ripped away the chance for ignorant bliss. With her accented voice reflected in every word she writes, Brownlow creates an image of the South’s devastating beauty and amazing grace.

An award-winning memoir about growing up as a fat Black boy in Mississippi, Laymon tackles food addiction, sexual abuse, and how the racial violence in Mississippi is a byproduct of America’s racism as a whole.

By interviewing contemporary Black Mississippians about the history, culture, and influence of blues music, Foster comes to a new understanding of how race, place, and sound shapes Black life.

Born in Mississippi to a white father and Black mother in the 1960s, former Mississippi Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey includes transcripts, public records, and personal accounts to try and make sense of her mother’s senseless murder.