To support the continued celebration of Black excellence, we’ve put together a broad list of books and resources to keep Black voices at the centre of our conversations and learning well-beyond Black History Month in February.
If you’re looking for Black voices in your research, contact UTSC liaison librarians to help search and locate relevant sources.
Books for Children and Young Adults
- Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers
- Marcus the Mischievous and Magnificent by UTSC's Denise Lopes
- I Promise by Catherine Hernandez and illustrated by Syrus Marcus Ware
- New Kid by Jerry Craft
- The Kids Book of Black Canadian History by Rosemary Sadlier and illustrated by Qijun Wang
- Black Women Who Dared by Naomi M. Moyer
Adult Fiction
Popular/Literary
- Junie by Chelene Knight
- River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta
- The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
- The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
Short Stories
- Uncertain Kin by Janice Lynn Mather
- Journey Prize Stories: the best of Canada's new Black writers by various authors
Poetry
- Each One a Furnace by Tolu Oloruntoba
- The Day-Breakers by Michael Fraser
- Burning Sugar by Cicely Belle Blain
- Word Problems: poems by Ian Williams
- Finish This Sentence by Leslie Roach
Plays
- From the Ashes: Six Solo Plays by Shauntay Grant
- Body so Fluorescent by Amanda Cordner
Graphic Novels
- BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and illustrated by Ben Passmore
- Black Women in Sequence: re-inking comics, graphic novels and anime by Deborah Elizabeth Whaley
Adult Non-fiction
Memoir/Autobiography
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging by Matthew R. Morris
- Son of Elsewhere: a Memoir in Pieces by Elamin Abdelmahmoud
- We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays by Samantha Irby
Literary Criticism
- Salvage: readings from the wreck by Dionne Brand
General Non-Fiction and Canadian History
- Black Matters by Afua Cooper with images by Wilfried Raussert
- Performing Female Blackness by Naila Keleta-Mae
- Marvellous Grounds: Queer of Colour Formations in Toronto by Jin Haritaworn, Ghaida Moussa & Syrus Marcus Ware
Art
- Nick Cave: Forothermore
- Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books by Ken Quattro
- Blk art: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art by Zaria Ware
Cookbooks
- West Winds: Recipes, History, and Tales from Jamaica by Riaz Phillips
- Black Girl Baking by Jerrelle Guy
- Bress 'n' nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer by Matthew Raiford
Film/Documentary
- Governance by Ho Che Anderson
- By Winds and Tides by Bogdan Anifrani-Fedach
- Nurse Fighter Boy by Charles Officer
Related Resources
Anti-Black racism reading list from U of T Libraries
Last updated January 2025