The third and final part of the Fantasy Literature Roundtable is up today at Fantasy magazine. (Read parts One and Two as well.) In this section the panelists recommended several excellent fantasy books by and about People of Color. I made a list of the books mentioned favorably in all three parts for ease of use. The links all go to Amazon, but I highly suggest you take the list to your local indie bookstore (better yet, your local Black book store) and ask them to order the books for you if they don’t have them in stock.

Recommended Reading – Fantasy Literature by People of Color and/or including PoC and diverse cultures

(titles in italics were published in 2007 and eligible for upcoming awards.)

• Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
  • Zahrah the Windseeker
  • The Shadow Speaker
• Neil Gaiman
  • American Gods
  • Anansi Boys
• Tamora Pierce
  • Circle of Magic series
• Heather Gladney
  • Teot’s War
  • Bloodstorm
• Octavia Butler
  • Wild Seed
• David Anthony Durham
  • Acacia – Book 1: The War With the Mien
• Justine Larbalestier
  • Magic or Madness
  • Magic Lessons
  • Magic’s Child
  • MoM omnibus edition
• Carole McDonnel
  • Wind Follower
• Virginia Hamilton
  • Justice and Her Brothers
  • Dustland
  • The Gathering
  • Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
• Nalo Hopkinson
  • Brown Girl in the Ring
  • The Salt Roads
  • The New Moon’s Arms
  • So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy anthology (editor)
  • Mojo: Conjure Stories anthology (editor)
• Sheree R. Thomas (ed.)
  • Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora
  • Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
• Naomi Novik
  • His Majesty’s Dragon
  • Throne of Jade
  • Black Powder War
  • Empire of Ivory
• Charles Saunders
  • Imaro
  • Imaro 2 : The Quest for Cush
  • The Trail of Bohu (Imaro III)
• Karen Fowler
  • Sister Noon
  • Sarah Canary
• Catherynne Valente
  • The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden
  • The Orphan’s Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice
• Alaya Dawn Johnson
  • Racing the Dark
• Tananarive Due
  • The Living Blood
• Colson Whitehead
  • The Intuitionist
• Minsoo Kang
  • Of Tales and Enigmas (short story collection)
• Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Years of Rice And Salt
• Sylvia Kelso
  • Amberlight
• Ursula K. Le Guin
  • A Wizard of Earthsea & the Earthsea cycle
  • Always Coming Home
• Samuel Delany
  • Tales of Neveryon
  • Neveryona
  • Flight from Neveryon
  • Return to Neveryon
• Susan Vaught
  • Stormwitch
• Elizabeth Lynn
  • Dragon’s Winter
  • Dragon’s Treasure
• Shawna Yang Ryan
  • Locke 1928
• Kij Johnson
  • Fudoki

We also recommend reading the works of the following authors:

• L.A Banks
• Francesca Lia Block
• Tobias Buckell
• Chitra Divakaruni
• Hiromi Goto
• A. H. Jennings
• Larissa Lai
• Yoon Ha Lee
• Marjorie Liu
• Mary Anne Mohanraj
• R. Garcia y Robertson
• Sheree R. Thomas
• Eileen Wilks
• Larry Yep