7 books by Black authors releasing today

From Deesha Phillylaw to Omar Tyree to Tomi Adeyemi and more we round up seven books by Black authors releasing Tuesday, September 29.

Have you heard? Today is a big day for book releases. 

Not just one, or even two or three, but several highly anticipated new titles, including multiple by Black authors, are being released. 

And really, what better time? Fall, it’s cooler temps and shorter days have officially arrived, creating the perfect conditions for getting lost in a good book. You know, the kind you crack open on a slow Sunday morning. Or the type you spend a weeknight ignoring texts for. Or even the type you take to bed with you long after the day has ended, with a glass of something to warm you up while you delve through its fresh pages. Throw on a little Sade, light a candle, and the book baddies among us would call that a done deal. 

Luckily, Black authors have us more than covered with a wide range. From brand new heavyweight works of fiction like Deesha Phillylaw’s “The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman,” or Tomi Adeyemi’s “The Siren,” to non-fiction like “Bad Boy for Life” or “How Bright the Path Grows,” to even children’s titles like “You Belong in the Wild,” Black authors have a wide a range of stories to get lost into as fall gets further underway. 

Below, we round up seven of them landing today.

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman

After delighting and amusing many with her intimate short story collection about Black life and religion, “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” Deesha Philyaw has returned with her debut novel, “The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman,” which follows the wife of a megachurch pastor whose life is hilariously upended by scandal stemming from her past shortly after turning 40. 

The Siren

In the latest from Tomi Adeyemi, “The Siren,” a new student is embarking on her college journey at Dartmouth when she quickly finds herself enthralled with an alluring, popular group of women on campus who rule the school and require increasingly nefarious things in return for the clout they can extend.    

How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington

When it comes to the 1963 March on Washington, we know the men who were there, and we even know several of the names of the women, but some have been overlooked throughout history until now. “How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marcia Chatelain, shines a light on the unsung women heroes of that day. 

Bad Boy for Life: The Rise and Fall of Sean Combs

Sean Diddy Combs’ sex abuse case took the world by storm as many watched and waited to see if the man behind some of the notorious sex parties who also occupied such a massive pillar in culture would actually be brought down and in “Bad Boy For Life: The Rise and Fall of Sean Combs,” investigative journalist Cheyenne Roundtree tells us exactly how we got here from his early days right up until the end.  

Touchdown in Brazil 

Celebrated author Omar Tyree puts the theory of whether sports, in particular American football, is the ultimate unifier in “Touchdown in Brazil” when three men leading different lives and with different stakes, including international bets, collide while traveling to Brazil for its first-ever American Football game.  

The Unhaunting

Does something awful have to happen inside a house for it to become haunted? That’s the question at the center of Micaiah Johnson’s “The Unhaunting,” which follows a young man who inherits a house that seemingly protects those within from harm, or does it? 

You Belong in the Wild

It may be fall when we’re spending more time indoors, but with “You Belong in the Wild,” by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant and illustrated by Sawyer Cloud, you can get children thinking about their next big adventure outside next spring, with its empowering message encouraging them to embrace the outdoors, regardless of who they already see outside.