Our Favorite Harlem Books

by A Collier
harlem books

Our Favorite Harlem Books

 Here are some of our favorite books influenced by Harlem. Which one are you picking first?

harlem books

 Here are some of our favorite books influenced by Harlem. Which one are you picking first?

Creativity and Harlem go together like chicken and waffles, another Harlem staple. Here are some of our favorite books influenced by Harlem. Which one are you picking first?

Books about Harlem

There are hundreds of books written in dozens of genres about the Harlem Renaissance. From the Renaissance greats like Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes to the scholars who still study the era, you can dive into the rich history of Harlem by starting in the Renaissance era. Why not start where Zora started, with her first book Jonah’s Gourd Vine, about faith, tolerance, and good intentions. It starts out, “God was grumbling his thunder and playing the zig-zag lightning thru his fingers.” It’s equal parts poetry and fiction.

Other Harlem books you’ll love:

  • Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem by Kevin McGruder. Black real estate entrepreneur Philip Payton may well be one of the catalysts for the transformations that Harlem underwent to become the Black Mecca that it is today, for better and worse.

What are your favorite books about Harlem? We’d love to hear about them!

Books Set in Harlem

The struggle, the history, the culture, the music – there are so many dynamic ways Harlem can be used as a book’s setting. From fiction to biography and culture to self-help, this NYC neighborhood has such a rich and diverse background that you can’t help but want to create a narrative within it. So let’s talk about some of our favorite books set in Harlem.

One of the newest books set in Harlem is called Harlem Shuffle, published in September 2021. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead (author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys), the book is set in a recreated 1960s Harlem, where the main character Ray is trying to make ends meet as he fights to keep his business afloat and his past behind him. You can check out the full synopsis and an audio preview here.

Other Harlem books you’ll love:

  • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison: “The book’s nameless narrator describes growing up in a Black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of “the Brotherhood”, before retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.”
  • Jazz by Toni Morrison. Mostly set in 1920s Harlem, “from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner, a passionate, profound story of love and obsession that brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep realities of Black urban life.”
  • Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. “With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935.” For more of Baldwin’s moving work, click here.

Harlem’s Stories Are Global Stories

Harlem is a great setting for your stories and creativity, and Harlem America Digital Network is the perfect setting for your podcast or TV show. Whether you are hoping to educate people on how to improve their health and wellness or you are an attorney looking to market your services to new clients, HarlemAmerica can help.

Interested? Check out our website to learn more about our small business membership packages.

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