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12 Books by Black Chicago Women 2025

blackgirlsreadchi Host

36 participants (43 books)

01 Jan 2025—31 Dec 2025

Overview

Join us for the 12 Books by Black Chicago Women Reading Challenge for 2025! 

Whether you participated in the inaugural challenge or are participating for the first time—welcome! This year, let’s continue to celebrate the depth, diversity, and dopeness of Chicago’s Black women writers. Read at least 12 books by Black women from Chicago. The books can be in any genre, on any topic, and from any time period. 

Follow along here and on our Instagram page @blackgirlsreadchi, and use the hashtags #12BooksByBlackChicagoWomen and #12BooksByBlackWomenChi to share your progress. 

If you need a few more suggestions to get you started, check out our book list on Bookshop.org.

Challenge Books

All books added
I've Got to Make My Livin': Black Women's Sex Work in Turn-Of-The-Century Chicago by Cynthia M. Blair

I've Got to Make My Livin': Black Women's Sex Work in Turn-Of-The-Century Chicago

Cynthia M. Blair

322 pages • hardcover • 2010

nonfiction gender history challenging informative medium-paced
Three Girls from Bronzeville by Dawn Turner

Three Girls from Bronzeville

Dawn Turner

336 pages • hardcover • 2021

nonfiction memoir race emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
The Billboard by Natalie Y. Moore

The Billboard

Natalie Y. Moore

100 pages • hardcover • 2022

fiction play challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi

Between Friends & Lovers

Shirlene Obuobi

384 pages • paperback • 2024

fiction contemporary romance emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
Jubilee by Margaret Walker

Jubilee

Margaret Walker

512 pages • paperback • 1966

fiction classics historical emotional slow-paced
On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi

On Rotation

Shirlene Obuobi

352 pages • hardcover • 2022

fiction contemporary romance emotional lighthearted medium-paced
Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America

Marcia Chatelain

336 pages • hardcover • 2020

nonfiction business history race challenging informative fast-paced
Passing by Nella Larsen

Passing

Nella Larsen

182 pages • paperback • 1929

fiction classics literary race emotional reflective tense medium-paced
People of Means by Nancy Johnson

People of Means

Nancy Johnson

368 pages • hardcover • 2025

fiction historical literary emotional informative reflective medium-paced
Chicago House Music: Culture and Community by Marguerite L Harrold

Chicago House Music: Culture and Community

Marguerite L Harrold

208 pages

nonfiction