12 Books by Black Chicago Women 2025

blackgirlsreadchi Host

37 participants (50 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
Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America

Marcia Chatelain

336 pages • 2020 • 4 editions

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

Passing

Nella Larsen

182 pages • 1929 • 141 editions

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

People of Means

Nancy Johnson

368 pages • 2025 • 4 editions

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 • 1 edition

nonfiction
Stop Waiting for Perfect: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Into Your Power by L'Oreal Thompson Payton

Stop Waiting for Perfect: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Into Your Power

L'Oreal Thompson Payton

240 pages • 2 editions

nonfiction self help
Hide by Tracy Clark

Detective Harriet Foster #1

Hide

Tracy Clark

377 pages • 2023 • 5 editions

fiction crime mystery thriller dark mysterious tense medium-paced
The Best That You Can Do by Amina Gautier

The Best That You Can Do

Amina Gautier

256 pages • 2024 • 4 editions

fiction short stories challenging reflective medium-paced
Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks

Maud Martha

Gwendolyn Brooks

192 pages • 1953 • 13 editions

fiction classics literary poetry reflective fast-paced
I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times by Taylor Byas

I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times

Taylor Byas

108 pages • 2023 • 3 editions

nonfiction poetry challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing

Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

Eve L. Ewing

387 pages • 2025 • 4 editions

nonfiction education history race challenging informative reflective medium-paced