10 Black Authors Share Their Favorite Books by Fellow Black Writers

"White Teeth" ($10, originally $18)

"I read Zadie Smith's debut, 'White Teeth,' when it first came out in 2000, and for me it was a monumental shift. The wonder of seeing one of my contemporaries who was also mixed-race and Jamaican writing about people like me, people like us, in the diaspora, was both refreshing and inspiring. It was such a delicious discovery to experience characters of various ethnicities navigating immigrant life in England. It was not only fascinating to see how race and identity played out in another country, but it made me realize that my own voice and experience of otherness (being Black/mixed-race Jamaican) in the US was both unique and had value. And in doing so, it freed me to begin thinking of my writing as something others might one day want to consume."

— Robinne Lee, author of "The Idea of You"