Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heads of the Colored People | 2018 | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | Buy |
Nafissa Thompson-Spires’s published fiction so far consists of a single collection, Heads of the Colored People, released in 2018. Despite being just one book, it made a significant impact on the literary scene. The collection was longlisted for the National Book Award, won a PEN Open Book Award, and appeared on numerous best-of-year lists.
The twelve stories in the collection range from realist domestic fiction to more experimental forms, including one story told entirely through passive-aggressive notes between two mothers at a school. Thompson-Spires writes about Black characters who don’t fit neatly into popular narratives about race in America. Her subjects are professors, suburbanites, and overachieving students who deal with racism in forms that are subtle, institutional, and sometimes self-inflicted. The collection’s title nods to a 19th-century essay series by James McCune Smith, drawing a historical line from early Black literary tradition to the present.