10 Black Authors Share Their Favorite Books by Fellow Black Writers

“A Hungry Heart: A Memoir” ($19, originally $22)

“Now, if I were to tell you that Gordon Parks has written at least three autobiography-memoir mashups, you’d probably ask, ‘Why?’ And I would say, ‘Because this man has Lived,’ with a capital L. Parks was a groundbreaking photographer, film director, author, poet, composer — the very definition of reinvention without limits. Need I say more? OK, just a bit: ‘A Hungry Heart,’ Parks’s final memoir, chronicles the extraordinary life of a man who, from a young age, was on a mission to make his mark. It’s impossible to read this and not be in perpetual awe or turn the final page without finding your own heart hungrier for more.”

— Mateo Askaripour, author of “Black Buck” and “This Great Hemisphere”