Short story collections

A couple of weekends ago on Twitter I saw an exchange between Crystal Wilkinson (@CrystalWilki), Jamey Hatley (@jameyhatley), and Dolen Perkins-Valdez (@dolen) about short story collections by African American writers. They were posting a lot of titles that I haven't read (actually, I've read so few of them that it is embarrassing.)

I'm trying to learn how to write short stories; reading more of them is part of what I need to do. So I pulled some of the titles for a reading list.

And I thought other people would find the list useful as well. Some are recent titles, others have been around for years.

Are there other collections you've read that should be on this list? Put the titles in the comments.


How to Escape From a Leper Colony, Tiphanie Yanique (@tiphanieyanique)

The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales, Charles Chesnut

Dr. King’s Refrigerator, Charles Johnson
Interesting Women by Andrea Lee
Water Street; Blackberries, Blackberries, by Crystal Wilkinson, who is also editor of Mythium Literary Journal
Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, by Randall Kenan
Slapboxing with Jesus, by Victor LaValle
Lost in the City and All Aunt Hagar’s Children, by Edward P. Jones
A Taste of Honey by Jabari Asim
Break Any Woman Down, by Dana Johnson
You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down and In Love and Trouble, Alice Walker
Gorilla My Love, Toni Cade Bambara
Sap Rising, by Christine Lincoln
White Rat, by Gayl Jones
Wideman collections
Before You Suffocate Your own Fool Self, by Danielle Evans
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by ZZ Packer