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Maybe it’s because I’m a child of the startup world, but innovation is constantly on my mind. When describing the act of innovation, “disrupt�� is a word that founders love to use, signifying that they see what the status quo is, believe that the world deserves better, and are going to give the people what they need. Uber disrupted the taxi industry. Airbnb disrupted the hotel industry. Napster, way back when, disrupted the music industry. The examples go on and on.
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When I made the move from the world of startups and sales to the literary industry, this need to innovate and disrupt didn’t wane but only increased, especially when I realized that while there is a rich tradition of Black and brown American writers, our stories have not been prioritized, promoted, and praised in the ways they should be.

Only last December did The New York Times publish a piece, ��?��, in which they shared a study that said that out of 7,124 books published between 1950 and 2018, 95 percent of them were written by white authors. And while this may come as a surprise to some, it was self-evident to me, in 2016, when I began writing my first novel.

So what did this all mean for me, a young Black writer trying to break into an industry that, historically, didn’t actively seek to publish work created by and for people who look like me? Well, it meant that I would spend about a year and a half pandering to arbitrary standards of what it meant to be a writer, novelist, and literary citizen—reading books that were lauded by the media yet didn’t resonate with me; trying to be buddy-buddy with the “who’s who�� of publishing on social media; measuring my value as a writer based on feedback from agents who didn’t even fall into the demographic I wanted my work to resonate with.

Fortunately, I learned better. I began reading deeply and widely in the canon of Black and brown literature while also, of course, leaving room for others who don’t fit into this description. What I found was a vibrant world of writers who changed the literary landscape through taking risks, pushing the boundaries of what it means to write a novel, and living into their truth—not just as writers but humans.

Below are only a few of the books I’ve read over the years that speak to me as works that—whether through content or form—redefine the perceptions of fiction, and specifically the novel. You will find books written by authors who are no longer with us, New York Times bestsellers, winners of prestigious awards, and, quite possibly, some you’ve never heard of—discovery is always a special experience.

It’s important to point out that most, if not all, writers are writing in a tradition that stretches further back than their own books—sometimes I will allude to older books that paved the way, but not always. With that said, this list is surely incomplete, and only a snapshot of the books that have expanded what is possible on the page, so I ask that you provide a few of your own favorite innovative reads in the comments, to help others support work that may not fit neatly into any standard and because of that are even more worthy of our consumption.
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Which groundbreaking book would you recommend to your fellow readers? Share your picks with us in the comments.

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