Looking for some great authors, poets, and books? I recommend pretty much every writer I heard at the Key West Literary Seminar the past four days. You can read their names and the titles of their talks here:
Where to start? Well if you haven't read everything Jacqueline Woodson has written (she's known from children and YA but also writes for adults) maybe start with her. Her gorgeous novella "Another Brooklyn" or longer memoir in verse "Brown Girl Dreaming" are both ways to dive into her work. For middle grade fiction, check out "Harbor Me" (and for smaller children, "Visiting Day" or so many others).
Who else...hm, maybe the incredible memoir "Somebody's Daughter" by Ashley C. Ford or the horror of "Lakewood" by Megan Giddens or the gorgeous, rich poetry of Jericho Brown or Rowan Ricardo Phillips or the inimitable Kevin Young — or go all in and check out the incredible poetry collection he edited: "African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song."
Want history? Read anything by intellectual geniuses Annette Gordon-Reed and Kerri Greenidge. If you just want a taste, Gordon-Reed's historical, personal book on her family and Texas might be your in: "On Juneteenth."
Horror or gritty reality? Sure, how about S.A. Cosby, Tananarive Due, or Victor LaValle?
I could go on, but you can Google the authors from the link to see more. I have so much rich reading in my future!