So, end-of-year content sucks. Really. For every one album from February that an article reminds you was really good you get three or so recycled “Best Memes of 2015” or lists of hashtags that were popular but not all that cool anyways, and writers really struggle to remember stuff past October or so. But we thought it would be a really good idea to try to try to put together something actually useful that fit with our mission to bring you good work from people of color. So we asked our readers and came up with a few things ourselves (some from us, because everyone deserves a little self promotion) to build a list of things written in 2015 by people of color that you should read. This is in no way a comprehensive list, and we’re sure we left out some things and some folks, so if you feel we should add something, let us know in the comments or on Twitter! Without further ado, here’s the 2015 Seven Scribes reading list. Enjoy!

Articles and Essays

• “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Editor’s Note: Like any system, mass incarceration is often thought of in the abstract. This piece addresses the historical and the systemic forces behind this national disease, but it also tells critical truths about how it has affected individuals. With his signature raw clarity, Coates illustrates how black families have suffered from the crippling side effects of our criminal justice system.
• “The Meaning of Serena Williams” by Claudia Rankine. Editor’s Note: I’m one of the biggest Serena Williams fans you’ll find anywhere. Her grace and power are like poetry for me, so this profile from Rankine with all her poetic writing is most appropriate. I managed to gain a new appreciation for Serena while also connecting with another fan’s experience.
• “A Letter to My Father” by Kwame Rose. Recommended by @MrAveryBrown
• “20 Years Ago, A Goofy Movie Became the Blackest, Most Underrated Nerd Classic of All Time” by Jordan Calhoun. Recommended by @cbenjaminrucker
• “All Hail Lil’ Kim, The Original Queen of Hip-Hop” by @FeministaJones. Recommended by @cynfinite
• “I’ll Never Be My Wife’s Equal” by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib. Editor’s Note: Hanif is one of the best writers I know, and this is my favorite work of his to date. (Yes, it even slightly beats out his Trap Queen piece.) The way he wrestles with masculinity and marriage, with what it means to learn – and unlearn – in a partnership, is truly remarkable.
• “A Letter from Black America” by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• “I’m Not Grateful for Viola Davis’ Win–It Was Long Overdue” by Ashley Ford
• “Everything is Yours…Everything is Not Yours” by Clemantine Wamariya. Recommended by @vermillionpearl
• “Who Will Claim You? A Memoir on Placelessness” by Akwaeke Emezi. Recommended by @theshrillest
• “Black Girls Don’t Get to Be Depressed” by Samantha Irby. Recommended by @dtafakari
• “The Natural: The Trouble Portraying Blackness in Video Games” by Evan Narcisse. Editor’s Note: A brilliant and funny essay on black identity and how it is reflected (and not reflected) by characters in video games.
• “Country Notes by Country Folks” by Regina N. Bradley
  
• “Context as Crisis: The Street is a Book” by Daniel José Older. Recommended by @somebadideas
• “Da Art of Storytellin’ (A Prequel)” by Kiese Laymon. Editor’s Note: The best article I’ve read about my absolute favorite group of all time, and its a story about his grandmother. Only Kiese could do that. This is a masterful story of Outkast, of family, of “Black southern life, love, and labor.”
• “A Curious Personal History of the Durag” by Vann R. Newkirk II. Editor’s Note: Luckily for readers, this article is peak Vann. There’s the adept aesthetic — a narrative both hilarious and sobering, so well-written that it’s almost tactile. Plus, he folds in a wider story of both inclusion and isolation that sticks with you. Writing like this is why I started this site with this guy.
• “How Black Reporters Report on Black Death” by Gene Demby. Editor’s Note: The constant killing of black people by law enforcement means there is always a new victim and never a shortage of horror stories. How do black reporters report on the relentless epidemic of black death? Gene’s look at that question is required reading.
• “Police Reform is Impossible in America” by Donovan Ramsey
• “Men Who Kill” by Josie Duffy. Editor’s Note: This from our very own Josie Duffy is a look at how mass shootings are a problem rooted in masculinity. It’s brief, but it employs Josie’s strengths of emotion and incisiveness in a supernova of writing. I love it. You’ll love it too.
• “How a Small-Time Drug Dealer Rescued Dozens During Katrina” by Joel Anderson. Editor’s Note: We loved this article so much. Here’s a gripping and bold story about a real hero and all his complexities. This is the kind of journalism we love.
• “In Conversation: DeRay Mckesson” by Rembert Browne
• “‘We Shall Not Be Moved’: A Hunger Strike, Education, and Housing in Chicago” by Eve L. Ewing. Editor’s Note: It’s Eve! This is just a brilliant look at what’s happening in Chicago schools and how it reflects deeper racial housing and economic crises that shape everything in the city. We’re not biased, we promise.

Fiction and Poetry

• The Fifth Season novel by N. K. Jemisin
• Concrete Park graphic novel by Tony Puryear and Erika Alexander. Recommended by @JerryLEADS
• Binti novel excerpt by Nnedi Okorafor. Recommended by @cynfinite
• Ms. Marvel comic by Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, G. Willow Wilson, and Adrian Alphona
• Salvage the Bones novel by Jesmyn Ward
• Loving Day novel by Mat Johnson. Recommended by @PetiteKayBee
• A Little Life novel by Hanya Yanagihara. Recommended by @lemonsatin
• The Sellout novel by Paul Beatty.
• The Turner House novel by Angela Flournoy. Editor’s Note: Centered around a Detroit family’s house, this story left me comforted and hopeful and slightly disconsolate. Flournoy is truly an astounding writer. And the best part? This is only her first novel.
• Voyage of the Sable Venus poetry collection by Robin Coste Lewis
• Shadowshaper novel by Daniel José Older. Editor’s Note: Don’t let the genre note fool you: Shadowshaper is a brilliant work for people of all ages to enjoy. I loved Sierra’s journey and found the story to have way more depth than other YA speculative fiction. Also, Older’s reverence for the history and spirit of art animates the story in a way that almost feels lyrical.

Nonfiction Books

• Between the World and Me novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Editor’s Note: What hasn’t been said about this book? Who hasn’t read it? We loved it so much that Scribes wrote about it twice.
• Light of the World memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
• Negroland: A Memoir memoir by Margo Jefferson. Recommended by @mashclash
• Ordinary Light: A Memoir memoir by Tracy K. Smith