21 Books in 2021

2020 is almost over! Thank God! In celebration of the end of this godforsaken year, Bad Form is thrilled to present 21 books we're looking forward to in 2021. And all by Black, Asian, or racialised community authors, duh.

In no particular order, we have:

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Open Water Caleb Azumah Nelson

4 Feb 2021

At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it.

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Luster Raven Leilani

21 Jan 2021

Razor sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender (so we hear) Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut about what it means to be young now.

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Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro

2 Mar 2021

From international bestseller and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Kazuo Ishiguro, a look at our rapidly-changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

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Concrete Rose Angie Thomas

12 Jan 2021

From international phenomenon Angie Thomas comes a hard-hitting return to Garden Heights with the story of Maverick Carter, Starr’s father, set seventeen years before the events of the award-winning The Hate U Give.

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Whiteout Conditions Tariq Shah

18 Mar 2021

Shah navigates the murky responsibilities of adulthood, grief, toxic masculinity, and the tragedy of revenge in this haunting Midwestern noir.

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The Joy of Being Selfish Michelle Elman

4 Feb 2021

A book about having boundaries. Need I say more?! Bring on a selfish 2021!

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Transcendent Kingdom Yaa Gyasi

4 Mar 2021

From the author of the brilliant bestselling Homecoming comes a story of a family in modern America. An absolute must-read.

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Black is the Body Emily Bernard

11 Feb 2021

"Race is the story of my life, and therefore black is the body of this book." In twelve intensely personal, interconnected essays, Emily Bernard sets out to tell stories from her life that enable her to talk about truth, race, family and relationships, and much more.

Who's Loving You ed. Sareeta Domingo11 Feb 2021Full of joy and romance, this collection of short stories by women of colour is an ode to love. Truly excited for this.

Who's Loving You ed. Sareeta Domingo

11 Feb 2021

Full of joy and romance, this collection of short stories by women of colour is an ode to love. Truly excited for this.

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The Eighth Girl Maxine Mei-Fung Chung

16 Mar 2021

Maybe a cheat - this book is technically already out in hardback, but we're looking out for the paperback too! Optioned by Netflix, The Eighth Girl is an omnivorous examination of life with mental illness and the acute trauma of living in a misogynist world.

Black Girl in Love (With Herself) Trey Anthony5 Jan 2021The essential guide to self-love that every black woman needs; you can create the life you deserve - no matter what you've been told in the past.

Black Girl in Love (With Herself) Trey Anthony

5 Jan 2021

The essential guide to self-love that every black woman needs; you can create the life you deserve - no matter what you've been told in the past.

We Are All Birds of Uganda Hafsa Zayyan21 Jan 2021A brilliant telling of the story of the Ugandan Asians, expelled from Uganda in 1972, from the perspective of an expellee and his second-generation-immigrant son. Catch our interview with author Hafs…

We Are All Birds of Uganda Hafsa Zayyan

21 Jan 2021

A brilliant telling of the story of the Ugandan Asians, expelled from Uganda in 1972, from the perspective of an expellee and his second-generation-immigrant son. Catch our interview with author Hafsa in the African History issue, now available to buy here!

How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue11 Mar 2021Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, How Beautiful We Were tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. And a contender for 'Mo…

How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue

11 Mar 2021

Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, How Beautiful We Were tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. And a contender for 'Most Beautiful Cover' of 2021!

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Act Your Age, Eve Brown Talia Hibbert

19 Mar 2021

In USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert's newest romcom, the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard - literally.

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Empireland Santham Sanghera

28 Jan 2021

In his brilliantly illuminating new book Sathnam Sanghera demonstrates how so much of what we consider to be modern Britain is actually rooted in our imperial past.

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A Little Devil in America Hanif Abdurraqib

28 Jan 2021

At the March on Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was in a mood to reflect on her life and her legacy. She had spent decades as one of the most successful entertainers the world had ever seen, but, she told the crowd, "I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too". Inspired by these words, celebrated poet and music critic Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound meditation on Black performance in the modern age, in which culture, history and his own lived experience collide.

Brown Baby Nikesh Shukla4 Feb 2021From Bad Form fave Nikesh Shukla comes a memoir "Of Race, Family and Home". Surely going to be one of the books of the year.

Brown Baby Nikesh Shukla

4 Feb 2021

From Bad Form fave Nikesh Shukla comes a memoir "Of Race, Family and Home". Surely going to be one of the books of the year.

Land of Big Numbers Te-Ping Chen4 Feb 2021Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers is a short story collection tracking the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled--m…

Land of Big Numbers Te-Ping Chen

4 Feb 2021

Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers is a short story collection tracking the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled--messily, violently, but still beautifully--into the present.

The Waiter Ajay Chowdhury27 May 2021It's rare we get to see such a thrilling looking debut from an Asian author, and we are thrilled to get our hands on this one. From the winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Award, we expect b…

The Waiter Ajay Chowdhury

27 May 2021

It's rare we get to see such a thrilling looking debut from an Asian author, and we are thrilled to get our hands on this one. From the winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Award, we expect big things.

Mental Fight Poems Ben Okri7 Jan 2021A beautiful reissue of the epic poem touching on issues of racism, intolerance and environmental destructions from Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri.

Mental Fight Poems Ben Okri

7 Jan 2021

A beautiful reissue of the epic poem touching on issues of racism, intolerance and environmental destructions from Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri.

Milennial Black Sophie Williams15 Apr 2021From social media superstar and author of Anti Racist Ally, comes the much-needed roadmap for young Black women to succeed in the workplace in 2021 and beyond. This is the book from Williams we all want.

Milennial Black Sophie Williams

15 Apr 2021

From social media superstar and author of Anti Racist Ally, comes the much-needed roadmap for young Black women to succeed in the workplace in 2021 and beyond. This is the book from Williams we all want.

Amy Mae Baxter

Amy Mae Baxter is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Bad Form, which she founded in 2019. She is Senior Editor at Dialogue Books, where she publishes romance, women’s fiction and essays, and a fan of the Real Housewives.

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