Author Marlon James became the first Jamaican born writer to win the Man Booker prize. Marlon’s book, A Brief History of Seven Killings, is an epic retelling of the 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley. Listen to James’s interview with NPR here.

The complete list of finalists were released for this years National Book Award.

Bill Johnson II of the Huffington Post’s Black Voices thinks that you should read these 9 books if you are a black male.

Recently released book of poetry, The Emperor of Water Clocks by Yusef Komunyakaa, speaks on matters of Ferguson, Obama, and war.

Author Ishmael Reed released his newest book Black Hollywood Unchained this week which examines portrayals of blacks in film. Reed released The Complete Muhammad Ali earlier this summer, a biography of one of the greatest boxers to live.

Henry Louis Gates was a guest speaker in the Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series. Gates spoke on genealogy and genetics in America. Read his interview with Jackson Free Press in which he discussed “Black America’s Promises and Perils.”