How far are you keen to journey to reignite pleasure and creativity in your life? Robin Allison Davis was keen to uproot her cozy life in Harlem, the place she thrived as a tv producer, and journey throughout the ocean to relocate to Paris, the legendary mecca for artists throughout the globe.
However Paris wasn’t all it was cracked as much as be, as Davis writes in her latest memoir, Surviving Paris, out September 2025. After battling breast most cancers, unhealthy jobs and a metropolis beneath lockdown, Davis got here out on the opposite facet of her sorrows with the assistance of some new Parisian mates she shaped alongside the best way.
Davis finds her guide in good firm with different Black authors who’ve documented their travels and imagined far-off locations as journeys for self-healing. These books can gas that spark of journey inside us and encourage us to observe that want to journey. Listed below are extra books by Black authors that can encourage you to stand up and go.
Catch Me If You Can
Jessica Nabongo (2022)
Whereas famed journey blogger Jessica Nabongo was within the midst of her journey to changing into the primary Black lady to journey to all 195 UN-recognized international locations on the earth, the reminiscences and experiences she documented got here collectively in a single fascinating memoir. Whereas regaling readers with fascinating tales of sunbathing on international seashores and pictures of attractive landscapes, Nabongo provides these impressed to observe in her footsteps the proper bucket-list-worthy actions to verify off whereas in every nation.
Worth: $20
Wandering in Unusual Lands
Morgan Jerkins (2020)
Generally the one approach to perceive historical past is to retrace its steps, and Jerkins does simply that on this exploration of Black migration and the roots that had been severed by circumstance. Jerkins paperwork her journey throughout the southern United States as she seeks a deeper religious connection along with her identification as a Black lady. Alongside the best way she comes up with some solutions—and much more tough questions—about Black life in a pre-Nice Migration America.
Worth: $13
One other Nation
James Baldwin (1962)
Baldwin fled to town of Paris for refuge and entered a interval of unequalled creativity, and the affect of his travels discovered its approach into his work. The 1962 novel follows a sweeping story that follows jazz musician Rufus Scott, Richard, Eric and the tumultuous relationships all of them endure whereas in France, Harlem and Greenwich Village as all of them lengthy for greater than they may attain.
Worth: $14
Black Lady in Paris
Shay Youngblood (2001)
Paris has lengthy been a beloved and engaging beacon of creative freedom, however what occurs when town doesn’t love you again? Shay Youngblood’s novel turns the mythos of the Metropolis of Lights on its head via Eden Daniels, as she is set to discover a approach to pursue her writing goals after leaving America and dealing with heartbreak.
Worth: $8
An African in Greenland
Tété-Michel Kpomassie (1977)
When his coronary heart known as out for a international land that couldn’t be any extra totally different than his dwelling in Togo, Tété-Michel Kpomassie knew he needed to observe his wishes. His extraordinary story of life among the many natives in a land he had solely ever seen in books highlights the wonderful emotional connections that tie individuals from reverse ends of the world collectively at their core.
Worth: $19
The Star Facet of Chook Hill: A Novel
Naomi Jackson (2016)
In her very first novel, Naomi Jackson creates a heartwarming story of two women who discover the bottom shifting beneath them as they’re compelled to relocate from their dwelling in Brooklyn to the tropical Barbados to stick with their grandmother. Slowly studying to return into their very own and embrace the traditions and tropical lifetime of the Chook Hill city, their father seems on the town with an unimaginable selection: come again to the acquainted consolation of Brooklyn or keep and reconnect with the Barbados their ancestors embraced.
Worth: $13
Black Ladies Take World
Georgina Lawton (2021)
In case you’re reserving your personal airplane tickets to embark on a journey of therapeutic, leisure and discovery, look no additional than this to information your travels. Georgina Lawton’s expertly compiled journey information not solely advises Black women tips on how to keep secure whereas touring overseas but in addition gives tips about tips on how to have a visit that makes certain you allow your vacation spot emotionally fulfilled because the “Touring Whereas Black” motion continues to thrive.
Worth: $17
Track of Solomon
Toni Morrison (1977)
In her famed third novel that facilities grief and self-discovery, Morrison acknowledges the therapeutic nature that journey can haven’t solely on ourselves but in addition on our households. Macon “Milkman” Useless III embarks on a journey that leads him from Pennsylvania to Virginia and Michigan to bury his father as he seeks the closure he and his household wanted so he can really be taught to fly.