ow far are you willing to travel to reignite excitement and creativity in your life? Robin Allison Davis was willing to uproot her cozy life in Harlem, where she thrived as a television producer, and journey across the ocean to relocate to Paris, the legendary mecca for artists all around the globe.
But Paris wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, as Davis writes in her newest memoir, Surviving Paris, out September 2025. After battling breast cancer, bad jobs and a city under lockdown, Davis came out on the other side of her sorrows with the help of a few new Parisian friends she formed along the way.
Davis finds her book in good company with other Black authors who have documented their travels and imagined far-off places as journeys for self-healing. These books can fuel that spark of adventure within us and inspire us to follow that desire to travel. Here are more books by Black authors that will inspire you to get up and go.
Jessica Nabongo (2022)
While famed travel blogger Jessica Nabongo was in the midst of her journey to becoming the first Black woman to travel to all 195 UN-recognized countries in the world, the memories and experiences she documented came together in one captivating memoir. While regaling readers with fascinating tales of sunbathing on foreign beaches and photos of gorgeous landscapes, Nabongo gives those inspired to follow in her footsteps the perfect bucket-list-worthy activities to check off while in each country.
Price: $20
Morgan Jerkins (2020)
Sometimes the only way to understand history is to retrace its steps, and Jerkins does just that in this exploration of Black migration and the roots that were severed by circumstance. Jerkins documents her journey across the southern United States as she seeks a deeper spiritual connection with her identity as a Black woman. Along the way she comes up with some answers—and even more tricky questions—about Black life in a pre-Great Migration America.
Price: $13
James Baldwin (1962)
Baldwin fled to the city of Paris for refuge and entered a period of unrivaled creativity, and the influence of his travels found its way into his work. The 1962 novel follows a sweeping story that follows jazz musician Rufus Scott, Richard, Eric and the tumultuous relationships they all endure while in France, Harlem and Greenwich Village as they all long for more than they could reach.
Price: $14
Shay Youngblood (2001)
Paris has long been a beloved and attractive beacon of artistic freedom, but what happens when the city doesn’t love you back? Shay Youngblood’s novel turns the mythos of the City of Lights on its head through Eden Daniels, as she is determined to find a way to pursue her writing dreams after leaving America and facing heartbreak.
Price: $8
Tété-Michel Kpomassie (1977)
When his heart called out for a foreign land that couldn’t be any more different than his home in Togo, Tété-Michel Kpomassie knew he had to follow his desires. His extraordinary tale of life among the natives in a land he had only ever seen in books highlights the amazing emotional connections that tie people from opposite ends of the world together at their core.
Price: $19
The Star Side of Bird Hill: A Novel
Naomi Jackson (2016)
In her very first novel, Naomi Jackson creates a heartwarming story of two girls who find the ground shifting beneath them as they are forced to relocate from their home in Brooklyn to the tropical Barbados to stay with their grandmother. Slowly learning to come into their own and embrace the traditions and tropical life of the Bird Hill town, their father appears in town with an impossible choice: come back to the familiar comfort of Brooklyn or stay and reconnect with the Barbados their ancestors embraced.
Price: $13
Georgina Lawton (2021)
If you’re booking your own plane tickets to embark on a journey of healing, relaxation and discovery, look no further than this to guide your travels. Georgina Lawton’s expertly compiled travel guide not only advises Black girls how to stay safe while traveling abroad but also provides tips on how to have a trip that makes sure you leave your destination emotionally fulfilled as the “Traveling While Black” movement continues to thrive.
Price: $17
Toni Morrison (1977)
In her famed third novel that centers grief and self-discovery, Morrison recognizes the healing nature that travel can have not only on ourselves but also on our families. Macon “Milkman” Dead 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 family needed so he can truly learn to fly.