
Friday Black is a genre-bending collection of short stories by debut author, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. It tackles the Black experience in America, consumerism, mental health and many other pressing issues of our day. Today on The Stacks, Wade Allain-Marcus (Insecure, French Dirty, Snowfall) and Traci attempt to break down the major themes and ideas from these stories for The Stacks Book Club. There are spoilers on today’s episode, but if you haven’t read the book yet, check out our conversation with author Adjei-Brenyah on The Short Stacks instead.
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
- Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
- “The Short Stacks 7: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah//Friday Black” (The Stacks)
- When We Rise by Cleve Jones
- Gabriel García Márquez
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- New People by Danzy Senna
- Black Mirror (Netflix)
- “Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Work in Retail Influenced His Horrifying Short Stories” (Late Night with Seth Meyers, NBC)
- “Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah on ‘Friday Black'” (The New York Times)
- Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
- Amanda Seales: I Be Knowin’ (HBO)
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The Stacks received Friday Black from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. For more information click here.
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