Reading Recommendations

If You Like Urban Fiction

03/08/24 If You Like, Urban Fiction

Urban Fiction, or Street Lit, share the socio-economic realities and culture of its characters in a city landscape. Profanity, sex, and violence are usually explicit and it is common that authors of this genre draw upon their own past experiences to inform their stories. Here are several ways to easily find and check out urban fiction reading recommendations with your IndyPL library card.

1. Borrow e-books or downloadable audiobooks.

Browse urban fiction lists from OverDrive to find e-books and downloadable audiobooks. If you have never borrowed from OverDrive before, both OverDrive app directions and OverDrive browser directions are available as well as an OverDrive video tutorial and access to Overdrive Support.

Browse Urban Fiction from OverDrive

2. Make a selection from this list of urban fiction authors.

3. Get reading recommendations from our staff.

This Town is Strange…Urban Fantasy Fiction

It’s hard out there for a working stiff. Especially considering all the zombies, wizards, witches, vamps, weres, Fae, and gods taking up room in the shadows.

Urban Cinema We Love

“Urban Cinema describes a wave of city-based, feature-length films by African-American directors that began in the mid-1980s and that were dominated by action movies and youth dramas. In urban cinema, social and economic injustices, along with the conditions and relationships they produce, function as essential elements that directly motivate a film’s characters, plot, dialogue, action, and aesthetics.” – Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History.

Native American Urban Fiction

There’s a lot of great work that falls into the broad category of “urban Native American literature.” Depictions of Native Americans and the urban experience are crucial for understanding Indigenous peoples in the U.S. today. Some of these books deal with the transitions and dissonance that Native people experience between their lives at home and urban settings. There are also books that reflect the great number of Native peoples in the U.S. who do not live on reservations.

4. Find a book discussion near you!

You are invited to join in one of our many in-person or online book discussions that take place several times each month. In our book discussion groups we read and talk about both fiction and non-fiction books. We express our opinions (both likes and dislikes!) with other avid readers in the city.

Event: Virtual Author Talk: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Date & Time: Tuesday, October 22, 2:00pm
Location: Online
Description: In her remarkable book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb tells us that despite her license and rigorous training, her most significant credential is that she’s a card-carrying member of the human race. Join us to explore the role of therapy in our lives.
Register Here

Event: Zine Salon
Date & Time: Tuesday, October 22, 6:00pm
Location: East 38th Street Branch
Description: Join us for this special-interest book club focused on zines. Select from our collection, or bring your favorites. We’ll spend the first hour reading, and then share and discuss what we’ve read.
Register Here

Event: WitLITS Book Discussion Group
Date & Time: Friday, October 25, 10:00am
Location: Spades Park Branch
Description: A read aloud group exploring classic literature in a group reading.
No Registration Required.

Need help?

Need more help? Ask a Library staff member at any of our locations or call, text or email Ask-a-Librarian. Additionally, the Tinker Station helpline at (317) 275-4500 is also available. It is staffed by device experts who can answer questions about how to read, watch and listen on a PC, tablet or phone.

Tags If You Like, Urban Fiction