in honour of lithub making a list of ‘best 50 novels under 200 pages’ with a pathetic showing for women of colour… here’s a list excluding whites and men:

• adania shibli, touch
• shahrnush parsipur, women without men
• fae myenne ng, bone
• gwendolyn brooks, maud martha
• theresa hak kyung cha, dictee
• nawal el saadawi, woman at point zero
• jamaica kincaid, a small place, lucy, annie john, my brother
• mariama ba, so long a letter
• maryse conde, i tituba, black witch of salem
• kopano matlwa, coconut, evening primrose
• suzette mayr, dr edith vane and the hares of crawley hall
• tanya tagaq, split tooth
• michelle cliff, no telephone to heaven, abeng
• buchi emechata, second class citizen, the joys of motherhood
• hiromi goto, chorus of mushrooms
• tsitsi dangarembga, nervous conditions
• yvonne vera, nehanda
• emma perez, gulf dreams
• etel adnan, sitt marie rose
• jaqueline woodson, red at the bone
• akwaeke emezi, freshwater
• nella larsen, passing
• laila lalami, hope and other dangerous pursuits
• naomi fontaine, kuessipan
• vi khi nao, fish in exile
• shay youngbloood, soul kiss
• bessie head, a question of power
• han suyin, winter love
• le thi diem thuy, the gangster we are all looking for
• oyinkan braithwaite, my sister the serial killer
• zinzi clemmons, what we lose
• janet campbell hale, the jailing of cecelia capture
• kim thuy, ru
• sahar khalifeh, wild thorns
• suniti namjoshi, the conversations of cow
• gayl jones, corregidora
• tamai kobayshi, prairie ostritch
• gloria naylor, the women of brewster place
• terri de la pena, margins
• zen cho, the terracotta bride