Issa Rae

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl extends Rae’s interest in social discomfort into autobiographical essays. The book shares a title with her web series, but gives the reader a different relationship to the author’s memories and self-commentary. Start here if the small negotiations around belonging are what you enjoy in her screen comedy. Her interview about developing the book is useful for distinguishing personal writing from fictional characters, showing how a familiar comic sensibility can organise experience without making every performance a literal self-portrait.