2020, the year of staying at home, was also the year of reading and discovering amazing authors!

I join this week’s Top Ten Tuesday by sharing 10 new-to-me authors that I read in 2020. Overall, I am grateful that I managed to expand my reading horizon by exploring more authors of colour and contemporary authors.

Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing (my review), one of my favourite books I read in 2020, is the debut novel of Yaa Gyasi. The novel was inspired by her 2009 trip to Ghana, her birth country, the first visit since she left the country as a child. In 2020 Yaa Gyasi published her second book – Transcendent Kingdom – a story I cannot wait to read!

Maja Lunde

In 2020 I discovered the Norwegian author Maja Lunde and her Climate Quartet (my discussion post). Lunde is an advocate for the climate cause, and her books raise awareness about climate change by combining past, present and future perspectives on natural elements of Earth.

Bernardine Evaristo

British writer Bernardine Evaristo wrote 8 books, and her projects are based around her interest in the African diaspora. Girl, Woman, Other (my review) was one of my favourite books of 2020, and I certainly want to explore the other books written by Evaristo.

Hank Green

According to his website “Hank Green has been making things on the internet since the early 90s”. And that includes Youtube videos, podcasts, and a subscription-based crowdfunding platform that was acquired by Patreon in 2015. Oh, and he also wrote 2 books! 🙂 I read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (my review) and I loved it!

Agatha Christie

Yes, 2020 was the year I finally discovered Agatha Christie! The first book I read was Death on the Nile (my review), one of her masterpieces. Later I also read Midwinter Murder (my review), a winter-themed collection of short stories. And in 2021 I joining the #ReadChristie2021 challenge!

Maaza Mengiste

I discovered Maaza Mengiste towards the end of 2020, but her latest book was definitely one of the favourites of the year. She is an Ethiopian-American writer and author of 2 novels: Beneath the Lion’s Gaze and The Shadow King (my review) – shortlisted for Booker Prize in 2020.

Kate Weinberg

The Truants (my review) is the first book written by Kate Weinberg, and I’m happy that I discovered her from the debut! Weinberg was born and lives in London, and she studied English at Oxford and creative writing in East Anglia.

Zadie Smith

British author Zadie Smith is known for tackling race, religion, and cultural identity in her novels. I discovered her by reading Swing Time (my review), a novel I have enjoyed, but it was not entirely my cup of tea.

Priya Parker

Trained in conflict resolution, Priya Parker is an amazing facilitator of gatherings. She helped leaders and communities, and worked on peace processes around the world. Her book, The Art of Gathering (my review), is a must-read for anyone who wants to organize meaningful gatherings.

James Nestor

Author and journalist James Nestor wrote two narrative nonfiction books: Deep (about the oceans) and Breath (about humans’ breathing). I enjoyed a lot reading Deep (my review), a book that discusses about the oceans from multiple perspectives (sports, scientific discoveries, culture and politics).

These are 10 of the authors that I discovered in 2020!

I’m eager to hear from you! What authors did you discover in 2020? Any new favourites?

‘Till next time … happy reading!

Georgiana

Cover photo by Matias North on Unsplash

Published by Georgiana

18 thoughts on “New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2020 (Top Ten Tuesday)”

    1. Oh, this means you can enjoy again reading the stories as it would be for the first time!
      I will discover more of her stories this year, as I participate to the #ReadChristie challenge 🙂

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    1. Oh, please do! You can try a collection of short stories, or if you want to start with single-story book then I recommend Death on the Nile or And Then There Were None 😀

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    1. Yaa Gyasi is an amazing writer!! I can’t wait to read her new book – Transcendent Kingdom.
      And I also want to read the sequel of Hank Green’s book – A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor 😀

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