Urban Fiction Defined: 7 Examples of Urban Novels

Urban fiction is a literary genre that explores the details of life in cities—in particular, characters living in low-income or high-need communities. Urban fiction writers draw directly from their own experiences with poverty, forced or voluntary exposure to illicit activity, racism, and the carceral system to inform their work. Educators rely on these books to give students a realistic look at such working-class experiences. Other terms for urban fiction include street fiction or street lit (street literature).

Some urban fiction writers might follow a traditional publishing route, while others might be self-published indie authors who build their entire marketing strategy themselves. Books in this genre are available in plenty of formats, including audiobooks and e-books, and you can also rent them free of charge at your public library.

Urban literature reflects a panoply of experiences, but there are some common features in the genre. Here are three elements that often appear in urban lit:

• Gritty overall tone: Urban fiction is famous for portraying city life in a hyperrealistic manner. Profanity, violence, drug use, and explicit sexual situations are common throughout urban fiction. Distinguishing the heroes from the villains can be challenging in these narratives, revealing how socioeconomic disparities and racial oppression blur moral categories. A coming-of-age story like Omar Tyree’s Flyy Girl depicts the inevitable loss of innocence throughout high school against such a backdrop, while the storyline of K’wan Foye’s Gangsta follows a Black man and former assassin for the Crips street gang who is trying to reform his life while on the run.
• Perspective on love in adverse conditions: Many urban fiction authors write urban romance novels to show what love looks like in disadvantaged environments. Some, like the mononymous authors Zane and Noire (both pen names), take things in an erotic direction, while others—such as Wahida Clark—focus on more romantic love stories. Desperate Hoodwives by Meesha Mink and De’Nesha Diamond, Wifey by Kiki Swinson, Stackin’ Paper by Deja King, and Dirty Red by Vickie Stringer are other prominent examples of this subgenre.
• Working-class neighborhood as a backdrop: Iceberg Slim—the author of urban fiction classic Pimp: The Story of My Life—drew on his own experiences in the Chicago sex trafficking trade to write his fiction, while Chyna Black author Keisha Ervin sets most of her work in her hometown of St. Louis. These acclaimed authors and others who achieve recognition in the genre commonly set their novels exclusively in working-class neighborhoods.

Here are seven novels in the urban genre:

1. 1. B-More Careful by Shannon Holmes: This addition to the urban lit genre follows a Baltimore woman as she seduces a New York drug dealer to gain access to his ill-gotten riches. Once her deceitful intentions come to light, he begins to plot revenge.
2. 2. The Cartel series by Ashley & JaQuavis: The husband and wife team Ashley Antoinette and JaQuavis Coleman—billed as Ashley & JaQuavis—wrote this series to highlight the everyday lives of drug dealers. Set in Miami, it focuses specifically on the cocaine trade.
3. 3. The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah: The rapper Sister Souljah’s 1990s bestseller takes place in Brooklyn, where the protagonist deals with her father, who is in jail for trafficking drugs.
4. 4. Dopefiend by Donald Goines: Author Donald Goines was one of the earliest writers of street literature, and this 1970s urban fiction novel is one of his most famous. In the book, he chronicles the pain of heroin addiction and the anxieties of life in a working-class neighborhood.
5. 5. The Family Business series by Carl Weber__: This street lit novel series follows a family who runs a car dealership by day and a criminal empire by night. Weber also compiled the Kingpins book series to feature the work of other urban fiction writers.
6. 6. A Hustler’s Wife by Nikki Turner: This urban romance novel shines a light on the life of a woman married to a drug lord both before and after his incarceration. The author plays with themes of lost innocence and blurred ethical lines throughout her book.
7. 7. True to the Game by Teri Woods: This Teri Woods novel follows two lovers trying to fight for survival while climbing the ranks of the metropolitan underworld. A rival kingpin complicates matters further for the couple.

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