Star Wars Books to Read to Celebrate Black History Month
- Zoe Hinton
- Feb 27
- 3 min read
Black History Month may be coming to a close, but it's important to read and celebrate stories by Black creatives and centered on Black characters year round! Here are six picks you can jump right into as a Star Wars fan interested in reading about Black characters!
Books with a "*" in the heading were written by a Black author!
Technically cheating a bit with this one as it's a four-book series rather than just one book, but the books are super short so I'm counting it for one! If you liked Zare Leonis from season 1 of Star Wars Rebels, there is a lot more to his story! These books, written by Jason Fry, give us backstory to Zare before the "Breaking Ranks" episode of Rebels as well as tell us more of his story during and after that appearance. Its a really great series where Zare gets a touching arc tied to his family and his identity, not to mention fleshing out Lothal and the galaxy at this time, and laying foundation for other storytelling reaching all the way to the sequel trilogy!
Written by Tom Angleberger, this is technically more of a Chewbacca and K-2SO book, the standout star from this book is the original character, Mayv (on the right in the photo above). She's a smart and empathetic librarian who is not just a key ally to Chewie in the book, but develops a strong bond with him. She's on a quest to help rescue and preserve the culture of her people after the Empire's oppression of her world, and her arc is rich and tugs at the heartstrings- not to mention the book is filled with the good-weird type of unique worldbuilding that Star Wars books excel at.
Who doesn't love Lando Calrissian? Part of the tie-in initiative for Solo, Lando's Luck by Justina Ireland is a fun adventure all about him and L3-37. The focus is on Lando throughout, and we get to really see who Lando is here- as well as those hints of who we know he'll grow to be. But beyond Lando, we also get some really fantastic Black female original characters here too in Princess Rinetta and her mother, who Lando helps throughout the book. Fans of Solo will definitely find a lot to love in this book!
Definitely the heftiest of the books I've recommended so far, Delilah S. Dawson's Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire is a must-read for fans of the Galaxy's Edge park at Disney Parks. Focusing on Vi Moradi, Resistance spy and one of the most underrated Star Wars characters, we see Vi go through a lot here. She's tested, forced to learn new skills and faced with loss and challenges, but comes out better for it. It's one of my favorite Star Wars books and because the characters are all original, it's easy to jump right in (though I'd certainly recommend picking up Phasma for some extra backstory).
Steven Barnes' The Glass Abyss made waves when it came out a few years ago, and for good reason. This is such a great and layered look at Mace Windu and his character- how he feels about the Force, the Jedi Order, and himself. We get to explore his relationship with Qui-Gon Jinn as well as how he interpets the Jedi Code, all on the backdrop with one of the coolest and most fleshed out original planets from a Star Wars book.
And to finish it off with an extremely recent book, we have Kwame Mbalia's The Last Order. Focusing on Finn and Jannah's time in the First Order, we get to learn a lot more about them- Finn's earliest form of rebellion as well as how Jannah and the rest of her company left. With weaving "flashback" storylines about the two separately culminating in one storyline that takes place post-The Rise of Skywalker, this is an essential book for fans of Finn's character as well as Jannah's, and especially if you wanted the full story behind Jannah defecting.
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