February—African-American History Month—is fast approaching, and many bookstores will soon clear away holiday displays to make room for some of the latest titles by and about African-Americans. What follows is a roundup of new audiobooks for this year's African-American History Month promotions (and beyond).

FICTION

National Book Award—winning author Edward Ball reads his new novel, The Sweet Hell Inside (Harper Audio), the story of one light-skinned black family's journey from the Civil War to the civil rights movement and beyond.

I Wish I Had a Red Dress (Harper Audio) by Pearl Cleage, read by the author, is the latest from this bestselling Oprah Book Club author. In her follow-up to What Looks Like Crazy on Any Other Day, Ava's big sister, Joyce, finds love.

Every Tongue Got to Confess (Harper Audio) is a recently discovered volume of 500 African-American folktales by Zora Neale Hurston. Husband-and-wife Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee perform on this recording.

The East Liberty area of Pittsburgh, Pa., is the setting for the audio adaptation of Stewart O'Nan's novel Everyday People (Harper Audio), read by Giancarlo Esposito.

In The Lorraine Hansberry Audio Collection (Harper Audio), Hansberry reads A Raisin in the Sun and To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, and discusses her work.

In Cane River (Time Warner AudioBooks), Lalita Tademy explores four generations of a family of strong black women who were born into slavery in Louisiana.

Smooth, suave John Basil Henderson stars in E. Lynn Harris's recent romance novel Any Way the Wind Blows (Random House), read by Sanaa Lathan and Peter Francis James.

Two young R&B artists trying to make it in the music world are at the heart of Omar Tyree's novel Just Say No (S&S), read by the author (who also does a bit of singing).

Voices of Black America: Historical Recordings of Speeches, Poetry, Humor & Drama (Naxos AudioBooks), compiled and produced by William Shaman and Peter G. Adamson, collects readings by Booker T. Washington, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes and other notables.

NONFICTION

Singer Patti LaBelle dispenses inspirational pearls of wisdom from her own experience in Patti's Pearls: Lessons in Living Genuinely, Joyously, Generously (Time Warner AudioBooks), read by Laura Randolph Lancaster.

Listeners receive pointers on the game from one of the greats in How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods and the editors of Golf Digest (Time Warner AudioBooks), read by Walter Franks.

Author, poet and Nobel Prize winner Maya Angelou shares her personal wisdom on the new CD version of Even the Stars Look Lonesome (Random House), read by the author. Angelou's rich life experience, including time spent in Africa and her work with Malcolm X in the United States is the subject of the autobiography A Song Flew Up to Heaven (Random, April 2002).

Voice of the Poet: Langston Hughes (Random House) contains never-before-released archival recordings of the Harlem Renaissance author reading some of his work.

Enormously successful musician, producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones tells his life story and shares tales about his successes in Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones (S&S), read by the author with family and friends.

Comedian and Fox TV star Bernie Mac entertains on I Ain't Scared of You: Bernie Mac on How Life Is (S&S), read by the author.

Iyanla Live! Grace, Iyanla Live! Forgiveness and Every Day I Pray: Prayers for Awakening to the Grace of Inner Communion (all S&S) are the newest titles by inspirational author and talk-show host Iyanla Vanzant; all are read by the author.

CHILDREN'S

Thirteen-year-old Lafayette and his two older brothers struggle to make it on their own in their Harlem neighborhood after the death of their parents in Miracle's Boys (Listening Library) by Jacqueline Woodson, read by Dulé Hill.

In Monster (Listening Library) by Walter Dean Myers, performed by a full cast, a 16-year-old aspiring filmmaker describes his time on trial for alleged involvement in a Harlem robbery.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Listening Library), Mildred Taylor's Newbery-winning novel about an African-American family's hardships in the South during the 1930s, comes to audio as read by Lynne Thigpen.

A prequel to Roll of Thunder, Taylor's latest work, The Land (Listening Library), read by Rueben Santiago-Hudson, depicts the Logan family in the Civil War era.

Shayla and her best friend Kambia Elaine try to help each other cope with the major changes in their lives in Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues (Listening Library) by Lori Aurelia Williams, read by Heather Alicia Simms.

Young listeners can become part of history with The Abraham Lincoln Logues, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad and other titles in the Time Travlers/ Backyard Adventure series from Toy Box Productions (800-750-1511, ext. 123). Each book-and-cassette package contains an interactive recording—one performance with children's voices, then a version of the story that omits the main character's lines, allowing listeners to join in.