279 ratings | 15 reviews | avg rating:4.34

Naima Coster’s Followers (842)

Naima’s Bookshelves

to-read (115)
currently-reading (0)
read (351)
favorites (0)

Naima’s Friends (301)

Shay

10,757 books | 933 friends

Donna Foster

2,309 books | 4,999 friends

Lancelot Schaubert

2,248 books | 2,242 friends

Kayla Maiuri

451 books | 222 friends

Evette

1,157 books | 289 friends

Olivia

2,855 books | 11 friends

Maggie Mae

1,007 books | 47 friends

Ava Cairns

9,759 books | 1,437 friends

More friends…

Naima Coster

Goodreads Author

Born

Brooklyn, New York, The United States

Website

http://www.naimacoster.com

Twitter

zafatista

Genre

Fiction, Memoir

Member Since

October 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/httpwwwgoodreadscomnaimacoster

edit data

Naima Coster is the author of WHAT'S MINE AND YOURS, an instant New York Times bestseller, as well as a Read with Jenna and Book of the Month Club pick. Her debut, HALSEY STREET, was a finalist for the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. It was recommended as a must-read by People, Essence, BitchMedia, Well-Read Black Girl, The Skimm, and the Brooklyn Public Library among others.

Naima’s essays have appeared in the New York Times, Elle, Time, Kweli, The Paris Review Daily, The Cut, The Sunday Times, Catapult, and elsewhere. In 2020, she was named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Naima Coster questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

Who influenced you to write and become an author?

Naima Coster My desire to write was born out of my deep love of reading. Every summer, before trips to the Dominican Republic, my parents would buy me a big stack …moreMy desire to write was born out of my deep love of reading. Every summer, before trips to the Dominican Republic, my parents would buy me a big stack of books to read. I tore through the novels, desperate for more to read before the summer was through. My parents' support of my appetite for books was critical to my decision to try and create books of my own. To this day, the work of other writers continues to inspire me to create. I was also lucky to have amazing English teachers in high school who helped me believe, audaciously, in myself as a writer. They helped me move my love of writing from the margins of my life, where it lived as a hobby, to the center, where it became a point of focus, labor, and great joy. I was eighteen when I finished my first book-length project, "Fifteen," a collection of short stories. It helped me start embracing what it might mean to spend a life writing. Thank you for your question, Glenda! (less)

flag

9 likes · like
Comment

What books are on your summer reading list this year?

Naima Coster I've got a long list for this summer, and I'm hoping to get through a number of these while I also get started on a draft of my second novel. I intend…moreI've got a long list for this summer, and I'm hoping to get through a number of these while I also get started on a draft of my second novel. I intend to lounge on porches, beaches, and my couch as much as I can swing so that I can dig into:

A FEW MEMOIRS:
**HUNGER by Roxane Gay
**YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME by Sherman Alexie
**A GIRL WALKS INTO A BOOK by Miranda Pennington, my friend & a fellow writer

A FEW RECENT NOVELS:
**AFTER SUCH DISASTERS by Viet Dinh (on rescue work & colonialism)
**EUPHORIA by Lily King (a love triangle unfolds between anthropologists in the early 20th c.)
**THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas (glorious YA about police violence, friendship, and the lives of young POC)
**A PIECE OF THE WORLD by Christina Baker Kline (inspired by the life of Christina Olson, the subject of Andrew Wyeth's famous painting, CHRISTINA'S WORLD)

& A FEW CLASSICS that I've been meaning to read for years:
LITTLE, BIG by John Crowley
THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy
ON SUCH A FULL SEA by Chang-Rae Lee

I'm also counting down the days to the fall publication of Jesmyn Ward's SING, UNBURIED, SING. I've been waiting for another novel from Ward for six years since I read her last, and it can't come soon enough. (less)

flag

6 likes · like
Comment

See all 3 answers from Naima Coster…

Combine Editions
Naima Coster’s books

Average rating: 3.59 · 34,545 ratings · 3,682 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	What's Mine and Yours 3.55 avg rating — 23,005 ratings — published 2021 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Halsey Street 3.54 avg rating — 7,879 ratings — published 2018	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora by Saraciea J. Fennell (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Elizabeth Acevedo (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Cristina Arreola (Contributor) 4.26 avg rating — 2,304 ratings — published 2021 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lila (The One, #7) 3.47 avg rating — 1,465 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Take What You Can it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Take What You Can: A Novel 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Naima Coster…

Mateo Askaripour is a Brooklyn-based writer whose first novel, Black Buck—which Colson Whitehead calls a “mesmerizing novel, executing a...

rss
Naima’s Recent Updates

Naima Coster rated a book it was amazing Trust Her by Flynn Berry (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 01, 2024 06:22AM · 3 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Trust Her by Flynn Berry. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Trust Her by Flynn Berry <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Naima Coster is now following Melissa Lozada-Oliva Author of peluda (Button Poetry)
Mar 20, 2024 07:18AM · like

More of Naima's books…

Quotes by Naima Coster (?)

“Daughters get either their courage or their fear from their mothers.”
― Naima Coster, Halsey Street

12 likes

“Penelope had met white women like her at RISD—women who were certain they were the center of everyone’s world. If someone wanted to steal a handbag, it would be her handbag. If someone wanted to pick a lock, it would be her lock. She was no better than the Manhattan friends Marcus complained about.”
― Naima Coster, Halsey Street

3 likes

“chancletas,”
― Naima Coster, Halsey Street

3 likes

See all Naima Coster's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Literary Fiction ...: Buddy Read: How To Love A Jamaican	28	66	Aug 10, 2018 10:48AM
EVERYONE Has Read...: Summer Spelling Bee Challenge June 2019	189	364	Jul 01, 2019 12:27AM
Precinct 81: Round 5 - Pemberley Ball	34	22	Jul 23, 2019 03:44PM
Read Women: Nat'l Hispanic Heritage Month - Recommended Reads	7	92	Nov 24, 2020 05:50AM
Busy as a Bee Books: Book News: 03/02/2020	4	9	Mar 09, 2021 01:45PM
Aussie Readers: Covid Take 2 - 1/10/20-31/3/21 - We have Wanderlust!	264	196	Mar 27, 2021 08:22PM

More…

recent posts
Naima’s Groups

Brooklyn Bookworms! — 223 members — last activity Sep 24, 2025 05:21AM
Brooklyn authors & readers, neighbors, or just fans of Brooklyn! We promote book-swaps, fairs, literacy programs, libraries, bookstores, area wri ...more

Black Girls Read! — 7705 members — last activity Oct 21, 2025 08:52PM
A group for African-American women to share, discuss and recommend quality books by and for other African-Americans.

Mocha Girls Read — 6771 members — last activity Oct 20, 2025 05:59PM
We are a group of black women who love to read, want to read more and meet like-minded women. #mochagirlsread Join Us in person: https://www.meetup.c ...more

THE Group for Authors! — 12893 members — last activity Oct 20, 2025 11:57AM
This is a group for authors to discuss their craft, as well as publishing and book marketing.

Lived in NYC, Now I Just Read About It — 9 members — last activity Apr 01, 2020 07:51PM
If you ever lived in New York City, reading about the city in books has SO much more resonance. Share your book pros and cons here in this group. {Als ...more

New Yorkers — 254 members — last activity Mar 10, 2017 07:56AM
A group for New York City dwellers to compare/contrast what they're reading with other New Yorkers. Anyone from the 5 boroughs, or even the tri-state ...more

LatinX Publishing Books, Authors and Recommendations — 501 members — last activity Jun 16, 2025 01:28PM
The official Latinx Publishing book group. This community is open to anyone interested in learning about and reading books by Latinx authors or with L ...more

Literary Fiction by People of Color — 12886 members — last activity 8 hours, 53 min ago
This can include genre fiction that is literary (e.g. speculative fiction, historical fiction, etc.), as long as it's written by a person of color (Af ...more