You've Got a Place Here, Too: An Anthology of Black Love Stories Set at HBCUs
by Ebony LaDelle
Why You'll Love This
Twelve writers, twelve HBCUs, and a kind of love story you almost never see centered this fully — and this unapologetically.
- Great if you want: Black joy and romance rooted in real cultural legacy
- The experience: warm, varied, and easy to read in short sittings
- The writing: each contributor brings a distinct voice — no two stories feel alike
- Skip if: you prefer a single sustained narrative over anthology-style variety
About This Book
Some places don't just educate you — they shape who you become. You've Got a Place Here, Too, edited by Ebony LaDelle, gathers twelve original love stories set at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, where romance unfolds against backdrops rich with legacy, community, and belonging. These aren't simple love stories. They're stories about what it means to find yourself seen — fully, joyfully — in a space built for you. From first loves discovered during homecoming weekend to relationships tested by history and hope, this anthology captures something rarely centered in fiction: Black love as something both ordinary and quietly radical.
What makes this collection worth lingering over is its range. LaDelle has assembled a genuinely varied roster of contributors — Elizabeth Acevedo, Kiese Laymon, Nicola Yoon, Kennedy Ryan, and others — and the voices feel distinct rather than flattened into anthology sameness. Each story has its own rhythm, its own emotional register. Some are tender, some sharp, some bittersweet. Readers who assume anthologies feel scattered will find instead that the HBCU setting functions as a unifying thread strong enough to hold twelve very different hearts together.