Novels:

• THE BLUEST EYE (1970)
• SULA (1973)
• SONG OF SOLOMON (1977)
• TAR BABY (1981)
• BELOVED (1987)
• JAZZ (1992)
• PARADISE (1997)
• LOVE (2003)
• A MERCY (2008)
• HOME (2012)
• GOD HELP THE CHILD (2015)

Children's literature (with Slade Morrison):

• THE BIG BOX (1999)
• THE BOOK OF MEAN PEOPLE (2002)
• PEENY BUTTER FUDGE (2009)

Short fiction:

• Recitatif (1983)

Plays:

• Dreaming Emmett (1986)
• Desdemona (2011)

Libretto:

• Margaret Garner (2005)

Nonfiction:

• THE BLACK BOOK (1974)
• PLAYING IN THE DARK: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992)
• RACE-ING JUSTICE, EN-GENDERING POWER: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (1992)
• BIRTH OF A NATION'HOOD: Gaze, Script, and Spectacle in the O.J. Simpson Case (co-editor) (1997)
• REMEMBER: The Journey to School Integration (2004)
• WHAT MOVES AT THE MARGIN: Selected Nonfiction (2008)
• BURN THIS BOOK: essay anthology (editor) (2009)