The most recommended drama books

Who picked these books? Meet our 78 experts.

78 authors created a book list connected to drama, and here are their favorite drama books.
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Book cover of Topdog/Underdog

Will Dunne Author Of The Dramatic Writer's Companion: Tools to Develop Characters, Cause Scenes, and Build Stories

From my list on plays with characters who leap off the page.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a playwright who loves not only writing plays but also teaching dramatic writing workshops – mostly through my San Francisco program and Chicago Dramatists where I’m a Resident Playwright. My plays have received many awards and honors, including three selections for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, and have been presented in Europe, Russia, and Australia as well as the U.S. Meanwhile my workshops and script consultations have given me the opportunity to work with thousands of writers over the past 35 years. This led me to begin writing books for writers, starting with The Dramatic Writer’s Companion, now in its Second Edition.

Will's book list on plays with characters who leap off the page

Will Dunne Why did Will love this book?

This is the play that made Suzan-Lori Parks the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It features only two characters and takes place in only one room, but it is a dynamite exploration of the competitive relationship between two adult African-American brothers who have been abandoned by everyone else in their lives. One brother is a petty thief who wants to become a three-card-monte dealer. The other is an Abraham Lincoln impersonator who works as a target in a mock shooting gallery.

For me, the excitement of this play is all about discovering who these two men are, how they got that way, and how far each is willing to go to become a topdog in a world that has made them underdogs for years.

By Suzan-Lori Parks,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Topdog/Underdog as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Suzan-Lori Parks' play Topdog/Underdog tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.

Topdog/Underdog was first performed at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, New York, in 2001. Its UK premiere was at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2003.


Book cover of I Really Want the Cake

Lisa Wheeler Author Of People Don't Bite People

From my list on picture books that are even better read aloud.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm an award-winning children's book author who loves everything about kid's books--including the smell! With over 50 books on bookstore shelves-- which have been read aloud hundreds of times all over the world-- I feel that I've become an expert on the subject.

Lisa's book list on picture books that are even better read aloud

Lisa Wheeler Why did Lisa love this book?

When our heroine and her little dog spy a spectacular cake just sitting alone on the kitchen table, it's on! The note attached from Mom says "You must not eat the cake." But what's a kid to do? She tries lots of activities to help her forget about cake but will temptation win out? This book is fun, funny, and well written. I love the drama of the situation and the art (by Lucia Gaggioti) is spot on. Fun to read dramatically aloud to both kids and adults. (Pair it with a reading of Green Eggs and Ham!)

By Simon Philip, Lucia Gaggiotti (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Really Want the Cake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

There's a smell I can't ignore.
It's wafting through the kitchen door.
It's time for me to find out more.
I think it might be cake.

How do you resist the most amazing cake ever? Especially when your mum has left a note saying that you MUST NOT eat the cake?

This wonderful rhyming text from Simon Philip, author of You Must Bring a Hat, is illustrated with huge energy and humour by Lucia Gaggiotti.


Book cover of Violet Black

Fleur Beale Author Of Juno of Taris

From my list on young people trapped by draconian rules.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer from Aotearoa New Zealand and I’ve always been drawn to stories of struggle, especially where a character fights against outside control. I started writing for the high school students I was teaching and got hooked on the YA genre. I love it partly because it crosses all genres – I can write about a 14-year-old girl trying to live in a repressive religious cult but I can also write about a 15-year-old boy who’s a champion kart driver. Karting at top level takes enormous skill as I discovered, but it also has room for dirty tricks.

Fleur's book list on young people trapped by draconian rules

Fleur Beale Why did Fleur love this book?

Violet Black is the first book in a trilogy set in the near future. Violet Black and Ethan Wright are both in a coma after contracting the lethal M-fever. They have never met:

I couldn’t speak, but I was trying so hard to communicate and then... then... I pushed. And something, someone, pushed back. Her name is Violet. Violet, but she is sunshine-yellow, and I need to find her because I think she might be just like me.

But there is a far more serious reason for Ethan to find Violet: the sinister Foundation is trying to hunt them down.

Violet Black in the first book of a trilogy where Violet must fight for her sanity and her freedom from those who want to control her. It’s always wonderful when you’ve got captured by a story and its characters to know that there are more books to come. I love…

By Eileen Merriman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Violet Black as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

The first book in the Black Spiral Trilogy

Set in the near future, this first book in a fast-paced trilogy will hook you in from the first page.

Violet Black and Ethan Wright are both in a coma after contracting the lethal M-fever. They have never met-

I couldn't speak, but I was trying so hard to communicate and then . . . then . . .
I pushed. And something, someone, pushed back.
Her name is Violet. Violet, but she is sunshine-yellow, and I need to find her because I think she might be just like me.

But there…


Book cover of Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words

Marge Pellegrino Author Of Neon Words: 10 Brilliant Ways to Light Up Your Writing

From my list on creative jump starts whatever your medium.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a kid, I loved how words on a page transported me. Later, I was astounded by how the words I wrote myself could help me solve problems, deepen my understanding, and expand my thinking. Over time, that writing offered clarity and built my confidence. And in my most challenging times, writing has saved me over and over again. Learning to observe like a writer or an artist continues to help me be more present in my life. Sharing expressive writing experiences with others, during a 35-year career as a writer and workshop facilitator, allowed me to witness how this creative engagement offers a respite while building resilience and joy in others too.

Marge's book list on creative jump starts whatever your medium

Marge Pellegrino Why did Marge love this book?

Susan Wooldridge’s Poemcrazy is a vibrant collage in which she shares her poetry-writing journey in rich detail. From evocative chapter titles, quotes by poets, and poems from a variety of lesser-known voices, each element plays a part in setting up and illustrating an approach or addressing the topic at hand. My favorite part of this book is the “Practice” opportunities Wooldridge crafts for us. Get out your pencil! This book, informed by Wooldridge’s expressive arts practice, is one in which we, the readers, are invited to play. You’ll be surprised and delighted by what Poemcrazy will inspire you to write.

By Susan G. Wooldridge,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Poemcrazy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Following the success of several recent inspirational and practical books for would-be writers, Poemcrazy is a perfect guide for everyone who ever wanted to write a poem but was afraid to try. Writing workshop leader Susan Wooldridge shows how to think, use one's senses, and practice exercises that will make poems more likely to happen.


Book cover of The Nanny's Secret: An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a shocking final twist

Miranda Rijks Author Of Make Her Pay

From Miranda's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Mountain-lover

Miranda's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Miranda Rijks Why did Miranda love this book?

The Nanny’s Secret is a fast paced drama about a wealthy, entitled family and their nannies who seem to disappear. The novel is full of secrets, with plenty of twists and a shocker of an ending. Rose, the protagonist is probably the only appealing individual in a cast of horrible characters in this atmospheric, gripping book.

Book cover of If I Could

Christine EM Cooper Author Of His Lies, Her Secrets

From my list on get lost in someone else’s drama.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have enjoyed writing and creating stories based on fictional characters since my writing assignments in elementary school. I can remember my teachers telling my mother that my stories were very captivating and that I would take my simple assignments to a level that they hadn’t expected. This love for writing led to a love for reading fiction books and a deeper love for urban fiction, women’s fiction, and erotic fiction. I enjoyed books so much that I became a bookseller at a local bookstore and moved up to a specialist who introduced customers to their next favorite book. 

Christine's book list on get lost in someone else’s drama

Christine EM Cooper Why did Christine love this book?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Regina Everette has never been a risk taker. She has always gone with the flow and done what everyone else wanted her to do. I admired the author’s work, especially how she described in great detail how this need-to-please mentality took over Regina’s life.

One day, she decided to risk it all and step out on faith, leaving her comfort zone behind. During this turning point, I couldn’t get enough of the new Regina and how she went from a people-pleaser to an independent woman, no longer depending on her husband, mother, and friends.

It was inspiring to read about a woman getting out of her own way and living out her dreams. She left her husband, stood up to her mother and friends, quit her job, and opened up her own bookstore. She even met a new man along the way. This book inspired…

By Donna Hill,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked If I Could as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Tired of her old life, Regina Everette divorces her husband and the father of her two children, quits her unfulfilling job, scandalizes her family and friends, and sets out to rebuild her life by finding a new career and entering into a dynamic new relationship. Original.


Book cover of Vengeance Unleashed

Kiexiza Rodriquez Author Of Beautiful

From my list on drama surrounding friendships and finding yourself.

Why am I passionate about this?

I write what I know. My life has given me so much to write about that people seem to connect with. I started this journey as a writer to share my personal story but instead, what I authored was a novel about my life, but as a fictional story. A lot of situations that my characters find themselves in are things that I have endured or seen personally in my life and in my travels. My passion is broken people I guess, because I have been surrounded by so many of them, in my life.

Kiexiza's book list on drama surrounding friendships and finding yourself

Kiexiza Rodriquez Why did Kiexiza love this book?

Vengeance Unleashed is a book that will keep you on your toes throughout the read. As the title suggests, it’s about vengeance in its truest form. The main character, a woman ex-agent, plays no games, and pulls no punches when it comes to what she wants. What she wants is to know where her sister is. She’s willing to turn the town upside down and take anyone out who gets in her way of those answers

By Tony Wade,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Vengeance Unleashed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sisters, Jessica and Sybil were raised by their uncle after the untimely death of their parents. When their unique, and natural combat skills are recognized by a secret department inside of the N.C.U. they are recruited and taught to do one thing…KILL. But, when Jessica is killed on a mission overseas, Sybil disappears refusing to return. Putting the agency and all its nasty business behind her, she takes to the protecting the innocent from the streets and the vermin that would prey upon them. When agents start dropping like flies while on missions, the N.C.U sends a blast from Sybil’s…


Book cover of The Convent of Pleasure and Other Plays

Alison Findlay Author Of Love's Victory: By Lady Mary Wroth

From my list on women playwrights in Shakespeare’s day.

Why am I passionate about this?

Most people have not heard of a female playwright before Aphra Behn so I’ve been passionate about restoring the work of Shakespeare’s ‘sisters’, or female contemporaries, to the stage and to public awareness. Early play scripts by women are often dismissed as ‘closet drama’: unperformed, not written for performance, and unperformable. To challenge such assumptions, I staged productions of female-authored plays, most recently Wroth’s Love’s Victory. A good deal of writing about women’s drama now exists, including my book Playing Spaces. I have made this selection to encourage you to discover the plays for yourselves. I hope you enjoy reading, and perhaps watching or acting, them.

Alison's book list on women playwrights in Shakespeare’s day

Alison Findlay Why did Alison love this book?

This modern edition gives readers a sample plays by the remarkable Margaret Cavendish, who privately published 2 volumes of plays in 1662 and 1668 though many were probably written earlier.

I find her plays fascinating for the ways they deal explicitly with women’s experiences in love, in war and in marriage.

In this selection Love’s Adventures Parts I and II features a cross-dressing heroine in pursuit of her intended husband; Bell In Campo Parts I and II, dramatizes the experience of a superheroine leading an army, while The Bridals and The Convent of Pleasure satirize love and marriage.

I love The Convent of Pleasure’s depictions of same-sex retreat and desire. Cavendish’s witty prefaces on the difficulties of writing plays for a woman are included as appendices to Shaver’s edition.

By Margaret Cavendish, Anne Shaver (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Convent of Pleasure and Other Plays as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673), until recently remembered more as a flamboyant eccentric than as a serious writer, was in fact the most prolific, thought-provoking, and original woman writer of the Restoration. Cavendish is the author of many poems, short stories, biographies, memoirs, letters, philosophical and scientific works (including The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World, the first work of science fiction by a woman), and nineteen plays. "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays collects four of Cavendish's dramatic works that are among the most revealing of her attitudes toward marriage and her desire for…


Book cover of This Is Shakespeare

Kenneth L. Campbell Author Of The Beatles and the 1960s: Reception, Revolution, and Social Change

From Kenneth's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Professor Historian Music enthusiast Sports enthusiast Avid reader

Kenneth's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Kenneth L. Campbell Why did Kenneth love this book?

This book will appeal to people who love and know Shakespeare well or to people who don’t know Shakespeare very well but would like to know more about his famous plays.

I loved this book because Smith divides the book into relatively short chapters on each of the bard’s plays, for each of which she provides a unique and interesting perspective.

Smith is an entertaining and informative guide who looks for contemporary resonances, none of which feel forced. Having written a book about the Beatles, I know how daunting it can be to take up a subject about which much has already been said and written and try to look at it in a fresh way.

I can only hope my effort was half as successful as Smith’s is. 

By Emma Smith,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked This Is Shakespeare as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019

'The best introduction to the plays I've read, perhaps the best book on Shakespeare, full stop' Alex Preston, Observer

'It makes you impatient to see or re-read the plays at once' Hilary Mantel

A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no others. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality and literary mastery. Who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else.
Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of.

But it doesn't really tell us the whole truth. So much of what…


Book cover of Scoreless Game

J.L. Gribble Author Of Steel Victory

From J.L.'s 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Editor Worldbuilder TARDIS collector

J.L.'s 3 favorite reads in 2023

J.L. Gribble Why did J.L. love this book?

These authors’ shared love of hockey shines through in this book, which is as much about the romance as it is about the heart of this game.

The drama, as a combination of personal and interpersonal conflict for Elias and Nisha, makes a separate external plot superfluous, especially for professional athletes whose lives are wholly entwined with their day jobs. It’s easy to forgive when best friends assume they already know what the other wants, but this book dives head-first into “idiots in love” territory when they proceed to Not-Talk-About-It, elevating the story even more.

These guys don’t have issues; they have volumes, and this isn’t a romance arc; it’s a roller coaster, one I definitely didn’t want to get off.

By Anna Zabo, L.A. Witt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Scoreless Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Topdog/Underdog
Book cover of I Really Want the Cake
Book cover of Violet Black

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