List of African American writers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of African American authors and writers, all of whom are considered part of African American literature.
Note: Consult Who is African American? to gain a better sense as to who can be listed as an African American writer.
- Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also
[edit] A
- R.M. Ahmose (also Rhamal M. Ahmose); author (Baltimore/Richmond) of fictional suspense; http://www.publishedauthors.net/rmahmose [1]
- Maya Angelou (born 1928), author and poet
- Tina McElroy Ansa
- Mechelle Avey
[edit] B
- Frankie Y. Bailey
- Michael Baisden
- James Baldwin (1924-1987),
- Toni Cade Bambara
- Jacqueline Turner Banks
- Leslie Esdaile Banks
- Amiri Baraka
- Steven Barnes
- Paul Beatty
- Derrick Bell
- Haley Bendall
- Lerone Bennett, Jr.
- Chris Benson
- Bertice Berry
- Eleanor Taylor Bland
- Darnishia Bolden
- Marita Bonner
- Arna Bontemps
- Tommy Bottoms
- David Bradley (novelist)
- Bill Brady
- Gwendolyn Brooks
- Hallie Quinn Brown
- Sterling A. Brown (1901-1989), poet, literary critic, professor, poet laureate of the District of Columbia
- William Wells Brown
- Ed Bullins
- Olivia Ward Bush
- Garvey Butler
- Octavia Butler
[edit] C
- Bebe Moore Campbell
- Patricia E. Canterbury
- Minnie Carey
- Stokely Carmichael
- Stephen L. Carter
- Veola Carter
- Cyrus Cassells
- Christopher Chambers
- Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932), novelist and short-story writer[2]
- Rasheed Clark, novelist
- Tracy P. Clark
- Troy CLE
- Pearl Cleage
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Michelle Cliff
- Lucille Clifton
- Wendy Coakley-Thompson
- Evelyn Coleman
- Wanda Coleman
- [Brandon Collier] (1980-) Author of Body Traffic and The Night Sparkles
- Marvel Cooke
- Anna J. Cooper
- J. California Cooper
- Jayne Cortez
- Bill Cosby
- Donald Crews, (born 1938), children's book author.
- Mark Crockett
- Stanley Crouch
- Countee Cullen
- Christopher Paul Curtis
[edit] D
- Cassandra Daniels http://www.cassandradaniels.com
- Jeffrey Daniels
- Margaret Danner
- Edwidge Danticat
- Angela Davis
- Edrea Davis
- Frank Marshall Davis
- A. Elizabeth Delaney
- Lucy Delaney
- Samuel R. Delany (born 1942), novelist[3]
- Sarah L. Delany
- Nora DeLoach
- William Demby
- Eric Jerome Dickey
- Anita Doreen Diggs
- Lonnie Dixon
- Frederick Douglass
- Rita Dove
- Evelyn Dove-Coleman Prayers to Survive, Mt. Olive College Press
- W.E.B. DuBois
- Devon Dubuque
- Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), poet[4]
- Alice Dunbar-Nelson
- David Anthony Durham
- Michael Eric Dyson
[edit] E
- Grace F. Edwards
- Ralph Ellison
- Olaudah Equiano
- Mari Evans
- Percival Everett
[edit] F
- Jessie Fauset
- Jamian Fertig
- Rudolph Fisher
- Sharon G. Flake
- Leon Forrest
[edit] G
- Ernest Gaines (born 1933), fiction writer[5]
- Marcus Garvey
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- Addison Gayle
- Nikki Giovanni
- Roy Glenn
- Paige Glowacki
- Patrick Gonzales
- Lawrence Otis Graham
- Robert Greer
- Dick Gregory
- Sutton E. Griggs
- Terris McMahan Grimes
- Angelina Weld Grimke
- Charlotte Forten Grimké
[edit] H
- Alex Haley
- Virginia Hamilton
- Henry Hampton
- Lorraine Hansberry
- Vincent Harding
- Frances Harper
- E. Lynn Harris
- Robert Hayden
- Gar Anthony Haywood
- Chester Himes
- Shannon Holmes
- Hugh Holton
- bell hooks (sic)
- Pauline Hopkins
- George Moses Horton
- Benjamin Hughes
- Langston Hughes (1902-1967), poet, 1/2 African American, 7/16 European American, and 1/16 Native American
- Geri Spencer Hunter
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Edwards Grimes-Carrion (Born in Harlem 1972), African and Latino descent
[edit] I
[edit] J
- Brenda Jackson
- C.F. Jackson
- Dicey Scroggins Jackson pseudonym for Mary Jackson Scroggins
- Anthony Charles Jenkins (Born 1978) young-adult author/poet
- Harriet Jacobs
- Georgia Douglas Johnson
- Helene Johnson
- Charles R. Johnson
- James Weldon Johnson
- Mat Johnson
- R.M. Johnson
- Shawne Johnson
- Edward P. Jones
- Tayari Jones
- June Jordan
[edit] K
- Maria C. James
- Beverly Jenkins
- Ron Karenga
- Elizabeth Keckley
- Randall Kenan
- T.E. Kendall (born 1971) fiction writer/screenwriter
- John Oliver Killens
- Jamaica Kincaid
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Etheridge Knight
- Yusef Komunyakaa
- T.D. Jakes
- Joy King
[edit] L
- Nella Larsen (1891-1964), novelist
- Victor LaValle
- Newoka LaShelle (Born January 17, 1976) pantomime, digital blogger, historian, filmmaker
- Alain Locke
- Audre Lorde (1934-1992), author, poet, activist
- Glenville Lovell
- Langston Hughes
- Joshua Lopez Jackson (1932-1984) author, preacher, poet, town hero
- Shayne Lee
[edit] M
- Nathaniel Mackey
- Kissthis Mother
- Haki R. Madhubuti
- Paule Marshall
- Norma Anne Holmes Martin
- Hans Massaquoi
- Brandon Massey
- James McBride
- Nathan McCall
- Colleen McElroy
- Bernice L. McFadden
- Claude McKay
- Terry McMillan
- James Alan McPherson
- Lee E. Meadows
- Oscar Micheaux
- Penny Mickelbury
- Cora M. Miller
- E. Ethelbert Miller
- Anne Moody
- Mary B. Morrison
- Toni Morrison (born 1931), author, Nobel laureate 1993
- Walter Mosley
- Thylias Moss
- Willard Motley
- Jess Mowry
- Albert Murray
[edit] N
- Gloria Naylor
- Larry Neal
- Barbara Neely
- William Morris Newton
[edit] O
- Bayo Ojikutu
- Alondra Yvette Oubre
[edit] P
- ZZ Packer
- Percy Spurlock Parker
- Kayla Perrin
- Eric Pete
- Ann Petry
- Gary Phillips
- Ann Plato
- Sterling Plump
- Daaimah S. Poole
- Warrior Poet
- Alvin F. Poussaint
- William Powell Jr.
[edit] Q
[edit] R
- Dudley Randall
- Andy Razaf
- Emily Raboteau
- J. Saunders Redding
- Ishmael Reed (born 1938), poet, essayist and novelist
- W. Adolph Roberts
- Kimberla Lawson Roby http://www.kimroby.com
- Octavia V. Rogers Albert
- Al Roker
- Dax-Devlon Ross
- Fran Ross
[edit] S
- Sonia Sanchez
- Ayobunmi Sangode
- Sapphire
- Charles R. Saunders
- Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
- George Schuyler
- Gil Scott-Heron
- Mary Jackson Scroggins uses pseudonym Dicey Scroggins Jackson
- Victor Séjour
- Ntozake Shange
- Charlie Shipps
- Iceberg Slim
- Amanda Smith
- Charles Smith
- Mark Xandrine Sneed
- Thomas Sowell
- Sister Souljah
- Anne Spencer
- Maria W. Stewart
- Sekou Sundiata
- Anthony Simpson
[edit] T
- Susie Taylor
- Sundiata Tellem
- Lorenzo Thomas
- LaVerne Thomas-Taylor
- Wanda Y. Thomas
- Wallace Thurman
- Melvin B. Tolson
- Jean Toomer
- Touré
- Quincy Troupe
- Sojourner Truth
- Harriet Tubman
- Nikki Turner
- Omar Tyree
[edit] U
[edit] V
- Henry Van Dyke
- Victor Vango
- York Van Nixon III Fiction writer. Author of Missing Steps, Wytherton and numerous short stories. He has also written hundreds of research and political articles on Multiple Sclerosis. His op-ed pieces, articles and political commentaries have appeared in major newspapers, magazines in the United States and Europe.
[edit] W
- Alice Walker (born 1944)
- Blair S. Walker
- Margaret Walker
- Booker T. Washington
- Carl Weber
- Valerie Wilson Wesley
- Cornel West
- Dorothy West
- Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), first published African American poet
- Colson Whitehead, novelist (The Intuitionist) and journalist
- Steven Whitehurst (1967- ), Award winning author http://www.stevenwhitehurst.com/
- Anthony Whyte
- John Wideman
- Chancellor Williams
- John Alfred Williams
- Sherley Anne Williams
- August Wilson
- Harriet E. Wilson, author of "Our Nig" and first African American novelist
- Richard Wright
[edit] X
- Malcolm X
- Mark Xandrine Sneed
[edit] Y
[edit] Z
[edit] See also
- List of African American nonfiction writers
- list of writers
- Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
- Before Columbus Foundation
[edit] Notes
- ^ search both Google and YouTube by entering rm ahmose
- ^ [1] "As the first African-American fiction writer to achieve a national reputation, Ohio native Charles W. Chesnutt..."
- ^ [2] "Although he has written much outside the genre, Samuel R. Delany is, along with Octavia Butler, one of two African Americans who, as writers, rank near the..."
- ^ [3] "Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet."
- ^ [4] "He is an African-American writer and educator."