20th Century African American Writers
Wilfred D. Samuels, Ph.D., Department of English, University of Utah
                 
Audre Lorde c2001 by Lynda Koolish Richard Wright Ntozake Shange c2001 Lynda Koolish John Edgar Wideman c2001 by Lynda Koolish Paule Marshall c2001 by Lynda Koolish Yusef Komunyakaa c2001 by Lynda Koolish Tupac Shakur June Jordan c2001 by Lynda Koolish Langston Hughes Walter Mosley c2001 by Lynda Koolish

 


A Gift of Story/Encyclopedia of African-American Literature

Wilfred D. Samuels, General Editor

Deadline for Entries: Closed

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

I would like to invite you to contribute to A Gift of Story and Song: An Encyclopedia on Twentieth Century African American Writers, which will be published by Facts on File, Inc., in 2004. Although utilizing a general "A-Z" reference format, the larger project concentrates on literature produced during at least three significant junctures during the twentieth century:

  • "New Negro"(Harlem Renaissance) and Modernist voices (1900-1960)
  • The "Black Aesthetics" Movement (1960-1980)
  • Post Black Aesthetics Period to Hip Hop, Rap, and Def Poetry Jam (1980-Present)

A Gift of Story and Song will include entries on well known writers: autobiographers, critics, dramatists, novelists and poets, from Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Charles Chesnutt, and Paul Dunbar, to Zora Neale Hurston, Randall Kenan, Yusef Komunyakaa, Nathaniel Mackey, Paule Marshall, E. Ethelbert Miller, Toni Morrison, Quincy Troupe, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, August Wilson, Richard Wright, etc.

Importantly, it will also highlight a host of emerging literary voices, such as G. Winston James, Mel Donalson, Daniel Wideman, Jeffrey Reynard Allen, Pearl Cleage, Toi Derricotte, Eric Jerome Dickey, Tananarive Due, Thomas Glade, E. Lynn Harris, Donna Hemans, Nalo Hopkinson, R.M. Johnson, Yolanda Joe, William Henry Lewis, Kimberly Lawson Roby, Lalita Tademy, and many others.

Audience: A Gift of Story will be written as a reference text for a broad spectrum of readers, from the general reader and high school student, to college undergraduates. It should also be a useful resource for high school and college instructors and anyone interested in developments and contributions in African American literature and culture, particularly at the end of the twentieth century. Jargon free entries will introduce readers to writers, movements, and texts, while encouraging further research through comprehensive bibliographies.

Entries:

Please contact Wilfred Samuels to confirm an assignment before beginning work.

Each entry must include the following:

  • biographical information
  • the writer's career that mentions major works, plays, collections of poetry, etc.
  • brief summary of major work(s) with emphasis on major themes and style
  • significance within the African American literary tradition
  • prizes won

The entry must be followed by a selected bibliography of primary and secondary works essential to the study of the writer and his/her work.

Length: Entries will vary from 500-1500 words. Essays on new and single-work authors are limited to 500 words, while essays on major writers such as Hughes, Hurston, Morrison, Walker, etc. are limited to 1500 words. MLA documentation style must be used. Type in Microsoft Word.

 

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James Baldwin Samuel R. Delany c2001 by Lynda Koolish Gwendolyn Brooks shmael Reed c2001 by Lynda Koolish August Wilson c2001 by Lynda Koolish Haki Madhubuti Zora Neale Hurston Toni Morrison c2001 by Lynda Koolish Amiri Baraka