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- Maya Angelou. Acclaimed American poet, author and activist Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. Often referred to as a spokesman for African Americans and women through her many works, her gift of words connected all people who were “committed to raising the moral standards of living in the United States.”
- James Baldwin. Though he spent most of his life living abroad to escape the racial prejudice in the United States, James Baldwin is the quintessential American writer.
- Amiri Baraka. Born in 1934, poet, writer and political activist Amiri Baraka used his writing as a weapon against racism and became one of the most widely published African American writers.
- Octavia Butler. In a genre known for being traditionally white and male, Octavia Butler broke new ground in science fiction as an African American woman.
This is a list of notable African American writers ordered alphabetically by surname. The term writers is here broadly defined to include philosophers, critics, journalists, sociologists, and historians as well as poets and novelists. ( See also African American literature .) Robert Abbott. Kwame Alexander.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou gestures while speaking in a chair during an interview at her home in 1978. One of the most prolific writers of our time, Black or otherwise, Maya Angelou's storied career spanned several decades and included the publication of everything from poetry and essays to several autobiographies, including 1969's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
- Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) at a book fair, New York, New York, circa 1937. The daughter of two formerly enslaved people, Zora Neale Hurston was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
- Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Nigerian novelist, poet and critic. New York City, New York. March 6, 1988. Chinua Achebe's seminal first novel, Things Fall Apart, has sold an estimated 20 million copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages since its 1958 release.
- Langston Hughes. Portrait of American author Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967), a phonograph record in hand, 1954. Langston Hughes summed up his mission in a 1926 manifesto, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” writing, “We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame.
This is a list of Black American authors and writers, all of whom are considered part of African-American literature, and who already have Wikipedia articles. The list also includes non-American authors resident in the US and American writers of African descent.
- Toni Morrison. Among numerous accolades, Toni Morrison was the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 and the first Black woman to be an editor at Random House.
- Anna J. Cooper. Author and Black liberation activist Anna J. Cooper was born into slavery in the 1850s yet earned a doctorate in history from the University of Paris, becoming the fourth African American woman in history to get a doctorate.
- James Baldwin. Best known for his essays on race, class, and sexuality (although he also wrote novels and plays), James Baldwin was a champion and leading voice of the American civil rights movement.
- Gwendolyn Brooks. The first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (for her 1949 collection "Annie Allen"), Gwendolyn Brooks was a revered poet and author.
Our hand-picked list includes several famous black authors you might recognize — Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin — as well as some of the most promising up-and-coming names.
Apr 25, 2024 · Here’s a list of famous contemporary Black authors: Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Woodson, James McBride, Jesmyn Ward, Kevin Young, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kiese Laymon, Roxane Gay, Marlon James, N.K. Jemisin, Tayari Jones, and Terry McMillan.
