Some of the most profound and original voices in American fiction belong to African American writers: James Baldwin, Charles W. Chesnutt, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, Jean Toomer, Alice Walker, and Richard Wright. Their fiction documents one of the largest, oldest and most important cultures in America. Modern African American Writers, part of the Essential Bibliography of American Fiction series, introduces the serious reader and student to each writer's body of work and to sources that illuminate his or her writing and life. Modern African American Writers provides a foreword by Keneth Kinnamon, Ethel Pumphrey Stephens Professor of English at the University of Arkansas, that comments on these writers and discusses their collective contribution to American fiction.Based on Facts On File's four-volume Bibliography of American Fiction series, each volume in this concise series profiles between six and ten authors selected according to their backgrounds and writings. Forewords written by experts in literature offer readers a fuller understanding of the authors as a group and place their writings in a larger context.Entries are arranged alphabetically by author and begin with a complete primary, bibliography of the author's books in all genres: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama. The secondary bibliography, intended to enhance the reader's understanding of an author and his works, lists major biographical and critical books and articles. A list of archives locating the principal holdings of an author's manuscripts and private papers completes each entry.Modern African American Writers is the definitive resource for anyone who seeks to expand his or her knowledge about the most widely read African American authors of our time. Whether the reader wants to discover other works by a favorite author or wants to explore the body of criticism that the works have inspired, this volume provides a reliable road map for the literary journey. Read Less