Political novelist Al-Tayyib Salih, whose family background was both Arab and Nubian, was one of Sudan’s most significant authors of the 20th century. He was born on July 12, 1929, in Marawi, Sudan, to a poor Muslim farming family and was an only child. In … Read MoreAl-Tayyib Salih (1929-2009)
Barbara Chase-Riboud was born on June 26, 1939, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Charles and Vivian Chase and is known for her controversial novel Sally Hemings, poetry, and sculptures, including the Malcolm X Steles. Her artistic talent in drawing and sculpting was discovered at any early age and as a result she attended the prestigious … Read MoreBarbara Chase-Riboud (1939- )
Jesmyn Ward, an acclaimed American writer and an associate professor of English at Tulane University, was born in 1977, in DeLisle, Mississippi, the town where she grew up and where she now again lives. She is the only woman to have won two National Books Awards, the first in 2011 … Read MoreJesmyn Ward (1977- )
Hilton Als is an American writer and art critic who was born in 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, the child of two Barbados immigrants. Raised by his mother with his five siblings, four sisters and one brother, he studied art history at Columbia University but dropped out before graduation and became a … Read MoreHilton Als (1960- )
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian-born writer who is best known for her published works that have garnered internal acclaim. Adichie, the fifth of six children, was born on September 15, 1977, in Enugu, Nigeria, to James Nwoye Adichie and Grace Ifeoma. Her father was the first professor … Read MoreChimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977- )
Christopher Paul Curtis is an American children’s book author. He was born on May 10, 1953, in Flint, Michigan, the city that serves as a setting in some of his books. His parents were Dr. Herman E. Curtis, a chiropodist, and Leslie Curtis, an educator. … Read MoreChristopher Paul Curtis (1953- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite, more commonly known as E.R. Braithwaite, was a Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomat. He was best known for his stories of social conditions and racial discrimination against black people. He was the author of … Read MoreEustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (1912–2016)
Writer Ann Petry was born Ann Lane on October 12, 1908, to pharmacist Peter Clark Lane, Jr. and podiatrist Bertha James Lane in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Like her father, Ann was trained as a pharmacist and practiced in the family’s drugstores in Old Saybrook. However, … Read MoreAnn Lane Petry (1908-1997)
Mentis Carrere was a black activist in Los Angeles mainly known for his 1926 heroic defense of his home against a white mob angry that he became an occupant in a formerly all-white neighborhood. Born on December 9, 1891 in Louisiana, Carrere was a working-class … Read MoreMentis Carrere (1891-1989)
Antillean author Maryse Condé was born on February 11, 1937, in Pointe-á-Pitre, Guadeloupe, where her parents were members of the island’s black middle class. After a childhood she describes as “not at all interesting,” Condé left Guadeloupe at sixteen to complete her formal education in … Read MoreMaryse Condé (1937- )
