Maria Firmina dos Reis was the founding mother of Afro-Brazilian literature. Her novel, Úrsula (1859), was the first abolitionist novel written by a woman. She was born on October 11, 1825 (or March 11, 1822 depending on source) in Guimarães, Maranhão, Brazil and spent her … Read MoreMaria Firmina dos Reis (1825 -1917)
John A. Williams was an American writer, academic, and journalist. He is best known for his explorations of black identity in his 1967 best-selling novel The Man Who Cried I Am. John Alfred Williams was born on December 5, 1925 in Jackson, Mississippi, but soon after … Read MoreJohn A. Williams (1925-2015)
Teju Cole is a photographer, art historian, and an award-winning author of four books which display the wide range of his interests: Every Day is for the Thief (2007), a novella; Open City (2012), a full-length novel; Known and Strange Things (2016), a collection of essays; Blind Spot (2017), a photobook. Teju Cole, the nom de plume of … Read MoreTeju Cole (1975- )
Paul Beatty is an African American author, poet, essayist, and professor who is credited with the creation of the “hip-hop” novel. Beatty was born on June 9, 1962 in Los Angeles, California. His father left the family early in Beatty’s childhood, leaving his mother to raise their two daughters and … Read MorePaul Beatty (1962- )
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin is considered by many literary critics and people around the world as Russia’s greatest poet, author, and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born into a Russian noble family on June 6, 1799. As a student attending private school in Moscow, Russia, he excelled … Read MoreAleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837)
Ishmael Beah is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his personal history, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider. Beah was born on November 23, 1980, in Mattru Jong, Bonthe District, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. … Read MoreIshmael Beah (1980- )
