Colson Whitehead
American novelist
20th-century african-american writers
Jean Toomer
American poet and novelist commonly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, though he actively resisted the association, and modernism
Ishmael Reed
American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture
Gloria Naylor
American novelist, known for novels including The Women of Brewster Place , Linden Hills and Mama Day .
Chester Himes
American writer
Ernest J. Gaines
American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese
Ralph Ellison
American novelist, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote Shadow and Act , a collection of political, social, and critical essays, and Going to the Territory . The New York Times dubbed him “among the gods of America’s literary Parnassus.” A posthumous novel, Juneteenth, was published after being assembled from voluminous notes he left upon his death.
Edwidge Danticat
Haitian-American novelist and short story writer