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African American Fiction & Literature
A Pathfinder
by Milena Hansen, Librarian
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This pathfinder will help patrons find the works of their favorite African American fiction writers. It also provides links to biographies, critical essays, writers’ associations, book clubs and other relevant information.
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
Databases
Websites
Programs & Events
Local Resources
Book Clubs & Associations
Related Pathfinders
Here are some useful Subject Headings to search for materials:
African American authors
African Americans—Fiction
African Americans in literature
American literature—African American authors
Books
African American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests. Edited by Alma Dawson and Connie Van Fleet. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, c2004.
Over 700 titles are organized by genres; title-author and subject indexes provide additional access.
Bader, Philip. African-American Writers. New York: Facts On File, c2004.
Biographical entries on more than 145 African American authors. Entries include biographical data, a discussion of their major works and a list of titles for further reading.
Beloved Harlem: A Literary Tribute to Black America’s Most Famous Neighborhood : From the Classics to the Contemporary. Edited by William H. Banks, Jr. New York: Harlem Moon, c2005.
A collection of 29 excerpts and short stories, each of them prefaced with a short biography. It ranges from 1910s through 2000, from James Weldon Johnson to Toni Morrison and Rosemarie Robotham.
Black American Prose Writers: Before the Harlem Renaissance. Edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, c1994.
Biographies, critical essays, and bibliographies of the thirteen most significant African American prose writers up to the early twentieth century.
Black American Prose Writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, c1994.
Biographies, critical essays, and bibliographies of the thirteen most significant African American prose writers of the early twentieth century.
The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Editors, William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Offers an impressive range of writers, synopses of major works, information on literary characters, and general articles on poetry, fiction, and drama.
Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writing. Edited by Marita Golden and E. Lynn Harris. 1st ed. New York: Harlem Moon, 2002.
Over 70 writers contributed to this anthology with short stories and excerpts from their previously published novels. The writers are for the most part contemporary and well-established but there are also some new and promising names among them.
Making Callaloo: 25 Years of Black Literature. Edited by Charles Henry Rowell. New York: St. Martin’s Press, c2002.
A wide range of fiction and poetry reprinted from the African-diaspora journal Callaloo (see under Magazines). Includes works from a number of distinguished African American authors.
Masterpieces of African-American Literature. Edited by Frank N. Magill. New York: HarperCollins, c1992.
A dictionary of 149 titles in African American literature in various genres with representation of about 91 authors. Entries include sections on principal characters, plot, analysis, and the critical context.
Modern Black American Fiction Writers. Edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, c1995.
Provides biographical, critical and bibliographical information on the twelve most significant modern African American fiction writers with comprehensive bibliographies.
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., general editor, Nellie Y. McKay, general editor. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1996.
Selections from African American literature beginning with the spirituals and folktales of the oral tradition and continuing through the writings of contemporary authors. It features 11 complete longer works.
The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Editors, William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris; foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Oxford University Press, c1997.
Focuses on life and careers of more than 400 authors of poetry, fiction and drama. A 15-page essay surveys the literary history of African American writing from the colonial era to the present day.
The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Edited and with an introduction by David L. Lewis. New York: Viking, 1994.
Includes many significant stories, essays and poems that are drawn from the African American journals of this period. This anthology explores the tension within the arts and letters movement of this period.
Search in the OCPL catalog by author’s name or title and look for "sound recording".
You will find bestseller lists in popular magazines for African Americans, such as...
Essence
Features African American bestsellers lists in fiction and nonfiction.
Black Issues Book Review
Publishes reviews of current African American literature, both fiction and non-fiction.
Callaloo
The African Diaspora literary journal publishes original works by black writers worldwide: fiction, poetry, plays, critical essays, etc.
MosaicBooks.com
Online magazine features books to buy online (with a link to amazon.com) and provides excerpts; it has a national list of African American book clubs as well as bookstores, and an alphabetical list of authors with links to amazon.com.
For articles about African American fiction and literature, see OCPL’s Online Databases. Here you can access magazine and journal articles, newspapers, and reference books 24 hours a day using your OCPL library card and PIN.
For in-library use of the online databases, please see a librarian.
OCPL subscribes to a number of online databases, including:
African-American History & Culture
http://www.fofweb.com/
Divided into Biographies, Subject Entries, Primary Sources, Timelines, Image Gallery, and Maps and Charts.
Books and Literature
http://www.onlib.org/periodicals/literature.htm
A general database containing established African American authors.
Biography
http://www.onlib.org/periodicals/biography.htm
A general biography database includes established African American authors.
Many public and academic libraries have lists of authors, biographies, bibliographies, etc. online.
Here are some of them:
African American Popular Fiction Writers
A list of older and new African American fiction writers, compiled by OCPL staff.
African American Fiction Writers: A Selected List from The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Long list of African American writers’ names divided in categories: The Classics, Gay & Lesbian, Historical, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Urban Life, Romance, Women, Men, The South, Modern Life & Relationships, and Bestsellers.
Black Fiction Writers: A Selected List [LIT] from Chicago Public Library
Contains an extensive list of black writers from U.S. and other countries.
Digital Schomberg: African American Women Writers of the 19th Century from New York Public Library
Digital collection of African American Women writers of the 19th century searchable by several categories.
African American Writers: A Celebration
Presents an eclectic list of related websites, such as African American Voices in Popular Fiction, and a Selected Bibliography of new and old authors; bibliographies of major authors include links to related websites.
African American Authors from Kansas City, Kansas Public Library
Offers an impressive list of authors’ names divided in General Fiction, Classic, Science Fiction, Romance, and Mystery, among others.
African American Reading from Indianapolis Marion County Public Library
An extensive guide to African American authors in the Library’s catalog.
The online bookstores are an excellent source for the most recent popular fiction works:
Amazon.com
Search for African American fiction writers, and look for sidebars: Listmania! (listings by readers).
Barnes and Noble.com
Search for African Americans Fiction and Literature.
The Black Library.com
Promotes standard best sellers in fiction and nonfiction, specializing in African American literature.
AALBC.com, The African American Book Club
Includes reviews of books, author profiles, discussion boards, literary events and more. Previews of soon-to-be published books.
Digital Librarian: African Americans
Contains literally pages and pages of links to African American sites—a wealth of information, among them links to fiction writers, for example: African American Writers: Online E-texts.
Search the Events Calendar on OCPL website for programs and events.
There are books by and about African American writers in every public library in Onondaga County. The most extensive collections, however, are housed at Beauchamp Branch Library and Central Library.
Also visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library at Syracuse University.
Look for the nationwide list of African American book clubs at Mosaic Books.com.
The Good Book Club The membership of “The Good Book Club” is global: U.S., Canada, Germany. A message board by members (one can join by filling out an application) informs about new book releases and events concerning books and reading. Mostly African American.
Black Writers Reunion and Conference Strives to educate, inform, and support aspiring and published African American writers.
Organization of Black Screenwriters Began in 1988 “to address the lack of black writers represented within the entertainment industry.” Offers assistance to screenwriters and helps them present their work to the industry.
Web Resources on African American Writers and Literature from Bluefield State College Library
Points to sites, among others, about African American Literary Movements and Genres, General Literary Sites. It has a special section on Women Writers.