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Youngblood, Shay

Shay Youngblood is best known for her three enthralling texts, The Big Mama Stories, Soul Kiss and her most recent novel, Black Girl in Paris.

Posted by DieterBohn

hooks, bell

Hooks is committed to her ideas and that is evident in her use of a pseudonym. hooks decided to use a pseudonym both to honor her grandmother (whose name she took) and her mother, but also because the name Gloria became associated with an identity that was not completely hers.

Posted by DieterBohn

Alexander, Margaret Abigail Walker

Although Margaret Walker Alexander has never received the national acclaim of other contemporary writers of her stature and contribution, she is held in high critical regard. The focus of her writing has always been the Black experience. Walker's racial pride allowed her to dedicate over seven decades of her life to this experience, dealing with such themes as time, racial equality, love, and freedom.

Posted by DieterBohn

Hurston, Zora Neale

The most prolific African-American woman writer of her time or earlier, the power of her imagery and the richness of the culture which she brings to life through her writings have found her enthusiastic new audiences in recent years.

Posted by DieterBohn

Wright, Courtni

Wright is a fiction writer who finds deep enjoyment from writing.

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Eaton, Winnifred (Onoto Watanna)

Despite the fact that Eaton wrote the "first known novel by an Asian American author" (Eaton, Mrs. Nume of Japan, XI) her work has been largely ignored. Some people criticize Winnifred for denying her Chinese heritage and claiming a Japanese one. Most critics have trouble categorizing her because she was of Chinese Anglo descent and assumed a Japanese identity to write romance novels about Eurasian and Japanese women.

Posted by DieterBohn

Bunkley, Anita Richmond

The ethnic romance novels that Bunkley and others have written reflect contemporary middle class black people dealing with realistic issues in a romantic context. Ethnic romance writers' stories portray positive images of black people.

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McMillan, Terry

It has been said that Terry McMillan has created a new literary genre with her upbeat novels about contemporary black women. McMillan says--"I don't write about victims. They just bore me to death. I prefer to write about somebody who can pick themselves back up and get on with their lives. Because all of us are victims to some extent."

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Takeuchi, Naoko

Posted by George

Callahan, Sophia Alice

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McMillan, Rosalyn

Posted by jacob

Abinader, Elmaz

Born in 1954 in a small town in Pennsylvania, Elmaz Abinader has always felt as if she lives in two worlds: one in her home and the other outside the doors.

Posted by DieterBohn

Niggli, Josephina

As one of the most influential Mexican-American authors of the century, she will be remembered for the great understanding of Mexican tradition, life, and customs her writing displayed. Arguably one of the most important landmarks in Mexican-American literary history, her work pointed the way to contemporary Chicano literary sensibility.

Posted by DieterBohn

Ng, Mei

In addition to exploring commonplace topics in ethnic American literature such as the protagonist’s cultural identity and the generational conflict between immigrant parents and their American-born children, Eating Chinese Food Naked deconstructs several persistent stereotypes of the “docile” and “overachieving” Chinese American (Wu)"

Posted by jacob

Ng, Fae Myenne

As a first generation Chinese-American author, Fae Myenne Ng is used to hard work. Taking over ten years and many drafts to complete her first novel, Bone, Ng was rewarded for her efforts with a tremendous amount of praise for her story

Posted by DieterBohn

Nelson, Alice Dunbar

As Dunbar Nelson writes in her short story "Sister Josepha," "No name but Camille, that was true; no nationality, for she could never tell from whom or whence she came....In a flash she realized the deception of the life she would lead, and the cruel self-torture of wonder at her own identity. Already, as if in anticipation of the world's quesitonings, she was asking herself, 'Who am I? What am I?'"

Neely, Barbara

Neely uses Blanche not only to entertain, but also as a medium to discuss serious societal issues. In effect, Blanche is Neely's political voice that will reach the mainstream through the genre of feminist mystery writing. She describes her character Blanche, as an "everyday Black woman and as an agent for social change. She is a behavioral feminist!"

Posted by DieterBohn

Naylor, Gloria

Naylor calls herself a wordsmith, a storyteller. Her novels contain pieces of her personal life and familial past in the form of names, places and even stories.

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Nair, Mira

Posted by George

Hamilton, Virginia

Virginia Hamilton has been called the "Toni Morrison of children's literature." Her efforts to promote her positive view of personal strength, pride, and childhood in her stories compare strongly to those ideas promoted by Morrison.

Posted by DieterBohn

McKissack, Patricia

By writing of African American experiences in hopes of entertaining and educating children about their culture and history, Patricia McKissack has helped to fill a vacuum in children's literature for minority groups.

Posted by DieterBohn

Pinkney, Andrea Davis

Through her engaging narrative, Pinkney speaks to her audiences without sermonizing to them. Her fiction employs believable characters, and her non-fiction uses real people who set positive examples and are ideal icons for young people. Pinkney has filled a gap that previously existed in children's literature by creating a selection of literature for children that provides images of strong black people in America.

Posted by DieterBohn

Morrison, Toni

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Lahiri, Jhumpa

Addressing the themes of immigration, collision of cultures and the importance of names in The Namesake, Lahiri demonstrates how much of a struggle immigration can be.

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Martinez, Esther

"As an educator, matriarch, and community leader, learning to document the Tewa language and writing the stories of Pueblo people remained a central part of Martinez’s life."

Posted by jacob

Johnson, Helene

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Hopkinson, Nalo

Many critical responses to Nalo Hopkinson’s work suggest that she portrays the black woman’s experience through a revolutionary literary genre. One common element of Hopkinson’s work critics point to is her ability to mix genres and cultures to create interesting critiques of modern society.

Posted by DieterBohn

Johnson, Georgia Douglas

Johnson's contributions to the African-American theater and her relentless dedication against institutionalized lynching laws were exceptional during the Harlem Renaissance. She utilized theater as a tool of social protest and revolt that added texture and dimension.

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Ishigaki, Ayako

Posted by SaraCohen

Harris, Claire

A common point unites scholarly and popular critics on Harris: that Harris has a gift of language and voice and the ability to use those gifts to put a spotlight on social consciousness.

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Grimke, Charlotte Forten

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Espinet, Ramabai

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Edgell, Zee (2)

Zee Edgell’s written works have a strong focus on her native land of Belize and the issues that its citizens face. In her work, Edgell gives a face to politics by showing its effects on her characters’ lives.

Posted by DieterBohn

Dash, Julie

Illusions is exceptional in the attributes it provides to women. The black women are portrayed as strong central characters. They are not dictated by the actions of white men (or anyone else, for that matter) but rather create their own destinies out of the positions in which they find themselves.

Posted by DieterBohn

Cooper, Anna Julia (Haywood)

Posted by MashaZavialova

Chin, Marilyn

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Allende, Isabel

"In Chile I realize I'm a foreigner, even though I understand the codes and can speak with my own accent, and it's very sad for me to confront that I'm a foreigner in the U.S., too, and always will be. But my roots are more in my books now than in a place; my home will be in my writing."

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Ai

Posted by George

Nafisi, Azar

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Mukherjee, Bharati

Mukherjee has established herself as a powerful member of the American literary scene, one whose most memorable works reflect her pride in her Indian heritage, but also her celebration of embracing America.

Posted by DieterBohn

Muhanji, Cherry

"Fiction," Muhanji states, "tells more truth than many things."

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Moua, Mai Neng

Throughout American history, questions regarding the authenticity and ability of individual writers to claim the right to represent the American experience have sparked controversy. A recent development in this debate has been the addition of Hmong-American voices to the canon of American literature.... At the forefront of this issue is Mai Neng Moua, a Hmong writer and editor who has worked for over a decade to draw out and amplify Hmong-American voices

Posted by DieterBohn

Morales, Aurora Levins

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Moraga, Cherrie

Cherrie Moraga was born in Los Angeles in 1952. She is of Chicana/Anglo descent which has influenced her experiences as a lesbian poet, playwright, essayist, editor, teacher, and activist.

Posted by DieterBohn

Mora, Pat

My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984-1999, published in May 2000, is a collection of 15 years of work in which Mora addresses bi-cultural life and family from an adult perspective, combined with such universal experiences as the pleasures of eating pizza and mango, and the cultural significance of both.

Posted by DieterBohn

Moody, Anne

Moody is most recognized for her autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, which examines the issues of the awakening civil rights movement, the youth movement and the emergence of her feminist consciousness. This narrative depicts the lives of black people in rural Mississippi and the conflicts discrimination creates. It is a compelling story, reflecting the style of Moody's writing: angry, blunt, and incredibly powerful.

Posted by DieterBohn

Mohr, Nicholasa

Today, Mohr has written thirteen books, primarily aimed towards young adults, and has won numerous awards for her writing.

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Min, Anchee

More than simply her experiences, people are drawn to Min's writing style as well, passionate and intense, with a certain naivete.

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Menchu Tum, Rigoberta

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Mehta, Gita

...her books are smart investigations into the ideas, people, history and personalities that have determined what has shaped modern India and ultimately, who she is as a woman of Indian descent.

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Massey, Sujata

Massey's continued commitment to these issues forces her readers to continue to question their own individual prejudices. Her works serve as an excellent example of the genre of feminist mystery writing.

Posted by DieterBohn

Martinez, Demetria

Demetria Martinez has led a life rich in culture and controversy. Raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she credits her love for writing as well as her spirituality to her grandmother, a God-fearing, Bible-reading Mexican Protestant. Martinez was a shy, overweight teenager who began keeping a journal when she was fifteen in order to converse with herself.

Posted by DieterBohn

Marshall, Paule

Paule Marshall uses words to weave a net around her own experiences in life and those of her ancestors who came before her, to catch and examine the big issues in life within the context of her own Caribbean-American heritage.

Posted by DieterBohn

Lorde, Audre

Lorde wrote of racism in the feminist movement, sexism among African Americans, and of lesbians and love. She not only wrote for herself, but for her children and women as well. She wrote for people who could read her, who would be able to hear what she had to say.

Posted by DieterBohn

Lopez, Erika

Through her work, Lopez has opened the door to a new way of writing.

Posted by DieterBohn

Lofton, Ramona

Sapphire's work is truly moving in so many ways. She allows us to put a face to those whose lives are unlike our own. Her hope is that her writing not only offends you but also moves you into action. Sapphire is currently working on her next novel that to date has not been titled.

Posted by DieterBohn

Liu, Catherine

Through her own writing, she hopes to pay her debt to literature with the gift that she will give to others.

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Yamauchi, Wakako

Read together, all of Yamauchi's writings -- stories, plays, and memoirs -- illuminate three periods in the timeline of Japanese American history: immigration and rural farming in the early 20th century, World War II imprisonment, and postwar readjustment.

Posted by DieterBohn

Liu, Aimee E.

Although both Face and Cloud Mountain were about the hardships and prejudice many American-Asians must confront, Liu believes Asian writers must not limit themselves to Asian themes.

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Lim, Shirley Geok-lin

Lim continues to explore origin and identity. Her current research includes a book-length study of gender and nation identities in Asian American discourses.

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Lee, Jarena

Jarena Lee's sole contribution to literary history is her spiritual autobiography

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Law-Yone, Wendy

Burmese writer Wendy Law-Yone is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Coffin Tree and Irrawaddy Tango. Both attempt to capture the displacement and cultural anxiety engendered by the colonial enterprise, migration, and political upheaval.

Posted by DieterBohn

Lau, Evelyn

Writing was her means of psychological survival. Lau claims to have been conscious of her urge to become a writer since she was six. In 1983 (age 12) she began publishing poems and short stories in "little magazines."

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Lattany, Kristin Hunter

Most of Lattany's novels have been widely translated and well received.

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Larsen, Nella

It was in this environment [the Harlem Renaissance] that Nella Larsen Imes' interest in literature began to blossom.

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LaDuke, Winona

She continues to be a spokesperson for the Chippewa people of Northern Minnesota, an organizer of the Honor the Earth National Tour, and active with the White Earth Land Recovery Project and the Indigenous Women's Network, which she founded.

Posted by DieterBohn

Kogawa, Joy Nakayama

>Kogawa, a Canadian poet, novelist, and children's writer,

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Kingston, Maxine Hong

For Maxine Hong Kingston, writing has been central in her life. "My writing is an ongoing function, like breathing or eating," she explains.

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King, Coretta Scott

Since the assassination of her husband, King has earned numerous awards over the years for her commitment to activism.

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Kincaid, Jamaica

Kincaid's writing is compelling because it captures complex emotions and exposes divisive issues in a deceptively simple style.

Posted by DieterBohn

Khalifeh, Sahar

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Kennedy, Adrienne

Adrienne Kennedy's writing has been described as being vivid and imaginative. The reader or actor can sense that Kennedy enjoys what she is doing and that she practically puts her life into her work. Kennedy has the ability to entwine many different influences into her works; because of this, her writings reflect a synthesis of artistry and craft.

Posted by DieterBohn

Kegg, Maude

As an Ojibwe elder, Kegg orally related Ojibwe teachings to John D. Nichols, who transcribed and translated them.

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Keckley, Elizabeth Hobbs

Best known as Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker and confidante, Elizabeth Keckley was much more.

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Kalsey, Surjeet

Surjeet Kalsey is a champion of women's and children's rights. The invitation has been extended and the door opened for readers to learn about Surjeet Kalsey's poems, short stories, and plays.

Posted by DieterBohn

Junghare, Indira

As Krishna relates the dharma of man's actions to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita, so too does Junghare relate the importance of action through her poetry. Action, in every sense of the word, is exactly the way in which Junghare lives through educating others and through writing. As a South Asian woman writer, Junghare's experiences and life efforts truly endow her with the power of "A Free Woman."

Posted by DieterBohn

Jordan, June

Jordan is best known for her poetry, which has been noted for its range of emotions. Her works create conflict prior to optimism.

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Jones, Gayl

In a 1982 interview, Gayl Jones said that just like most people, she felt "connections to home territory-connections that go into one's ideas of language, personality, landscape"

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Johnson, Emily Pauline

Emily Pauline Johnson was one of Canada's most well-known poets. Her poetry was supplemented by her ability as a performer.

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Jen, Gish

In Jen's work, she combines the adolescent's search for self with the larger search for cultural identity. Not only does she focus on her own Chinese American ethnic background, the author also includes work on Jewish Americans, African Americans, and Irish Americans, as well as other groups.

Posted by DieterBohn

Jacobs, Harriet

Jacobs wrote her only book in 1861, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

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Jackson-Opoku, Sandra

Her usage of an ancestral chorus serves to remind readers of the importance of their indigenous roots. She encourages readers to explore the connections between history and present life experiences. Her empowering words express a universal message of connectedness to all women across the life span.

Posted by DieterBohn

Hungry Wolf, Beverly

The continuing main theme common to the Hungry Wolf's is that of holding on, with pride and honor, to the old ways, while graciously accepting the new ways.

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Howe, Leanne

>Her numerous publications range from short fiction anthologies to literary journals, and her work has included theater, films, and radio.

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Houston, Drusilla Dunjee

Drisilla Dunjee Houston spent a lifetime writing and teaching about the ancient history of Africans, including this same information in the curriculum of her schools. She was indeed an extraordinary woman of her time. This contribution to this site is designed to rescue her legacy and to place her squarely in black American historical and literary traditions.

Posted by DieterBohn

Hopkins, Pauline Elizabeth

Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins was a multifaceted figure, who, at one time or another during her wide-ranging career, was a playwright, journalist, novelist, short story writer, biographer, and editor. She is, perhaps, best remembered as a pioneer in the use of the traditional literary form of the romantic novel as a means to explore and challenge prevailing racial and gender representations that were foremost in the minds of middle-class African Americans in the early part of the twentieth century.

Posted by DieterBohn

Holland, Endesha Ida Mae

The theme of education runs throughout Holland's writing as a way to express the importance of her personal struggle to educate herself.

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Hogan, Linda

Hogan once again communicates the complex relationships between myth, nature, and humankind. Clearly, Hogan will continue her affirmation of life and human vitality even as she reminds her readers to respect and take care of the natural world.

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Hayslip, Le Ly

Hayslip's first memoir, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, was written with the help of Jay Wurts and published in 1989. The book was well-received overall.

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Harjo, Joy

Building onto earlier works, Harjo strengthens her ability to build concrete poems. For example, the desire to find meaning, both personal and universal, with the concept of mythic space remains a main theme in her poetry.

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Hansberry, Lorraine

Hansberry's work was a preview of the African-American spirit that engulfed the nation in the historic changes of the Civil Rights Movement. Her writing foresaw feminism, the Gay Liberation Movement and the demise of colonialism. She was a spearhead of the future, a woman who refused to be confined by the categories of race and gender.

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Hale, Janet Campbell

Hale writes characters who move beyond roles as victims to become survivors -- strong, independent women who not only come to terms with, but also learn to be proud of, their heritage.

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Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata

Though Jessica Hagedorn cannot be classified as any one type of artist, in each of her incarnations as poet, storyteller, musician, and playwright, she explores themes dealing with her experiences as a Filipino American searching for her place between two conflicting cultures.

Posted by DieterBohn

Grimke, Angelina Weld

Grimké's writings have been noticed by several critics including Gloria Hull. She writes of Grimké in her book Color, Sex and Poetry, saying that "being a black lesbian poet in America at the beginning of the twentieth century meant that one wrote (or half wrote)-- in isolation.... It meant that when one did write to be published, she did so in shackles-- chained between the real experience and convention that would not give her voice."

Posted by DieterBohn

Green, Rayna D.

Her poetry and other writings express the internal and external struggles of Native women resisting patriarchy rooted in white imperialism and adopted by Native men. Furthermore, her writings are not a lamentation or a passive commentary, but rather an example of how writing can be a powerful form of social critique. She steers the discourse away from a victim mentality by celebrating the powerful ways in which women resist. Green does this by reclaiming and redefining women's roles in traditional matrifocal Native cultures.

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Goodison, Lorna

Lorna Goodison continues to amaze readers by making the ordinary extraordinary and giving inspiration to those challenged by the struggles of living in a country with a tragic history. Her work is the focus of struggle and celebration.

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Gomez, Jewelle

Jewelle Gomez is not only a poet and novelist, but a teacher and filmmaker, who continues to explore new media outlets. Among her numerous merits is a Ford Foundation Fellowship at the Columbia University School of Journalism, where she received her master's degree in 1973.

Posted by DieterBohn

Glancy, Diane

The majority of Glancy's work is based upon Native American life and how traditional values and ways of life interact and are juxtaposed with those of modern America. She develops stories that focus on the rich and varied oral traditions of her people, often times swiching narrative voices to create a vivid and living tapestry of Native life.

Posted by DieterBohn

Giovanni, Nikki

Giovanni's poetry spans over thirty years, from her first book in 1968 to her most recent collection Blues For All the Changes (1998). In her most comprehensive work of poetry, The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (1996), the reader experiences vast changes in a poet's early contentious poetry and later, more personal poetry.

Posted by DieterBohn

Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina

Her mysteries Bloody Waters, Bloody Shame, Bloody Secrets and A Miracle in Paradise have all been on the Murder on Miami Beach best sellers list every year.

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Garcia, Cristina

Cristina Garcia has been hailed as one of the most important Cuban American voices in U.S. literature.

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Gaines, Patrice

Gaines's life story is empowering for all women, and it is through her honest and in-depth revelations that women can relate to her personal and universal struggles with the complexities of womanhood. Her ability to define herself as a black woman shows her determination to break free from societal and cultural limitations, as well as from the pain of psychological and physical abuse.

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Forte-Escamilla, Kleya

Forté-Escamilla's works encompass the themes of coming to terms with, and embracing multiculturalism, perhaps in direct response to her own life.

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Ferre, Rosario

Rosario Ferré wrote her first short story in 1970, and since that time she has become one of the most prolific female writers to represent her home country of Puerto Rico. She is also one of the strongest feminist voices of the 21^st century.

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Fauset, Jessie Redmon

[...]her seeming adherence to bourgeois "conventions seem less the badge of a hidebound traditionalist with prudish mid-Victorian sensibilities, and more that of a burgeoning progressive."

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Evans, Mari

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Erdrich, Heid

Erdrich identifies herself as an Ojibwe feminist poet, a mother, a teacher, a sister, and a daughter who loves to perform her work and is engaged in the recuperation and recovery of the Ojibwe language. Because actively learning Ojibwe is important to her, Erdrich incorporates many Ojibwe words and phrases into her work.

Posted by DieterBohn

Edgell, Zee (1)

Zee Edgell is the most prolific, contemporary writer to emerge from the independent nation of Belize. A journalist, a novelist, a women’s rights advocate, and a college professor, Edgell is the first Belizean writer to reach a universal audience.

Posted by DieterBohn

Markandaya, Kamala

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Eaton, Edith Maude (Sui-Sin Far)

Sui Sin Far's literary projects examined issues of hybridity, institutional racism and sexism. She illustrated the confusion of being both Chinese and English when both groups displayed hatred towards each other.

Posted by DieterBohn

Earling, Debra Magpie

Earling's works are having an important impact on Native literature.

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Dove, Rita

Dove explains their viewpoints regarding each other and life with a simple, yet elegant and realistic prose.

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Douglass, Sarah Mapps

African-American abolitionist, teacher, writer, and public lecturer

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Djebar, Assia

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Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee

Divakaruni once explained her reason for writing: "There is a certain spirituality, not necessarily religious-the essence of spirituality-that is at the heart of the Indian psyche, that finds the divine in everything. It was important for me to start writing about my own reality and that of my community" (Doubleday).

Posted by DieterBohn

Desai, Anita

Desai is praised for her broad understanding on intellectual issues, and for her ability to portray her country so vividly with the way the eastern and western cultures have blended there.

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Deloria, Ella Cara

From the 1950's until her own death in 1971, Deloria maintained her ties to her home places and her community, continuing her work as a lecturer, researcher, and consultant and building upon her reputation as a leading authority on Dakota culture. Her most remarkable contribution to the emerging body of American Indian literature, however, came seventeen years after her death, with the posthumous publication in 1988 of the novel Waterlily.

Posted by DieterBohn

DeLoach, Nora

In developing these themes, DeLoach applies a glue that ties them all together -- Mama's cooking. The steady use of Mama's ability to serve up the best tasting food in all of thiis provides a central theme around which DeLoach is able to more vividly illustrate additional themes prominent in her books.

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De Hoyos, Angela

De Hoyos writes from a political stance to a philosophical position and then back again to a political point of view. Her poetry offers us the intimate biography of common and universal experiences.

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Davis, Angela Yvonne

Today, Angela Y. Davis continues to be a strong force for political and social activism, as well as the reformation of the prison industrial complex. She is also an accomplished cultural theorist.

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Danticat, Edwidge

In an interview for NPR, Danticat said this of her book: "I wanted to raise the voice of a lot of the people that I knew growing up, and this was, for the most part, . . . poor people who had extraordinary dreams but also very amazing obstacles."

Posted by DieterBohn

Craft, Ellen

Thus, even momentarily silenced, Ellen's voice is readily available for audiences today.

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Cortez, Jayne

Poet, musician, activist, and entrepreneur Jayne Cortez is an accomplished woman who uses her work to address social problems in the U.S. and around the world. Over the last 30 years, she has contributed greatly to the struggle for racial and gender equality.

Posted by DieterBohn

Corpi, Lucha

By giving voice to individuals commonly overlooked by the dominant culture, she identifies and gives presence to Chicanas, not only in literature, but also in a culture that is just opening its eyes to diversity.

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Cooper, Joan California

In the past twenty years, through her novels and her stories, J. California Cooper has become recognized as one of America's premier storytellers. "Cooper's style is deceptively simple and direct, and the vale of tears in which her characters reside is never so deep that a rich chuckle at a foolish person's foolishness cannot be heard" (Alice Walker).

Posted by DieterBohn

Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, is a woman and writer of distinct purpose.

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Conde, Maryse

"I am not a messenger writer. I write for me, to help me comprehend and support the life."

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Cole, Johnetta B.

Dr. Cole's publishing history speaks for itself, with numerous published works that concern the education of black women. Not only has she written works as the principle author but she has written the forward to several publications by other authors.

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Cofer, Judith Ortiz

Ortiz Cofer's explorations of identity formations are not only found in the context of her memories, but also exist in the spaces created between them. Again, she uses language to decipher these spaces.

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Clifton, Lucille

Lucille's poetry is straightforward and makes use of vernacular speech. Her poems contain compassion and a high level of emotion, which is uniquely American. Her African roots and her personal history have become the basis of her writing.

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Watkins, Frances Ellen

Critics and scholars generally regard Harper's work in terms of its tremendous historical importance, along with its respectable writing style. Among the general population, Harper's work has been well-received and valued. Harper's straightforward style of writing may have contributed to her popularity and her revolutionary success.

Posted by DieterBohn

Cliff, Michelle

Cliff's ability to imaginatively recreate the disturbing images of the past has earned her critical acclaim. While Cliff's writing is an important and valuable addition to criticism of the bloody past of the Americas, it is not intended for those unwilling to recognize their own place in the racist, patriarchal and homophobic structures responsible for contemporary hegemony.

Posted by DieterBohn

Cisneros, Sandra

Cisneros' writing has been shaped by her experiences. Because of her unique background, Cisneros is very different from traditional American writers. She has something to say that they don't know about. She also has her own way of saying it.

Posted by DieterBohn

Chrystos

Chrystos fights the victimization and colonization of minority people in terms of language. She challenges conventional genre categorizations of poetry and prose as well as rules of grammar, punctuation, even typography. Interestingly, she often uses typography to differentiate between her political and love poems.

Posted by DieterBohn

Childress, Alice

Childress' legacy will always be her compassionate but realistic portrayal of both blacks and whites - and their relationships - in plays, novels, and shorter prose.

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Chavez, Denise

Although her poetry, short stories, and novels seem to shift focus from a broad view of the societal and economic issues of Chicano culture to a self-reflective exploration of women and service, Chávez does not cease to embrace her Chicano heritage and her deep rooted appreciation for the bilingual tongue.

Posted by DieterBohn

Chase-Ribaud, Barbara

Because sculpting was the first art that she became successful with, her writing career may seem secondary. Chase-Riboud counters this: she says, "First of all writing isn't my second choice. Writing is a parallel vocation"

Posted by DieterBohn

Chao, Patricia

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Chang, Lan Samantha

Chang's work continues to explore the themes of family dissonance against the backdrop of negotiating the different desires and influences between first generation immigrants and their children. The complex experiences of parents caught between the need to fulfill the hunger that had originally been their impetus for flight, the harsh realities of lives that reflect little of those original dreams, and their children for whom the experiences of identity are drastically different, continue to be a basis for much of Chang's work.

Posted by DieterBohn

Cleage, Pearl

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Cha, Theresa Hak Kyung

Cha's output was varied, consisting of films and mixed-media performance pieces in addition to her written works. The primary theme of her artistic output was the dislocation -- cultural, geographic and social -- embodied by immigration.

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Cervantes, Lorna Dee

The language and imagery that Cervantes uses to express a feminist and humanistic vision of her world has been well accepted not only within Chicano(a) literature, but among other American literatures.

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Castillo, Ana

Castillo believes that women have lost their sense of self on many levels, including psychologically, physically, and spiritually, and need to reclaim themselves. Castillo herself does this through her writing and activism.

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Cary, Lorene

In her memoir Black Ice, Cary summarized this personal theme that appears in all of her work. She wrote, "I learned to hold myself to standards that were always just beyond my reach."

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Campbell, Bebe Moore

Although two of Bebe Moore-Campbell's novels are based on historical events, she does not consider herself an historical novelist. The heart of her work focuses on interpersonal relationships. She explores the complexities that often exist between males and females, blacks and whites, parents and children, and people and their communities.

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Mordecai, Pamela

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Zamora, Bernice

Her writing is most significantly influenced by the Chicano Movement, the attempt by members of the Chicano community to organize local and regional concerns with the common goal of empowerment.

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Butler, Octavia Estelle

"I'm not writing for some noble purpose, I just like telling a good story. If what I write about helps others understand this world we live in, so much the better for all of us," Octavia Butler told Robert McTyre. "Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to reexamine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow ... Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself"

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Brown, Hallie Quinn

Brown's legacy continues through her scholarship fund for the education of women, the Hallie Brown Community House in Minnesota, the Hallie Q. Brown Memorial Library in Ohio, and through all of her greatly respected and admired speeches and books. Hallie Brown was an author of an earlier time, but her work is now becoming of renewed interest to many individuals.

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Brooks, Gwendolyn

The most dominant theme in Brooks' work is the impact of ethnicity and life experiences on one's view of life.

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Broker, Ignatia

Throughout her life, Ignatia Broker strived to make life a little easier for her people. With the publication of her book, she made it possible for the stories of Oona and the old ways to live on forever.

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Brant, Beth (DEGONWADONTI)

In the Preface to Writing as Witness: Essay and Talk, Brant begins by writing, "In putting together this collection... I hope to convey the message that words are sacred... because words themselves come from the place of mystery that gives meaning and existence to life."

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Brand, Dionne

Brand situates her writing internationally, in the context of literature by other racial minority authors.

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Brainard, Cecilia Manguerra

As an author, editor, and teacher, Brainard is like the epic storyteller in her novel: she promotes Filipino American writers and Filipino American literature so that other readers may learn, recover, and remember.

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Bonnin, Gertrude Simmons (ZITKALA-SA)

As a person of mixed blood, her life could be looked upon as an example of the beauty and accomplishments that can be made when the two cultures can live cooperatively. Bonnin realized that to hate difference was to hate life; Bonnin was a lover of life.

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Bonner, Marita Odette

Many of Bonner's later writings reflected her Chicago environment. They dealt with color discrimination, poverty, and poor housing in the black communities, and showed the way in which an urban environment has a distinctive negative influence on communities.

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Bolton, Ruthie

Bolton's only work, Gal: A True Life, is a straightforward look into a poor, abused African-American girl growing up in the south in the sixties. Her story is of anguish and inspiration, despair and hope, but mostly of survival.

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Bland, Eleanor Taylor

Her novels have given Bland a vehicle through which she can address issues important to her. Her victims are often young, homeless, mentally ill, or elderly. According to Bland, "They are the people that are there that we don't want to see"

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Blaeser, Kimberly

Kimberly Blaeser, an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, grew up on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. She is of Anishinabe and German heritage. She articulates her dual heritage and its significance in the forms of poetry, personal essays, short fiction, journalism, reviews, scholarly articles, and speeches. Her work may be found in a myriad of publications. As a poet, Blaeser celebrates life's common moments. Maintaining that "[n]o voice arises from one person," she speaks with the voices of multiple individuals, as both a single person and a member of something much larger.

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Bennett, Gwendolyn

Although Bennett never published her own collection of poetry, she remained a strong influence during the Harlem Renaissance movement by energizing the community with poems about racial pride and Africa and celebrating blackness through romantic lyric.

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Benitez, Sandra

Benítez is at her best when writing about the people in the country of her youth, El Salvador. When reading Benítez, one is struck by her ability to give a clear and thoughtful voice to people on both sides of the economic and political world of El Salvador.

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Bambara, Toni Cade

Toni Cade Bambara was a writer, activist, feminist, and filmmaker. In 1982, in a taped interview with Kay Bonetti, Bambara reflected on her work: "When I look back at my work with any little distance the two characteristics that jump out at me is one, the tremendous capacity for laughter, but also a tremendous capacity for rage."

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Armstrong, Jeanette

Through her writing, Armstrong gives an honest representation of the harsh realities of Indian life. But she also presents an optimistic outlook to people. She believes a "connection" between aboriginal and European people can be made.Posted by DieterBohn

Anzaldua, Gloria

Through the use of beautifully poetic wording, Anzalda effectively takes the reader into her world of estrangement from every culture she could possibly "belong" to. Borderlands is a reality check to all readers, of every race, on cultural barriers and introspection to find one's true identity. Most of all, Anzalda insists that while these borders are abstract, they should never be implemented into the soul.

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Ansa, Tina McElroy

Baby of the Family focuses on Lena's coming of age, finding out who she is and why she's different but not crazy, as her brothers wanted to believe. The novel explores Lena's life as she encounters ghosts and friends of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.

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Angelou, Maya

The life and work of Maya Angelou are fully intertwined. Angelou's poetry and personal narratives form a larger picture wherein the symbolic Maya Angelou rises to become a point of consciousness for African-American people, especially black women seeking to survive masculine prejudice, in addition to whites hatred of blacks and blacks lack of power.

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Alvarez, Julia

In a convocation speech delivered at Appalachian State University entitled "On Becoming a Butterfly," Alvarez says, "I believe stories have this power -- they enter us, they transport us, they change things inside us, so invisibly, so minutely, that sometimes we're not even aware that we come out of a great book as a different person from the person we were when we began reading it."

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Allen, Paula Gunn

Paula Gunn Allen was born in Cubero, New Mexico in 1939. Her parents were both Native New Mexicans. Her father was a Lebanese American and her mother was Laguna-Sioux-Scotch. But for Paula her ethnicity was derived from exposure and experience to the Pueblo culture.

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Alexander, Meena

Alexander's writing is lyrical, poignant, and sensual, dealing with large themes, including fanaticism, ethnic intolerance, terrorism, interracial affairs and marriages. Alexander has given us an unsentimental, multifaceted portrait of what it means to be an American. Her lyrical narratives have the eloquent economy that marks the best poetry.

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Alegria, Claribel

Alegría writes from the voice of her soul, the voice which urges her to express herself through her words, which in time may become more powerful than any resistance movement. Some of her most noted works include The Death of Somoza, Woman of the River, Flowers from the Volcano, Anillo de Silencio, Huesped de mi Tiempo, Via Unica Raices, and Sobrevivo.

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Alba, Alicia Gaspar de

Alicia Gaspar de Alba is an award-winning novelist as well as a professor and poet.

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Al-Shaykh, Hanan

Al-Shaykh's complex and vivid texts have provoked strong responses wherever they have been published. Her work demands that we think carefully about the relationships between culture, gender, race, nation, and empire.

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Ahmed, Leila

Ahmed's experience constructing an identity while crossing social and cultural boundaries has had a strong influence on her work. She has experienced both Arab and Western culture. She has experienced the personal, "lived" Islam taught by her mother, as well as the ritualistic and sometimes oppressive Islam enforced by the state. She has experienced the educational opportunities afforded her by Western influences in Egypt, but suffered the racism and stereotyping of her British teachers and peers. These varied experiences have fed her work and compelled her to provide balanced, sensitive analyses in her texts.

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Agosin, Marjorie

Agosín, a passionate writer, has received critical acclaim for her poetry collections, her close reflections on her parents and family, and her multi-layered stories. Within every novel, story, or poem, she captures the very essence of Jewish women at their best. agosín's works reveal the experiences of pain and anguish of Jewish refugees. She writes about the Holocaust as well as anti-Semitic events that occurred in her native land.

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Adnan, Etel

Adnan has more than ten books of poetry and fiction published, including Paris When It's Naked, Of Cities and Women, and Sitt Marie Rose, which has been translated into over ten languages and is considered a classic of Middle Eastern literature.

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Prince, Nancy Gardner

That we know anything about a woman named Nancy Gardner Prince lies entirely in the fact that she published Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince.

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Abu-Jaber, Diana

The characters lives and experiences demonstrate their displacement, spiritual homelessness, and the hardships of adjustment to a new society.

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Tademy, Lalita

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Abu-Jaber, Diana

The characters lives and experiences demonstrate their displacement, spiritual homelessness, and the hardships of adjustment to a new society.

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Djebar, Assia

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Parsipur, Shahrnush

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Roy, Arundhati

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Ragusa, Kym

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Winnemucca, Sarah Hopkins

Sarah Winnemucca witnessed many conflicts between Native American inhabitants and white government officials.

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Villanueva, Alma Luz

While Villanueva concentrates on the journey of life with the embracing of its struggles and victories, she is not negligent in remembering the history and heritage that has largely formed both her and her characters.

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Rahman, Aishah

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Spencer, Anne

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Smith, Anna Deavere

Smith’s performances challenge audience members to examine and rethink their constructions of gender and racial identity. While imitating her subjects’ speech, Smith strives to “hold within [her] body many different points of view” (quoted from lecture to UMN undergraduates). She believes that the value of this method lies in the fact that no matter how authentically she mimics a person, she will always be herself and only herself, and that the subject of her portrayal will, in spite of her impression, retain his or her individual character and speech.

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Parks, Suzan-Lori

Parks says that the novel and its characters are grounded in the landscape of West Texas, where she had lived during her father's army days: "I love the big sky and arid landscape of that place. The characters came out of that landscape and the story came out of those characters. Then there was Faulkner's novel, which I had read eight years before" (Marshall).

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Parameswaran, Uma

From immigrant women and Canadian born South Asian women to exploring the generation gap between old and young South Asian women, Parameswaran's stories contain the highest degree of cultural sensitivity. By Parameswaran's writing we are not only constantly aware of the South Asian experience, but also of the struggles in life that make us all human.

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Bird Woman, Buffalo

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Veciana-Suarez, Ana

Birthday Parties in Heaven: Thoughts on Love, Life, Grief, and Other Matters of the Heart (2000) is a collection of beautifully written essays commenting on Veciana-Suarez’s life. Her essays are poignant and humorous. Every essay is relevant and leaves a thought provoking impression.

Posted by LaurenCurtright

Brodber, Erna

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Perez, Loida Maritza

Ultimately, these issues pertain to the human condition: our need to belong and be accepted; the contradictions inherent in all of us; our attempts to do the best we can even in the worst of circumstances; our desire to guide our children and the risk of making mistakes along the way;

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Sears, Djanet

All of Sears’s main characters are women, and while most of their struggles are universal, they do face certain issues that are specific to being a woman/

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Pineau, Gisele

Pineau’s writing gives itself entirely, crafted of the body, tears and sweat of the French Antilles. Her novels are for those who like books that howl, sing, spit and swear;

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Atefat-Peckham, Susan

Atefat-Peckham's poetry, as well as her choice of subject matter, became even more meaningful to her after the events of September 11. As an Iranian, as well as a native New Yorker, the destruction of the World Trade Center profoundly affected her, as did the subsequent attacks on Afghanistan by U.S. forces.

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Walker, Alice

Alice Walker has become one of the best-known and most highly respected writers in the U.S.

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Campobello, Nellie

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Naqvi, Tahira

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Tabios, Eileen

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Miraflores, Carmen de

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Red Shirt, Delphine

Today Red Shirt continues to advocate for Native Americans rights by frequently writing for Indian Country Today. She also travels around the country educating others about present day Native American issues.

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King, Betty Lim

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Ray, Francis

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Setton, Ruth Knafo

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Fujita, June

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Sears, Vicke L.

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Rendon, Marcie

Marcie Rendon is a writer, performance artist and consultant. Her works include poetry, screenplays and scripts, short stories, children's books, educational materials, newspaper articles, theater reviews, and magazine articles. She has served as a writing mentor and coach, and a classroom instructor and speaker for various colleges and high schools, as well as for communities and community organizations. She is also a mother and a grandmother.

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Lopez, Josefina

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Northsun, Nila

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Harada, Margaret N.

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Mihesuah, Devon A.

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Butler, Tajuana

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Robinson, Sharon

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Esquivel, Laura

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Cambridge, Joan

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Craig, Christine

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Due, Tannarive

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Blanco, Evangeline

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See, Lisa

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Watanabe, Linda McFerrin

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Osbey, Brenda Marie

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Suyin, Han

Han Suyin is not only an expert Sinologist, not only a medical doctor by profession, but also a seasoned psychoanalyst and an exquisite connoisseur of the human heart, which is always one and the same throughout the ages and through the world.

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Tremblay, Gail

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Brown, Emily Ivanoff

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Namjoshi, Suniti

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Som, Indigo

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Lin, Alice

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Noda, Barbara

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S., Silvia Gonzales

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Le, Linda

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Wallis, Velma

Following in the path of her first book, Wallis's second book, Bird Girl and the Man who Followed the Sun, is getting noticed throughout the United States and the world.

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Duarte, Stella Pope

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Lim, Janet

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Wong, Rita

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Cerenio, Virginia

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Southerland, Ellease

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Hoklotubbe, Sara

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Bridgforth, Sharon

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McDaniel, Wilma Elizabeth

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Hill, Donna

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Chung, Frances

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Jaffrey, Zia

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