Happy birthday Niq Mhlongo! Born June 10, 1973, Niq Mhlongo was born in Soweto. He has a BA from the University of the Witwatersrand, with majors in African Literature and Political Studies. His first novel, Dog Eat Dog, was published by Kwela in 2004 and was translated into Spanish under the title Perro Come Perro in 2006. This Spanish edition was awarded the La Mar de Letras prize.
I confess I have not read any of his books but I am interested in reading one of his novels.
Happy birthday Paul Beatty! Born June 9, Paul Beatty is an African American American author and professor of writing at Columbia University. In 2016, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout. It was the first time a writer from the United States was honored with the Man Booker. Here are a few more of his works:
Belated heavenly birthday wishes Nikki Giovanni! Born June 7, 1943, Nikki Giovanni was an award winning poet, author, activist, professor and so much more! Her body of work is historical, social, political, and relevant today as it was it was written. She passed away in 2024. Here is just a little of her notable works:
Heavenly birthday wishes Gwendolyn Brooks! Born June 7, 1917, Gwendolyn Brooks was an award winning author, poet, and United States Poet Laureate. My favorite poem is “We Real Cool”. She passed away in 2000. Here are some of her classic poetry books.
Happy birthday Akwaeke Emezi! Born June 6, Akwaeke Emezi is a Nigerian fiction writer and visual artist, best known for their novels Freshwater, Pet, and the New York Times bestselling work The Death of Vivek Oji. Emezi is a generalist who writes speculative fiction, romance, memoir, and poetry for both young adults and adults with mostly LGBTQ themes.
Today’s post feature a fantasy young adult author Jordan Ifueko. Jordan Ifueko is a Nigerian American writer of fantasy and young adult fiction. She is best known for her novel Raybearer, which became a New York Times bestseller, and its sequel, Redemptor. Her third novel set in the world of Raybearer, The Maid and the Crocodile, was released August 2024.
Happy birthday Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham! Born June 4, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham is an African American academic who is professor of Afro-American Studies, African American Religion and the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her most notable book is Righteous Discontent. She has co-authored From Slavery to Freedom and African American National Biography.
Belated heavenly birthday wishes Dorothy West! Born June 2, 1907, Dorothy West was an African American novelist, short-story writer, and magazine editor associated with the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s that celebrated black art, literature, and music. She passed away in 1998. Her most notable works are The Wedding and The Living is Easy.
Belated heavenly birthday wishes Albery Allson Whitman! Born May 30, 1851, Albery Allson Whitman was egroan African-American poet, minister and orator. Born into slavery, Whitman became a writer. During his lifetime he was acclaimed as the “Poet Laureate of the Negro Race.” He passed away in 1901. Here are a few of his notable works.
Belated birthday wishes Elizabeth Alexander! Born May 30, Elizabeth Alexander is an African American poet, writer, and literary scholar who has served as the president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since 2018. Here are some of her notable works:
The CamaraIfe Maktaba 