Happy birthday N.K. Jemisin! Born September 19, N(ora). K. Jemisin is a New York Times-bestselling author of speculative fiction short stories and novels, who lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY. In 2018, she became the first author to win three Best Novel Hugos in a row. She has also won a Nebula Award, two Locus Awards, and is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Here are a few of her award winning and notable titles:
Heavenly birthday wishes James Alan McPherson! Born September 16, 1943, James Alan McPherson an African American essayist and short-story writer. He was the first African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his collection of short stories, Elbow Room, and was included among the first group of artists who received a MacArthur Fellowship, He died in 2016. He authored a few more works:
Heavenly birthday wishes Claude McKay! Born September 15, 1890, Festus Claudius “Claude” McKay OJ was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He is known for his novels, essays and poems, including “If We Must Die” and “Harlem Shadows.” He died on May 22, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois. Other notable works:
Happy birthday James McBride! Born September 11, James McBride is an award-winning African American author, musician, and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water, published in 1996, has sold millions of copies and spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list. Considered an American classic, it is read in schools and universities across the United States. His other notable and award-winning novels are:
Heavenly birthday wishes Richard Wright! Born September 4, 1908, Richard Wright was an African American author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries suffering discrimination and violence. He died in 1960. He was well-known for his novels, Black Boy and Native Son. His other works include:
Heavenly belated birthday wishes Henry Dumas! Born July 20, 1934, Henry Dumas was an African American writer and poet. He was called “an absolute genius” by Toni Morrison, who as a commissioning editor at Random House published posthumous collections of his poetry and of his short stories, in 1974. He died in 1968. Some of his notable works:
Some of Henry Dumas’ poetry can be read here:
Heavenly belated birthday wishes Alice Dunbar Nelson! Born July 19, 1875, Alice Dunbar Nelson was an African American poet, journalist, and political activist. Among the first generation of African Americans born free in the Southern United States after the end of the American Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved in the artistic flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance. She died in 1935. Here are some of her notable works:
Heavenly belated birthday wishes Charles W. Chestnutt! Born June 20, 1858, Charles Waddell Chesnutt was an African-American author, essayist, political activist, and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War South. He died in 1932. Here are just a few of his notable works:
Heavenly happy birthday, Marita Bonner! Born June 16, 1899, Marita Bonner was an African American writer, essayist, and playwright who is commonly associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She passed away in 1971.
Heavenly belated birthday wishes George Wylie Henderson! Born June 14, 1904, George Wylie Henderson was an African American author of the Harlem Renaissance. He passed away in 1965.
