KRLemmons African American Authors, African American Fantasy Literature, African American Science Fiction Literature, African American Short Stories, African American Speculative Fiction

September 19 of September is Black Reading Month: N.K. Jemisin

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:

KRLemmons African American Actress, African American Authors, African American Plays, African American Playwrights

September 18 of September is Black Reading Month: Anna Deavere Smith

Happy birthday Anna Deavere Smith! Born September 16, Anna Deavere Smith is an African American playwright, actress, author, journalist, and educator, who is best known for her one-woman plays that examine the social issues behind current events. She is credited with having created a new form of theater. Smith’s work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. She was a pioneer in what is now called “verbatim theater.”

View one of Anna Deveare Smith’s performances here:

KRLemmons African American academic work, African American anthology, African American Authors, African American filmmakers, African American History, African American memoirs, African American Nonfiction, African American Professors

September 17 of September is Black Reading Month: Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Belated birthday wishes Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.! Born September 16, Henry Louis Gates Jr., popularly known by his childhood nickname “Skip”, is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is well-known for his series, “Finding Your Roots” and authoring several African American history books. Here are just a few of his notable works:

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American Essays, African American memoirs, African American Short Stories

September 16 of September is Black Reading Month: James Alan McPherson

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:

KRLemmons African American adult fiction, African American Poetry, African American Short Stories, Jamaican American authors, Jamaican-American autobiography

September 15 of September is Black Reading Month: Claude McKay

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:

Read some of Claude McKay’s poems here and here:

KRLemmons African American children's literature, African American Fairy Tales, African American folktales, African American Illustrators, African American Picture Books

September 14 of September is Black Reading Month: John Steptoe

Heavenly birthday wishes John Steptoe! Born September 14, 1950, John Steptoe was an African American author and illustrator children’s books dealing with aspects of the African-American experience. He is best known for writing Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, which is noted for its presentation of African culture. He died in 1989.

The John Steptoe New Talent Award is established to affirm new talent and to offer visibility to excellence in writing and/or illustration which otherwise might be formally unacknowledged within a given year within the structure of the two awards given annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee.

Other notable books:

KRLemmons African American adult literature, African American anthology, African American Art, African American Artists, African American Authors, African American Philosopher

September 13 of September is Black Reading Month: Alain LeRoy Locke

Heavenly birthday wishes Alain LeRoy Locke! Born September 13, 1885, Alain LeRoy Locke was an African American writer, philosopher, and educator. Distinguished in 1907 as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, Locke became known as the philosophical architect—the acknowledged “Dean”—of the Harlem Renaissance. He died in 1954. He authored the following notable books:

KRLemmons African American adult fiction, African American adult literature, African American Authors, African American Young Adult Literature

September 12 of September is Black Reading Month: Kristin Hunter Lattany

Heavenly birthday wishes Kristin Hunter Lattany! Born September 12, 1931, Kristin Elaine Hunter was an African-American writer from Pennsylvania. She sometimes wrote under the name Kristin Hunter Lattany. She is best known for her first novel, God Bless the Child, published in 1964. She also authored Kinfolks, Guests in the Promised Land, which was nominated for a National Book Award, The Landlord, which became a motion picture, and a bestselling young adult novel, The Soul Brothers & Sister Lou. She received the Moonstone Black Writing Celebration Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. She died in 2008.

KRLemmons African American adult fiction, African American adult literature, African American Historical Fiction, African American memoirs, African American Short Stories

September 11 of September is Black Reading Month: James McBride

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: