Happy birthday Bernice L. McFadden! Born September 26, Bernice L. McFadden is is a national bestselling, award-winning African American author celebrated for her richly layered novels that center ancestry, memory, and the enduring strength of Black women. She is the author of Sugar, The Book of Harlan, and other acclaimed works of fiction. Her writing has earned numerous honors, including the American Book Award and an NAACP Image Award. Other notable works are:
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:
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.
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 Guy Johnson! Born September 8, 1945, Clyde Guy Johnson was an African American author, poet, and public servant best known as the only child of legendary literary figure Dr. Maya Angelou. After completing college in Ghana, Guy Johnson managed a bar on Spain’s Costa del Sol, ran a photo-safari service from London through Morocco and Algeria, and worked on oil rigs in Kuwait. Most recently he worked in the local government of Oakland, California, for more than twenty years. He authored three books: Standing at the Scratch Line, Echoes of a Distant Summer and Save the Stratford Canal! He died in 2022.
Happy birthday Nelson George! Born September 1, Nelson George is an established African American author and filmmaker with a passion for telling stories of the black experience in America. George is the author of several ground breaking histories of African American music, including Where Did Our Love Go: the Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound, The Death of Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop America and The Hippest Trip in America:Soul Train. He authored a few novels including Urban Romance.
Happy birthday Rita Dove! Born August 28, Rita Frances Dove is an African American poet and essayist. She served as poet laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress from 1993 to 1995, becoming the first African American appointed to the position after it was established in 1986. In 1987, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her third collection of poetry, Thomas and Beulah. Other notable works:
Happy birthday Kyra Davis Lurie! Born August 23, Kyra Davis Lurie is a New York Times bestselling African American author and screenwriter. She is the author of The Great Mann, So Much For My Happy Ending, the Sophie Katz mystery series, the Just One Night series and the Pure Sin series. Her books have been published in nine languages across 6 continents. Her first historical fiction novel, The Great Mann, is a literary interpretation of the Great Gatsby.
Happy birthday Mat Johnson! Born August 19, Mat Johnson is an African American fiction writer who works in both prose and the comics format. In 2007, he was named the first USA James Baldwin Fellow by United States Artists. Here are a few of his notable works:
Heavenly birthday wishes, Wallace Thurman! Born August 16, 1902, Wallace Thurman was an African-American editor, critic, novelist, and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. He was well known for his novel, The Blacker the Berry. He died in 1934. Some other works he authored:
