This is a list of Black American authors and writers, all of whom are considered part of African-American literature , and who already have Wikipedia articles. The list also includes non-American authors resident in the US and American writers of African descent.
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(February 2023 )
Maya Angelou
Aberjhani (born 1957), historian, columnist, novelist, poet, artist and editor
Mumia Abu-Jamal (born 1954), political activist and journalist
Linda Addison (born 1952), author and poet
Tomi Adeyemi (born 1993), author and creative writing coach
Ai , aka Ai Ogawa, birth name Florence Anthony (1947–2010), poet, NBA for poetry, 1999
Rochelle Alers (born 1943), author and artist
Elizabeth Alexander (born 1962), poet, essayist and playwright
Kwame Alexander (born 1968), writer of poetry and children's fiction
Larry D. Alexander (born 1953), author and artist
Lewis Grandison Alexander (1898–1945)
Candace Allen (born 1950), novelist, cultural critic and screenwriter
Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen (1859–1941), author and educator
Robert L. Allen (born 1942), activist, writer and academic
Garland Anderson (1886–1939), playwright
Maya Angelou (1928–2014), author and poet
Tina McElroy Ansa (born 1949), novelist, filmmaker, teacher and journalist
Ray Aranha (1939–2011), actor, playwright and stage director
Chalmers Archer (1928–2014), author, veteran and educator
M. K. Asante, Jr. (born 1982), author, poet, screenwriter, professor
Jabari Asim (born 1962), poet, playwright, professor
Russell Atkins (1926–2024), musician, playwright and poet
William Attaway (1911–1986), novelist, short-story writer, essayist, songwriter, playwright and screenwriter
James Baldwin
Calvin Baker (born 1972), novelist
James Baldwin (1924–1987), novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and activist
Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995)
Leslie Esdaile Banks (1959–2011)
Amiri Baraka (1934–2014)
Shauna Barbosa (born c. 1988 ), poet
Steven Barnes (born 1952)
Lindon W. Barrett (1961–2008)
Samuel Alfred Beadle (1857–1932)
Paul Beatty (born 1962)
Robert Beck (1918–1992)
Christopher C. Bell (born 1933)
Derrick Bell (1930–2011)
Brit Bennett (living)
Gwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981)
Hal Bennett (1936–2004)
Lerone Bennett, Jr. (1928–2018)
Bertice Berry (born 1960)
Venise T. Berry (living), novelist
Henry Bibb (1815–1854)
Eleanor Taylor Bland (1944–2010), writer of crime fiction
Marita Bonner (1899–1971)
Arna Bontemps (1902–1973)
James Boggs (1919–1993)
Demico Boothe (living), writer on civil rights
David Bradley (born 1950)
William Stanley Braithwaite (1878–1962), poet and literary critic
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000)
Claude Brown (1937–2002)
Hallie Quinn Brown (1849–1949)
Roseanne A. Brown (born 1995)
Sterling A. Brown (1901–1989), poet, literary critic, professor, poet laureate of the District of Columbia
William Wells Brown (1814–1884), wrote first novel published by an African American, Clotel (1853)
Anatole Broyard (1920-1990)
Ashley Bryan (1923–2022)
Niobia Bryant (born 1972), author of romance and mainstream fiction novels
Ed Bullins (1935–2021)
Olivia Ward Bush (1869–1944)
Octavia Butler (1947–2006)
Roderick D. Bush (1945–2013)
George Cain (1943–2010)
Bebe Moore Campbell (1950–2006)
Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998)
Ben Carson (born 1951)
Jennie Carter (1830–1881)
Stephen L. Carter (born 1954)
Cyrus Cassells (born 1957)
Kashana Cauley (living)
Lady Chablis (1957–2016), actress, author, drag performer
Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932), novelist and short-story writer
Alice Childress (1916–1994), playwright and novelist
Breena Clarke (living)
Cheril N. Clarke (born 1980)
Cheryl Clarke (born 1947)
John Henrik Clarke (1915–1998)
Stanley Bennett Clay (born 1950), writer, director, actor, publisher
Troy CLE (living)
Pearl Cleage (born 1948)
Eldridge Cleaver (1935–1998)
Michelle Cliff (1946–2016)
Lucille Clifton (1936–2010)
Wendy Coakley-Thompson (born 1966)
Ta-Nehisi Coates (born 1975)
Wanda Coleman (1946–2013)
Marvel Cooke (1903–2000)
Anna J. Cooper (1858–1964)
J. California Cooper (1931–2014), playwright
James Corrothers (1869–1917)
Jayne Cortez (1934–2012)
Bill Cosby (born 1937)
Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr. (1861–1949)
Donald Crews (born 1938), children's book author
Stanley Crouch (1945–2020)
Harold Cruse (1916–2005)
Countee Cullen (1903–1946)
Waring Cuney (1906–1976)
Christopher Paul Curtis (born 1953)
Frederick Douglass
W. E. B. Du Bois
Jeffrey Daniels (living), poet
Meri Nana-Ama Danquah (born 1967)
Christopher Darden (born 1956)
Angela Davis (born 1944) political activist, writer, and professor.[1] [2]
Frank Marshall Davis (1905–1987)
Kyra Davis (born 1972), novelist
Milton Davis (living)
George Dawson (1898–2001)
Samuel R. Delany , novelist, author, editor, professor, and literary critic
Eric Jerome Dickey (1961–2021)
Anita Doreen Diggs (born 1966)
Nahshon Dion (born 1978)
Lonnie Dixon (1932–2011)
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)
Rita Dove (born 1952), poet and educator. Youngest person and first Black American to be the U.S. Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress.[3] [4]
Sharon Draper (born 1948)
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) writer, sociologist, and activist, who was a founding member of the NAACP[5] His most notable work is The Souls of Black Folk .[6]
Tananarive Due (born 1966) writer specializing in Black speculative fiction, and professor of Black Horror and Afrofuturism[7]
Henry Dumas (1934–1968)
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), poet
Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935)
David Anthony Durham (born 1969)
Richard Durham , (1917–1984), wrote radio series Destination Freedom
Michael Eric Dyson (born 1958)
Ralph Ellison
Cornelius Eady (born 1954)
Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825–1907), educator, activist and author
Junius Edwards (1929–2008)
Ralph Ellison (1913–1994), novelist, best known as author of Invisible Man
Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 –1797)
Don Evans (1938–2003), playwright
Mari Evans (1919–2017), poet
Percival Everett (born 1956)
Eve Ewing (born 1986), author, educator, poet, and sociologist[8] [9] [10] [11]
Sarah Webster Fabio (1928–1979)
Ronald Fair (1932–2018)
Sarah Farro , 19th-century novelist
John M. Faucette (1943–2003), science-fiction author
Arthur Huff Fauset (1899–1983)
Jessie Fauset (1882–1961), editor, poet, essayist and novelist
London R. Ferebee (1849–1883), preacher and author
Lolita Files (living), author, screenwriter and producer
Antwone Fisher (born 1959)
Rudolph Fisher (1897–1934), novelist, short story writer and dramatist
Sharon G. Flake (born 1955), writer of young adult literature
Robert Fleming (living), journalist and writer of erotic fiction and horror fiction
Mary Weston Fordham (c. 1862 –1905), poet
Namina Forna (born 1987), author and screen writer
Leon Forrest (1937–1997), novelist
Tonya Foster (living), poet, essayist and educator
J. E. Franklin (born 1937), playwright
John Hope Franklin (1915–2009), historian, sociologist, memoirist
Hoyt W. Fuller (1923–1981)
Nina Foxx (living), novelist, playwright and screenwriter
Ernest Gaines (1933–2019), fiction writer
Ruth Gaines-Shelton (1872–1938), educator and playwright
Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)
Tony Gaskins (born 1984), motivational, inspirational, self-help writer
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (born 1950)
Roxane Gay (born 1974)
Nikki Giovanni (born 1943)
Roy Glenn (1914–1971), fiction writer, Is It A Crime , Payback
Donald Goines (1936–1974)
Marita Golden (born 1950)
Edythe Mae Gordon (c. 1897 –1980), poet, fiction writer
Eugene Gordon (1891–1972), journalist
Charles Gordone (1925–1995), playwright
Amanda Gorman (born 1998), poet
Lawrence Otis Graham (born 1962)
Moses Grandy (born c. 1786 )
Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), travel writer
Eloise Greenfield (1929–2021), children's book author
Sam Greenlee (1930–2014), novelist, poet, best known as author of The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Bonnie Greer (born 1948), novelist, playwright, critic
Deborah Gregory , author of The Cheetah Girls book series
Dick Gregory (1932–2017)
Sutton E. Griggs (1872–1933)
Nikki Grimes (born 1950), children's book author and poet[12]
Angelina Weld Grimke (1880–1958)
Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837–1914)
Rosa Guy (1922–2012)
John Langston Gwaltney (1928–1998), anthropologist, author of Drylongso
Yaa Gyasi (born 1989), Ghanaian-American novelist, author of Homegoing .
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston
Alex Haley (1921–1992), author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Virginia Hamilton (1934–2002), author of children's books
Henry Hampton (1940–1998)
Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965), playwright
Joyce Hansen (born 1942), author of children's books
Vincent Harding (1931–2014), historian and social activist
Edward W. Hardy (born 1992), playwright
Nathan Hare (born 1933)
Frances Harper (1825–1911), poet and abolitionist
E. Lynn Harris (1955–2009)
Juanita Harrison (1891–?)
Saidiya Hartman (born 1961) writer and academic, known for her seminal work Scenes of Subjection [13] [14]
Robert Hayden (1913–1980), poet, essayist, educator
Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), poet and activist
David Henderson (poet) (born 1942)
Safiya Henderson-Holmes (1950–2001), poet
Chester Himes (1909–1984), novelist
Kameisha Jerae Hodge (born 1989)
Corey J. Hodges (born 1970)
Karla F. C. Holloway (born 1949)
bell hooks (1952—2021), feminist, and social activist
Pauline Hopkins (1859–1930), novelist, journalist, playwright, historian and editor
Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960), Jamaican Canadian, currently based in California
George Moses Horton (1798–after 1867)
Roberta Hoskie , real-estate broker, writer, and media personality
Tracie Howard , fiction writer[15]
Detrick Hughes (born 1966)
Langston Hughes (1901–1967), poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960), folklorist, anthropologist, author of novels short stories, plays and essays
Brenda Jackson (born 1953)
Jesse C. Jackson (1908–1983), young-adult novelist
Mae Jackson (born 1946), poet
Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815–1897), author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
T. D. Jakes (born 1957)
Ayize Jama-Everett (born 1974), science fiction and speculative fiction writer
John Jea (1773–after 1817)
N. K. Jemisin (born 1972), writer of speculative fiction. First person to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel.[16] [17]
Beverly Jenkins (born 1951)
Joseph Jewell (living)
Terri L. Jewell (1954–1995), poet, writer and Black lesbian activist
Alaya Dawn Johnson (born 1982)
Angela Johnson (born 1961)
Charles R. Johnson (born 1948)
Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880–1966), poet
Helene Johnson (1906–1995), poet
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), writer and civil rights activist
Mat Johnson (born 1970)
Varian Johnson (born 1977)
Edward P. Jones (born 1950), novelist and short-story writer
Gayl Jones (born 1949), novelist
Tayari Jones (born 1970), author and academic
June Jordan (1936–2002), poet, essayist and activist
Pinkie Gordon Lane (1923–2008), poet, editor and teacher
Nella Larsen (1891–1964), novelist
Victor LaValle (born 1972)
Brent Leggs , historian and preservationist, writer, academic
Andrea Lee (born 1953), novelist and memoirist
Julius Lester (1939–2018)
David Levering Lewis (born 1936)
Willie Little (born 1961) author, multimedia artist
Alain Locke (1885–1954) writer
Attica Locke (born 1974), novelist
Audre Lorde (1934–1992), author, poet, activist
Bettina L. Love , abolitionist educator and writer
Glenville Lovell (born 1955), novelist and playwright
Toni Morrison
Christopher Mwashinga (born 1965), poet, theologian, essayist
Nathaniel Mackey (born 1947), poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic and editor
Naomi Long Madgett (1923–2020), poet
Haki R. Madhubuti (born 1942)
Clarence Major (born 1936), poet, painter and novelist
Raynetta Manees (living), novelist
Manning Marable (1950–2011)
John Marrant (1755–1791)
Paule Marshall (1929–2019)
Ora Mae Lewis Martin (1889–1977), journalist and writer
Hans Massaquoi (1926–2013)
Brandon Massey (born 1973)
Victoria Earle Matthews (1861–1907), essayist, newspaperwoman, activist
Julian Mayfield (1928–1984)
James McBride (writer) (born 1957)
Nathan McCall (born 1955)
Bernice McFadden (born 1965), novelist
Claude McKay (1889–1948)
Patricia McKissack (1944–2017)
Reginald McKnight (born 1956)
Kim McLarin (born 1964), novelist
Terry McMillan (born 1951), novelist
James Alan McPherson (1943–2016)
Louise Meriwether (1923–2023), novelist, essayist, journalist and activist
Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951)
E. Ethelbert Miller (born 1950), poet
May Miller (1899–1995), poet and playwright
Arthenia J. Bates Millican (1920–2012), poet, essayist and educator
Mary Monroe (living), novelist
Anne Moody (1940–2015)
Jessica Care Moore (born 1971), poet
Toni Morrison (1931–2019), author, Nobel laureate 1993
E. Frederic Morrow (c.1909–1994), first black American appointed to a president's administration (1955–60)
Walter Mosley (born 1952), novelist
Thylias Moss (born 1954)
Willard Motley (1909–1965)
Jess Mowry (born 1960)
Albert Murray (1916–2013)
Pauli Murray (1910–1985)
Walter Dean Myers (1937–2014), writer of children's books
ZZ Packer (born 1973)
Gordon Parks (1912–2006), photographer, composer, author, poet, and film directo
Suzan-Lori Parks (born 1963), playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist
Tyler Perry (born 1969), actor, filmmaker and playwright
Eric Pete (living), novelist and short-story writer
Ann Petry (1908–1997), writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism
Debra Phillips (born 1959)
Delores Phillips (1950–2014), poet and novelist
Steve Phillips (born 1964), author, columnist, political thought leader
William Pickens (1881–1954), orator, educator, journalist, and essayist.
Ann Plato (born c. 1824 ), educator and author
Sterling Plumpp (born 1940), educator and author
Carlene Hatcher Polite (1932–2009)
Alvin F. Poussaint (born 1934)
Jewel Prestage (1931–2014), first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in political science, former Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern University
Robert Earl Price (born 1942), playwright and poet
Aishah Rahman (1936–2014), playwright
Alice Randall (born 1959), author and songwriter
Dudley Randall (1914–2000), poet and publisher
Cordelia Ray (1852–1916), poet and teacher
Francis Ray (1944–2013), writer of romance fiction
Andy Razaf (1895–1973), poet, composer and lyricist
Ishmael Reed (born 1938), poet, essayist and novelist
Kiley Reid (born 1987), novelist
Jason Reynolds (born 1983), YA/Middle-Grade novelist/poet
Willis Richardson (1889–1977), playwright
Florida Ruffin Ridley (1861–1943), essayist and short-story writer
Harrison David Rivers (born 1981), playwright
Cliff Roquemore (1948–2002), writer, producer and director
Carolyn Rodgers (1940–2010), poet
Octavia V. Rogers Albert (1853–c. 1890 )
Al Roker (born 1954)
Fran Ross (1935–1985)
Shawn Stewart Ruff , novelist
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842–1924), journalist
Malinda Russell (c. 1812 –?), author of the first known cookbook by a Black woman in the United States
Rachel Renee Russell (born 1959), author of the Dork Diaries series of children's novels
Carl Hancock Rux , poet, essayist, playwright, novelist
Rupaul (born 1960), actor, author, drag performer, TV show host
Kalamu ya Salaam (born 1947), poet, author, filmmaker, teacher, activist
Sonia Sanchez (born 1934), poet
Dori Sanders (born 1934) novelist
Sapphire (born 1950)
Charles R. Saunders (1946–2020), author and journalist
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874–1938), historian, writer, and activist
George Schuyler (1895–1977), author, journalist and social commentator
Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011), poet and musician
Clara Johnson Scroggins (1931–2019), author, collector
Sandra Seaton (living), playwright and librettist
Victor Séjour (1817–1874)
Fatima Shaik (living), author
Tupac Shakur (1971–1996)
Ntozake Shange (1948–2018), playwright and poet
Nisi Shawl (born 1955)
Sister Souljah (born 1964)
Iceberg Slim (1918–1992)
Amanda Smith (1837–1915)
Danez Smith (living), poet
Effie Waller Smith (1879–1960), poet
William Gardner Smith (1927–1974), journalist, novelist, and editor
Thomas Sowell (born 1930), economist, social theorist, political philosopher
A. B. Spellman (born 1935)
Anne Spencer (1882–1975), poet
Aurin Squire (born 1979), producer, playwright, screenwriter and reporter
Theophilus Gould Steward (1843–1924)
Maria W. Stewart (1803–1879), journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, women's rights activist
Jeffrey C. Stewart (born 1950), professor and Pulitzer prize winner
Nic Stone (born 1985)
Henry Van Dyke (1928–2011), novelist, editor, teacher and musician
Ivan Van Sertima (1935–2009), professor, author, historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University
Bethany Veney (c. 1813 –1916), author of Aunt Betty's Story: The Narrative of Bethany Veney, A Slave Woman (1889)
Olympia Vernon (born 1973), novelist
Dwyane Wade (born 1982)
Alice Walker (born 1944)
Frank X. Walker (born 1961), founding member of Affrilachian poets
Margaret Walker (1915–1998), novelist, poet and writer
Christopher George Latore Wallace (1972–1997)
Michele Wallace (born 1952)
Eric Walrond (1898–1966)
Leonard Pitts , novelist, commentator, journalist, and columnist
Mildred Pitts Walter (born 1922)
Marilyn Nelson Waniek (born 1946)
Douglas Turner Ward (1930–2021)
Jesmyn Ward (born 1977)
Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)
Frank J. Webb (1828–c.1894), novelist, poet, essayist
Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)
Richard Wesley (born 1945), playwright, screenwriter
Valerie Wilson Wesley (born 1947)
Cornel West (born 1953)
Dorothy West (1907–1998), novelist
Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), first published African-American poet
Walter Francis White (1893–1955)
Colson Whitehead (born 1969), novelist (The Intuitionist , The Underground Railroad ) and journalist
Steven Whitehurst (born 1967), award-winning author
Albery Allson Whitman (1851–1901), poet, minister and orator
Anthony Whyte , writer of urban and hip-hop literature
John Edgar Wideman (born 1941)
Isabel Wilkerson (born 1961)
Crystal Wilkinson (living)
Alicia D. Williams (born 1970), children's novelist
Chancellor Williams (1893–1992), historian and sociologist
John Alfred Williams (1925–2015), author, journalist and academic
Samm-Art Williams (born 1946), playwright
Sherley Anne Williams (1944–1999)
Walter E. Williams (1936–2020)
August Wilson (1945–2005)
Harriet E. Wilson (1825–1900), author of Our Nig and the first African-American novelist
Kathy Y. Wilson (d. 2022), journalist, columnist, playwright, and commentator
William Julius Wilson (born 1935), author of When Work Disappears , The Truly Disadvantaged , and The Declining Significance of Race
Oprah Winfrey (born 1954)
Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950)
Jacqueline Woodson (born 1963), award-winning author of books for children and adolescents, including "Brown Girl Dreaming"
David Wright (born 1964)
Jay Wright (born 1935), poet
Kelly Wright , author of Outed Obsession and Fatal Fixation
Richard Wright (1908–1960), writer of novels, short stories, poems and non-fiction
Sarah E. Wright , novelist
David F. Walker , comic book writer and novelist
Zane (born 1966/67), author of erotic fiction
Ahmos Zu-Bolton (1948–2005), activist, poet and playwright
"Directory" . humanities.ucsc.edu . Retrieved March 20, 2023 .
"Rita Dove" . Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA . Retrieved March 20, 2023 .
Foundation, Poetry (March 19, 2023). "Eve L. Ewing" . Poetry Foundation . Retrieved March 20, 2023 .
"About" . Epiphany 2.0 . Retrieved March 20, 2023 .