AALBC Search
Ronald Fair
Ronald Fair 0000000116782340 Chicago-born African-American author, Ronald L. Fair, inspired by Richard Wright, carved his own literary path. Born in 1932, Fair served in the U.S. Navy before becoming...
Nita Wiggins
Nita Wiggins NONE Nita Wiggins is a Paris-based American author, speaker, and journalism instructor. She is recognized for her expertise in journalism strategies and regularly appears on TV networks,...
Jerome Lagarrigue
Jerome Lagarrigue 0000000403502938 Jerome Lagarrigue, a Paris-raised artist, moved to the US in 1992 and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design. He has won prestigious awards including the Core...
Rowan Ricardo Phillips
Rowan Ricardo Phillips 0000000077578485 Rowan Ricardo Phillips, an acclaimed poet and author, is recognized for books like Heaven and The Ground. Winner of the 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship, his work ha...
Robin Allison Davis
Robin Allison Davis NONE Robin Allison Davis is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, writer, and producer based in Paris and born and raised in the Washington, DC, area. After a ten-year television car...
Victor Séjour
Victor Séjour 0000000108710902 Juan Victor Séjour, born on June 2, 1817 in New Orleans, was a popular playwright and author. Raised by wealthy parents, he moved to Paris at 19 where he became part o...
Sion Dayson
Sion Dayson NONE Sion Dayson, an American writer and EFL teacher, has lived in New York, North Carolina, Paris, and now Valencia. Her work, including her debut novel 'As a River', has been published ...
Christian Cook
Christian Cook 0000000109462330 Christian Sandra-Elise Cook, a Detroit-born author, graduated early from high school and earned a BA in Public Relations from Columbia College Chicago. Her passion for...
Anika Malone
Anika Malone NONE Anika Malone, author of the acclaimed “10 Minutes Past Too Late”, is celebrated as a fresh voice in contemporary fiction. She has participated in notable book events across the Unit...
Jack Olsen
Jack Olsen 0000000080864730 Jack Olsen is a celebrated author of 33 books available in 15 countries and 11 languages. As a former Time bureau chief, he contributed to various high-profile publication...
Max Rodriguez
Max Rodriguez NONE Max Rodriguez is the founder and publisher of QBR/The Black Book Review, one of the nation’s premier publications dedicated to books by and about people of African descent. ...
Zuksiwa Wanner
Zuksiwa Wanner NONE Zukiswa Wanner, born to South African and Zimbabwean parents in Zambia, is a celebrated author known for award-nominated novels like “Men of the South.” As an essayist, she focuse...
Leire Salaberria
Leire Salaberria 0000000360451551 Leire Salaberria, born in Spain in 1983, is a Fine Arts graduate who specializes in Children's Illustration. She's exhibited her work globally and has been featured ...
Esther Phillips
Esther Phillips 0000000073657506 Esther Phillips, founder of The Bim Literary Festival & Book Fair and editor of Bim magazine, is a highly decorated poet with an MFA in Creative Writing. She's won pr...
Kakwasi Somadhi
Kakwasi Somadhi NONE Kakwasi Somadhi Kakwasi is a seasoned writer and educator with an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. She made her debut with the novel “Coming Forth by Day.” Besides t...
Dinaw Mengestu
Dinaw Mengestu 0000000114920471 Born in Ethiopia, Dinaw Mengestu immigrated to the US in 1980. He's a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Guardian First Book Award. His first novel earned mul...
Dantiel W. Moniz
Dantiel W. Moniz NONE A 2021 National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Honoree Dantiel W. Moniz is an award-winning author, recognized by the Alice Hoffman Prize and Tin House Scholarship. Her...
Michael A. Gonzales
Michael A. Gonzales NONE Harlem-born essayist and short story writer Michael A. Gonzales, co-authored the seminal hip-hop book Bring the Noise. Known as the “hip-hop Chester Himes,†his fiction a...
Marti Dumas
Marti Dumas NONE Marti Dumas, a mother, teacher, and children's book author, has lived in various places, from Manhattan to Paris. She carries a strong Louisiana heritage and is now settled in New Or...
Echo Brown
Echo Brown NONE Echo Brown is a renowned storyteller, author, and performer known for her one-woman show, 'Black Virgins Are Not for Hipsters'. She's also the author of 'Black Girl Unlimited'. Echo f...
Venita Blackburn
Venita Blackburn 0000000495978393 Venita Blackburn, author of award-winning story collection “Black Jesus and Other Superheroes,” has had her work featured in prestigious publications like The New Yo...
Jake Lamar
Jake Lamar 0000000042394002 Jake Lamar, a Bronx native, is a renowned author of the memoir, Bourgeois Blues, and novels including The Last Integrationist and Close to the Bone. Residing in Paris sinc...
Agathe Sorlet
Agathe Sorlet 0000000480340792 Agathe Sorlet is a Paris-based French animator and illustrator, and an alumnus of Gobelins l'école de l'image. Agathe Sorlet is a French animator and illustrator who i...
Bryan Washington
Bryan Washington 0000000493630393 Bryan Washington is a renowned author featured in publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and The Paris Review. He resides in Houston. Bryan ...
Synthia SAINT JAMES
Synthia SAINT JAMES 0000000035735390 Synthia SAINT JAMES, a LA and NY-raised artist, sold her first painting at 20. She held her first solo exhibition in LA in 1977 and participated in her first inte...
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop 0000000122785089 Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) was a renowned Senegalese scholar from an aristocratic Muslim family. Educated in traditional Islamic school, Diop later earned a ba...
Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett 0000000463582175 Brit Bennett, a celebrated author from Southern California, is a Stanford graduate with an MFA from University of Michigan. She's a recipient of the Hopwood Award and th...
Clément Oubrerie
Clément Oubrerie 0000000121365445 Clément Oubrerie is a Paris-born illustrator known for his prolific career in children’s books and 3D animation. After initial experiences in the US, he co-founded ...
Hélène de Gobineau
Hélène de Gobineau 0000000051417763 Hélène de Gobineau (1903-1958), a Parisian ethnologist known for her study on writing and dysgraphy, contributed to war efforts and was inspired by her experienc...
Joshua Bennett
Joshua Bennett NONE Dr. Joshua Bennett is a renowned poet, performer, and scholar recognized for his award-nominated work, The Sobbing School. He earned his PhD in English from Princeton, teaches at ...
Destiny O. Birdsong
Destiny O. Birdsong NONE Destiny O. Birdsong is a critically acclaimed poet published in prominent outlets like The Paris Review. She's a recipient of the American Poets Prize and Richard G. Peterson...
Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Jean-Loup Amselle
Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Jean-Loup Amselle MULTIPLE Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University, is renowned for his ...
Linda A. Duggins
Linda A. Duggins NONE Linda A. Duggins is the Director of Multicultural Publicity at Hachette Book Group and Co-founder of the Harlem Book Fair. She's a board member of several literacy organizations...
Junot Diaz
Junot Diaz 0000000121411106 Junot DÃaz, renowned for his debut novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and story collection “Drown”, is celebrated as a distinctive voice in contemporary fiction...
Boubacar Boris Diop
Boubacar Boris Diop 0000000121417292 Boubacar Boris Diop is a renowned Senegalese novelist and screenwriter. His acclaimed work, Murambi, The Book of Bones, made it to Africa's 100 Best Books of the ...
Ted Joans
Ted Joans 0000000081560413 “Jazz is my religion.” Theodore “Ted” Joans was an acclaimed jazz poet, surrealist, trumpeter, and painter, known for his avant-garde work and criticism of compe...
Alek Wek
Alek Wek 0000000078788484 Alek Wek, a globally renowned model, was scouted at 19 in London. She's known for her work with top designers like Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, and her iconic Elle covers. Born ...
Jean “Binta” Breeze
Jean “Binta” Breeze 0000000025335932 Jean “Binta” Breeze (1956–2021) was a renowned Jamaican poet who published eight books and performed globally. She first gained recognition in 1985 at the Inter...
Laura Nsafou
Laura Nsafou 000000046109520X Laura Nsafou, alias Mrs Roots, is an Afrofeminist blogger and author known for her literature reviews and articles on Afrofeminism in France. As the founder of Afrolab a...
James Kaplan
James Kaplan 0000000114392023 James Kaplan, a Guggenheim Fellow, is a prolific writer whose work has been featured in top magazines like The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. He's penned novels such as 'Pe...
David Margolick
David Margolick 000000011572515X David Margolick is a seasoned editor with roles at Vanity Fair, Newsweek, and Portfolio. Known for his 15-year tenure as a legal affairs correspondent for the New Yor...
Nathan Huggins
Nathan Huggins 0000000110473299 Nathan Irvin Huggins (1927-1989) was a renowned historian, author, and educator specializing in African-American studies. He served as the W. E. B. Du Bois Professor a...
Trey Ellis
Trey Ellis 000000011675397X Trey Ellis is a multi-talented writer, novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, and Associate Professor at Columbia University. He's known for his Emmy-nominated HBO ...
Ronin Ro
Ronin Ro 0000000035931519 Ronin Ro, a New York City-based author, began his career writing for Dance Music Report and The Source, eventually contributing to renowned publications like Rolling Stone a...
Desmond Meade
Desmond Meade NONE Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, is a renowned advocate for voting rights. A former homeless retur...
Angela Flournoy
Angela Flournoy 0000000436914613 Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, a National Book Award finalist, has been recognized with numerous awards including the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. A Nat...
Ezra Jack Keats
Ezra Jack Keats 0000000370477827 Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983) was a pioneering children's book author and illustrator known for introducing multiculturalism into mainstream American literature. Despit...
Jesse Byrd
Jesse Byrd NONE Jesse Byrd, Jr., an award-winning author and former Google project worker, used his basketball skills to fund his education at UC Santa Barbara. Known for his debut novel, King Pengui...
Maura Cheeks
Maura Cheeks NONE Maura Cheeks, renowned author featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic and others, won a masthead reporting residency with The Atlantic in 2019. 'Acts of Forgiveness' is her deb...
David S. Reynolds
David S. Reynolds 0000000109376942 David S. Reynolds is a distinguished literary critic, historian, and biographer whose work explores the intersection of culture, biography, society, and politics. ...
Freddi Williams Evans
Freddi Williams Evans 0000000034100692 Freddi Williams Evans is an award-winning author and former arts educator. She's recognized for her book “Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans” and her ad...
Brooke C. Obie
Brooke C. Obie NONE Brooke C. Obie, JD, MFA, is a graduate of Hampton University and Mercer University School of Law. She worked on rapper T.I.'s legal defense team and is a Fulbright Fellowship fina...
Donika Kelly
Donika Kelly 0000000497770596 Donika Kelly, award-winning author of 'Bestiary', is celebrated for her contributions to poetry with accolades like the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and 2018 Kate Tufts ...
William Melvin Kelley
William Melvin Kelley 0000000108984997 William Melvin Kelley was a notable American novelist and short-story writer, known for using African American comedy to critique racial attitudes. He taught li...
Roxane Orgill
Roxane Orgill NONE Roxane Orgill is a seasoned music critic and author with over 20 years of experience, having worked with The Wall Street Journal and The Milwaukee Journal. She is known for her bio...
Clint Smith
Clint Smith NONE Clint Smith is an award-winning author and staff writer at The Atlantic, known for his poetry collection “Counting Descent.” He has received various fellowships and his work has been...
Nadia Owusu
Nadia Owusu 0000000496613804 Nadia Owusu is a Brooklyn-based author and urban planner, known for winning the 2019 Whiting Award and the Atlas Review chapbook contest. Her writing has featured in prom...
Mitchell S. Jackson
Mitchell S. Jackson 0000000409614826 Mitchell S. Jackson Awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing Mitchell S. Jackson is an acclaimed author and educator, known for his debut novel “The Resi...
Patricia Smith
Patricia Smith 0000000110775334 Patricia Smith, celebrated poet and professor, is known for her direct and adventuresome style. She’s authored six books, including award finalists 'Blood Dazzler' and...
Sasha Bonet
Sasha Bonet NONE Sasha Bonet is a writer, cultural critic, and educator based in New York City. Her essays and features have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s Baza...
Faye Thompson
Faye Thompson NONE Faye Thompson, a passionate author, discovered her love for writing at a young age. After a life diversion and a degree in psychology, an epiphany led her back to her true calling....
Cornel West
Cornel West 0000000123215424 Join us in a conversations with Cornel West, at Harvard Bookstore on March 8, 2021 Born on June 2, 1953, Dr. Cornel West is a highly esteemed intellectual and professor at...
J. California Cooper
J. California Cooper 000000011687953X J. California Cooper was a renowned author and playwright, named Black Playwright of the Year in 1978. Encouraged by Alice Walker, she transitioned to fiction, w...
Hafizah Augustus Geter
Hafizah Augustus Geter NONE “Hafizah Augustus Geter is a genuine artist, not bound by genre or form…”— Hafizah Augustus Geter, a Nigerian American writer, poet, and literary a...
Joseph Earl Thomas
Joseph Earl Thomas NONE Joseph Earl Thomas is an author known for his unique and poignant storytelling. His first major work, Sink: A Memoir, published in 2022, explores his challenging upbringing i...
Omotara James
Omotara James NONE Omotara James is a writer, editor, and visual artist. She is the author of the chapbook Daughter Tongue, selected by the African Poetry Book Fund, in collaboration with Akashic Bo...
Naa Oyo A. Kwate
Naa Oyo A. Kwate NONE Naa Oyo A. Kwate is a Ghanaian immigrant who grew up in Chicago. She originally trained as a clinical psychologist in New York City, intending to work as a clinician in urban h...
Darcel Turner
Darcel Turner NONE Darcel Turner, a New York native, is an accomplished author known for her novel, “Dana Dances on Paper.” She has attended various colleges, transcribed for The 4th National Black W...
J. A. Faulkerson
J. A. Faulkerson NONE J.A. Faulkerson is a Northern Virginia-based writer known for classics like Adinkrahene and Real Men Raise CHAMPIONS. He's a Phillis Wheatley Book Award finalist and has recentl...
Joaquim Paulo
Joaquim Paulo 0000000083970053 Joaquim Paulo, a Portuguese consultant for major record labels and radio station director, is a passionate vinyl collector with over 25,000 LPs. He travels globally to ...
Tahar Ben Jelloun
Tahar Ben Jelloun 0000000121355386 Tahar Ben Jelloun is a renowned Moroccan author known for his novels, essays, and poetry. He's frequently nominated for the Nobel Prize and contributes to internati...
Walter Zacharius
Walter Zacharius NONE Walter Zacharius (1923-2011) was a WWII veteran and a noted philanthropist. He co-founded Kensington Publishing in 1974, expanding the romance genre and supporting diverse reade...
Gael Faye
Gael Faye 0000000439790847 Gaël Faye was born in 1982 in Burundi to a French father and Rwandan mother. In 1995, after the outbreak of the civil war and the Rwandan genocide, the family moved to Fra...
Eloghosa Osunde
Eloghosa Osunde NONE Eloghosa Osunde is a Nigerian writer and artist. An alumna of the Farafina Creative Writing Workshop, the Caine Prize Workshop, and the New York Film Academy, she has been publi...
Jeannine A. Cook
Jeannine A. Cook NONE Jeannine A. Cook (left) is the founder and owner of three avant-garde bookshop concepts: Harriett’s in Philadelphia, Ida’s in South Jersey, and Josephine’s, a literary installa...
Reynold Ruffins
Reynold Ruffins 0000000024800273 Reynold Ruffins, a renowned illustrator and professor, has received prestigious awards from The Cooper Union and had a successful career teaching at various instituti...
Robin Coste Lewis
Robin Coste Lewis NONE Robin Coste Lewis, a Provost's Fellow at USC, Cave Canem fellow and LA Institute for Humanities fellow, is known for her wide-ranging poetry. With an MFA from NYU and MTS from ...
Carter G. Woodson
Carter G. Woodson 0000000108766551 “Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes.” —African Proverb Carter G. Woodson, the son of former slaves, became a renowned scholar, earning a...
Darline Dorce-Coupet
Darline Dorce-Coupet NONE Darline Dorce-Coupet was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti but was raised in Miami, Florida, which was home for years. However, Ms. Dorce-Coupet has recently relocated...
Elsie Augustave
Elsie Augustave NONE Elsie Augustave, born in Haiti, is a Fulbright Scholar and accomplished educator, teaching French and Spanish at Stuyvesant High School. With degrees in foreign language and lite...
George Alexander
George Alexander 0000000074080876 George Alexander is the award-nominated founder of Galex Media Group, specializing in film and video production. Formerly an editor-at-large at Black Enterprise maga...
Dana Johnson
Dana Johnson 0000000034257024 Dana Johnson, an acclaimed author and English professor at the University of Southern California, is known for her award-winning short fiction and novels. Her work has b...
Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe
Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe 0000000083215402 Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, born in 1951, is a renowned artist with exhibitions worldwide, including at MoMA and the Whitney. Her work has been featured in Life,...
Zinzi Clemmons
Zinzi Clemmons 0000000486422713 Zinzi Clemmons is a Philadelphia-raised writer with South African roots. She co-founded Apogee Journal and contributes to Literary Hub. Her work has appeared in variou...
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor 0000000067552695 Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor was a multi-talented figure known for her work as a culinary anthropologist, food writer, actress, singer, dancer, and costume desig...
Kathryn M. Johnson
Kathryn M. Johnson NONE Compiler of “The Two Foot Shelf of Negro Literature” Kathryn Magnolia Johnson, born in the Jim Crow Era, was a champion for literacy, education, and social justice....
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor 0000000122841060 Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) was a Senegalese poet, philosopher, and the first president of Republic of Senegal. He played a key role in the Négritude...
Battiscombe G. Gunn
Battiscombe G. Gunn NONE Battiscombe George “Jack” Gunn was an English Egyptologist and philologist known for his 1906 translation of the Prisse Papyrus from Egyptian hieroglyphs to English. Despite ...
Albert Woodfox
Albert Woodfox 0000000496240251 Woodfox was held in solitary confinement, longer than anyone in U.S. history — over 40 years Albert Woodfox, born in 1947, is an activist from New Orleans. He has...
Alice Dunbar-Nelson
Alice Dunbar-Nelson 0000000081179540 Check out Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935) was an acclaimed American journalist, political act...
Lauren Michele Jackson
Lauren Michele Jackson 000000050056417X Dr. Lauren Michele Jackson is a Northwestern University professor specializing in English and African American Studies. Noted for her writing on race and cultu...
Véronique Tadjo
Véronique Tadjo 0000000081825936 Véronique Tadjo, an Ivorian poet, novelist, academic, and artist, holds a doctorate in Black American Literature and Civilization. She served as the head of the Fren...
Thomas Sankara
Thomas Sankara 0000000109098487 “There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women.” Thomas Sankara, born in 1949, was a central figure in Burkina Faso's democratic revolu...
Tim McLoughlin
Tim McLoughlin NONE "Tim McLoughlin, a Brooklyn-born author, acclaimed for his debut novel 'Heart of the Old Country'. Editor of the 'Brooklyn Noir' series. Thomas Adcock, an Edgar Award-winning nove...
Jonathan Escoffery
Jonathan Escoffery 0000000513239675 Jonathan Escoffery is an award-winning author, recognized with the 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and th...
Renee Gladman
Renee Gladman 0000000038222494 Renee Gladman is a renowned writer and artist, known for her exploration of poetry, prose, and architecture. Her prolific work includes a popular novel series set in th...
Shelly Oria
Shelly Oria 0000000444542979 Shelly Oria is an acclaimed author known for “New York 1, Tel Aviv 0” and the digital novella, “CLEAN.” Her work has received nominations for numerous awards, including a...
Maryse Conde
Maryse Conde 000000012279820X Maryse Condé, born in Guadeloupe in 1937, is a renowned author and academic. Educated at Lycée Fénelon and the Sorbonne, she taught in Africa and several US universit...
Diane Oliver
Diane Oliver 000000012330550X Diane Oliver (1943-1966) was a notable author and Managing Editor of The Carolinian. She published seven short stories, won an O. Henry Award, and attended the Universit...
Addie E. Citchens
Addie E. Citchens 0000000529088410 Addie E. Citchens was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and lives in New Orleans. A graduate of Jackson State University, she studied in the Florida State Universit...