Library showcase: Celebrating African-American authors

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“America is woven of many strands… Our fate is to become one, and yet many.” –Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man 

In honor of Black History Month, the library is showcasing the works of African-American authors. These award-winning authors are celebrated for their remarkable literature and nonfiction. Whether you’d like to re-read a classic or discover a new bestseller, you can always find something to read at the library!

Some of the most famous African-American authors are known not only for their writing but for the incredible lives they led. You can find a great selection of historical works at the library, such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.

You may first encounter these authors through assigned reading, but literary classics aren’t only for the classroom. Novels like Sula by Toni Morrison, Native Son by Richard Wright, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin make great reads anytime.

There’s also no shortage of brilliant African-American poetry on the library shelves. The words of Langston Hughes inspired a generation of Civil Rights activists, while modern African-American poets like Rita Dove continue to provide a voice for Black America today.

Too busy to read a whole novel? Try the short story collection, In Love & Trouble, by Alice Walker, or the personal essays of Maya Angelou in Letter to My Daughter. The library also has a great supply of works by modern African-American authors, such as Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer, Fear Itself by Walter Mosley, and Precious by Sapphire.