List of African-American writers
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.
A
- Aberjhani, historian, columnist, novelist, poet, artist and editor
- Mumia Abu-Jamal, political activist and journalist
- Linda Addison, author and poet
- Tomi Adeyemi, author and creative writing coach
- Ai, aka Ai Ogawa, birth name Florence Anthony, poet, NBA for poetry, 1999
- Rochelle Alers, author and artist
- Elizabeth Alexander, poet, essayist and playwright
- Kwame Alexander, writer of poetry and children's fiction
- Larry D. Alexander, author and artist
- Lewis Grandison Alexander, poet, actor and playwright
- Candace Allen, novelist, cultural critic and screenwriter
- Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen, author and educator
- Robert L. Allen, activist, writer and academic
- Garland Anderson, playwright
- Maya Angelou, author and poet
- Tina McElroy Ansa, novelist, filmmaker, teacher and journalist
- Ray Aranha, actor, playwright and stage director
- Chalmers Archer, author, veteran and educator
- M. K. Asante Jr., author, poet, screenwriter, professor
- Jabari Asim, poet, playwright, professor
- Russell Atkins, musician, playwright and poet
- William Attaway, novelist, short-story writer, essayist, songwriter, playwright and screenwriter
B
- Calvin Baker, novelist
- James Baldwin, novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and activist
- Toni Cade Bambara, author, filmmaker and activist
- Leslie Esdaile Banks
- Amiri Baraka, writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism
- Aja Barber, fashion activist and writer
- Shauna Barbosa, poet
- Steven Barnes
- Lindon W. Barrett
- Samuel Alfred Beadle
- Paul Beatty
- Robert Beck
- Christopher C. Bell
- Derrick Bell
- Brit Bennett, novelist
- Gwendolyn Bennett
- Hal Bennett, novelist
- Lerone Bennett Jr.
- Bertice Berry
- Venise T. Berry, novelist
- Henry Bibb
- Eleanor Taylor Bland, writer of crime fiction
- Marita Bonner, essayist and playwright
- Arna Bontemps, poet, novelist and librarian
- James Boggs
- Demico Boothe, writer on civil rights
- David Bradley
- William Stanley Braithwaite, poet and literary critic
- Gwendolyn Brooks
- Claude Brown
- Hallie Quinn Brown
- Roseanne A. Brown, writer of fantasy, science fiction and young adult fiction
- Sterling A. Brown, poet, literary critic, professor, poet laureate of the District of Columbia
- William Wells Brown, wrote first novel published by an African American, Clotel
- Anatole Broyard
- Ashley Bryan
- Niobia Bryant, author of romance and mainstream fiction novels
- Ed Bullins
- Olivia Ward Bush
- Octavia Butler
- Roderick D. Bush, sociologist, activist and author
C
- George Cain, novelist
- Bebe Moore Campbell, author, journalist and teacher
- Stokely Carmichael
- Ben Carson
- Jennie Carter, journalist and essayist
- Stephen L. Carter, legal scholar
- Cyrus Cassells, poet and professor
- Kashana Cauley, comedy writer and novelist
- Lady Chablis, actress, author, drag performer
- Charles W. Chesnutt, novelist and short-story writer
- Alice Childress, playwright and novelist
- Paulette Childress, poet and short story writer
- Breena Clarke
- Cheril N. Clarke
- Cheryl Clarke
- John Henrik Clarke
- Stanley Bennett Clay, writer, director, actor, publisher
- Troy CLE, fiction writer
- Pearl Cleage, playwright, essayist, novelist, poetm and activist
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Michelle Cliff, novelist
- Lucille Clifton, poet and educator
- Wendy Coakley-Thompson
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, author, journalist, and activist
- Wanda Coleman, poet
- Marvel Cooke, journalist, writer and civil rights activist
- Anna J. Cooper
- Clarence Cooper Jr., novelist
- J. California Cooper, playwright
- James Corrothers, poet and journalist
- Jayne Cortez, poet and activist
- Bill Cosby
- Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
- Donald Crews, children's book author
- Stanley Crouch, poet, critic, columnist, novelist and biographer
- Harold Cruse, academic and social critic
- Countee Cullen, poet, novelist, children's writer and playwright
- Waring Cuney, poet
- Christopher Paul Curtis, children's book author
D
- Jeffrey Daniels, poet
- Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
- Christopher Darden
- Angela Davis political activist, writer, and professor.
- Frank Marshall Davis
- Kyra Davis, novelist
- Milton Davis
- George Dawson
- Samuel R. Delany, novelist, author, editor, professor, and literary critic
- Eric Jerome Dickey
- Anita Doreen Diggs
- Nahshon Dion creative non-fiction writer
- Lonnie Dixon
- Frederick Douglass
- Rita Dove, 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.
- Sharon Draper
- W. E. B. Du Bois writer, sociologist, and activist, who was a founding member of the NAACP His most notable work is The Souls of Black Folk.
- Tananarive Due writer specializing in Black speculative fiction, and professor of Black Horror and Afrofuturism
- Henry Dumas
- Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet
- Alice Dunbar-Nelson
- David Anthony Durham
- Richard Durham,, wrote radio series Destination Freedom
- Michael Eric Dyson
E
- Cornelius Eady
- Sarah Jane Woodson Early, educator, activist and author
- Junius Edwards
- Ralph Ellison, novelist, best known as author of Invisible Man
- Olaudah Equiano
- Don Evans, playwright
- Mari Evans, poet
- Percival Everett, novelist
- Eve Ewing, author, educator, poet, and sociologist
F
- Sarah Webster Fabio
- Ronald Fair
- Sarah Farro, 19th-century novelist
- John M. Faucette, science-fiction author
- Arthur Huff Fauset
- Jessie Fauset, editor, poet, essayist and novelist
- London R. Ferebee, preacher and author
- Lolita Files, author, screenwriter and producer
- Antwone Fisher
- Rudolph Fisher, novelist, short story writer and dramatist
- Sharon G. Flake, writer of young adult literature
- Robert Fleming, journalist and writer of erotic fiction and horror fiction
- Mary Weston Fordham, poet
- Namina Forna, author and screen writer
- Leon Forrest, novelist
- Tonya Foster, poet, essayist and educator
- J. E. Franklin, playwright
- John Hope Franklin, historian, sociologist, memoirist
- Hoyt W. Fuller
- Nina Foxx, novelist, playwright and screenwriter
G
- Ernest Gaines, fiction writer
- Ruth Gaines-Shelton, educator and playwright
- Marcus Garvey
- Tony Gaskins, motivational, inspirational, self-help writer
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Roxane Gay
- Nikki Giovanni
- Roy Glenn, fiction writer, Is It A Crime, Payback
- Donald Goines
- Marita Golden
- Edythe Mae Gordon, poet, fiction writer
- Eugene Gordon, journalist
- Charles Gordone, playwright
- Amanda Gorman, poet
- Lawrence Otis Graham
- Moses Grandy
- Victor Hugo Green, travel writer
- Eloise Greenfield, children's book author
- Sam Greenlee, novelist, poet, best known as author of The Spook Who Sat by the Door
- Bonnie Greer, novelist, playwright, critic
- Deborah Gregory, author of The Cheetah Girls book series
- Dick Gregory
- Sutton E. Griggs
- Nikki Grimes, children's book author and poet
- Angelina Weld Grimke
- Charlotte Forten Grimké
- Rosa Guy
- John Langston Gwaltney, anthropologist, author of Drylongso
- Yaa Gyasi, Ghanaian-American novelist, author of ''Homegoing.''
H
- Alex Haley, author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family
- Virginia Hamilton, author of children's books
- Henry Hampton
- Lorraine Hansberry, playwright
- Joyce Hansen, author of children's books
- Vincent Harding, historian and social activist
- Edward W. Hardy, playwright
- Nathan Hare, sociologist, activist, academic and psychologist
- Frances Harper, poet and abolitionist
- E. Lynn Harris
- Juanita Harrison
- Saidiya Hartman writer and academic, known for her seminal work Scenes of Subjection
- Robert Hayden, poet, essayist, educator
- Essex Hemphill, poet and activist
- David Henderson (poet)
- Safiya Henderson-Holmes, poet
- Chester Himes, novelist
- Kameisha Jerae Hodge, poet and publisher
- Corey J. Hodges
- Karla F. C. Holloway
- bell hooks, feminist, and social activist
- Pauline Hopkins, novelist, journalist, playwright, historian and editor
- Nalo Hopkinson, Jamaican Canadian, currently based in California
- George Moses Horton
- Roberta Hoskie, real-estate broker, writer, and media personality
- Tracie Howard, fiction writer
- Detrick Hughes, poet
- Langston Hughes, poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist
- Zora Neale Hurston, folklorist, anthropologist, author of novels short stories, plays and essays
I
- Jordan Ifueko
- Rashidah Ismaili, poet, fiction writer, essayist and playwright
J
- Brenda Jackson
- Jesse C. Jackson, young-adult novelist
- Mae Jackson, poet
- Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
- T. D. Jakes
- Ayize Jama-Everett, science fiction and speculative fiction writer
- John Jea
- N. K. Jemisin, writer of speculative fiction. First person to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel.
- Beverly Jenkins
- Joseph Jewell
- Terri L. Jewell, poet, writer and Black lesbian activist
- Alaya Dawn Johnson
- Angela Johnson
- Charles R. Johnson
- Georgia Douglas Johnson, poet
- Helene Johnson, poet
- James Weldon Johnson, writer and civil rights activist
- Mat Johnson, fiction writer
- Varian Johnson
- Edward P. Jones, novelist and short-story writer
- Gayl Jones, novelist
- Tayari Jones, author and academic
- June Jordan, poet, essayist and activist
K
- Ron Karenga
- Bob Kaufman, poet
- Elizabeth Keckley
- William Melvin Kelley, novelist
- Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins, novelist
- Randall Kenan
- Adrienne Kennedy, playwright
- Nina Kennedy, memoirist, screenwriter
- John Oliver Killens, novelist
- Jamaica Kincaid, novelist and essayist
- Emeline King
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Woodie King Jr.
- Etheridge Knight, poet
- Yusef Komunyakaa
L
- Pinkie Gordon Lane, poet, editor and teacher
- Nella Larsen, novelist
- Victor LaValle, fiction writer
- Brent Leggs, historian and preservationist, writer, academic
- Andrea Lee, novelist and memoirist
- Julius Lester, writer and academic
- David Levering Lewis, historian
- Willie Little author, multimedia artist
- Alain Locke writer
- Attica Locke, novelist
- Audre Lorde, author, poet, activist
- Bettina L. Love, abolitionist educator and writer
- Glenville Lovell, novelist and playwright
M
- Christopher Mwashinga, poet, theologian, essayist
- Nathaniel Mackey, poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic and editor
- Naomi Long Madgett, poet
- Haki R. Madhubuti, author, educator, poet, and publisher
- Clarence Major, poet, painter and novelist
- Raynetta Manees, novelist
- Manning Marable
- John Marrant
- Paule Marshall
- Ora Mae Lewis Martin, journalist and writer
- Hans Massaquoi
- Brandon Massey
- Victoria Earle Matthews, essayist, newspaperwoman, activist
- Julian Mayfield
- James McBride (writer)
- Nathan McCall
- Bernice McFadden, novelist
- Claude McKay
- Patricia McKissack
- Reginald McKnight
- Kim McLarin, novelist
- Terry McMillan, novelist
- James Alan McPherson
- Louise Meriwether, novelist, essayist, journalist and activist
- Oscar Micheaux
- E. Ethelbert Miller, poet
- May Miller, poet and playwright
- Arthenia J. Bates Millican, poet, essayist and educator
- Mary Monroe, novelist
- Anne Moody
- Jessica Care Moore, poet
- Toni Morrison, author, Nobel laureate 1993
- E. Frederic Morrow, first black American appointed to a president's administration
- Walter Mosley, novelist
- Thylias Moss, poet, filmmaker and playwright
- Willard Motley
- Jess Mowry
- Albert Murray
- Pauli Murray, civil rights activist, legal scholar, and author
- Walter Dean Myers, writer of children's books
N
- Tariq Nasheed
- Gloria Naylor, novelist
- Larry Neal
- Barbara Neely, novelist, short-story writer and activist
- Huey P. Newton
- Richard Bruce Nugent
O
- Mwatabu S. Okantah poet and professor
- Gabriel Okara, poet and novelist
- Nnedi Okorafor, writer of science fiction and fantasy
- Marc Olden, author of mystery and suspense
- Porsha Olayiwola, poet
- Rita Omokha, journalist and author
- Terry a. O'Neal, poet, novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and educator
- Tochi Onyebuchi, science fiction and fantasy writer and former civil rights lawyer
- Roscoe Orman
- Ewuare Osayande
- Brenda Marie Osbey, poet
- Candace Owens, political activist
P
- ZZ Packer, writer of short fiction
- Gordon Parks, photographer, composer, author, poet, and film directo
- Suzan-Lori Parks, playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist
- Tyler Perry, actor, filmmaker and playwright
- Eric Pete, novelist and short-story writer
- Ann Petry, writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism
- Delores Phillips, poet and novelist
- Steve Phillips, author, columnist, political thought leader
- William Pickens, orator, educator, journalist, and essayist
- Leonard Pitts, novelist, commentator, journalist, and columnist
- Ann Plato, educator and author
- Sterling Plumpp, educator and author
- Carlene Hatcher Polite
- Alvin F. Poussaint, author, psychiatrist, and academic
- Jewel Prestage, 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, playwright and poet
R
- Aishah Rahman, playwright
- Alice Randall, author and songwriter
- Dudley Randall, poet and publisher
- Cordelia Ray, poet and teacher
- Francis Ray, writer of romance fiction
- Andy Razaf, poet, composer and lyricist
- Ishmael Reed, poet, essayist and novelist
- Kiley Reid, novelist
- Jason Reynolds, YA/Middle-Grade novelist/poet
- Willis Richardson, playwright
- Florida Ruffin Ridley, essayist and short-story writer
- Harrison David Rivers, playwright
- Cliff Roquemore, writer, producer and director
- Carolyn Rodgers, poet
- Octavia V. Rogers Albert
- Al Roker, journalist and author
- Fran Ross, novelist
- Shawn Stewart Ruff, novelist
- Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, journalist
- Malinda Russell, author of the first known cookbook by a Black woman in the United States
- Rachel Renee Russell, author of the Dork Diaries series of children's novels
- Carl Hancock Rux, poet, essayist, playwright, novelist
- Rupaul, actor, author, drag performer, TV show host
S
- Kalamu ya Salaam, poet, author, filmmaker, teacher, activist
- Sonia Sanchez, poet
- Dori Sanders novelist
- Sapphire
- Charles R. Saunders, author and journalist
- Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, historian, writer, and activist
- George Schuyler, author, journalist and social commentator
- Gil Scott-Heron, poet and musician
- Clara Johnson Scroggins, author, collector
- Sandra Seaton, playwright and librettist
- Victor Séjour
- Fatima Shaik, author
- Tupac Shakur
- Ntozake Shange, playwright and poet
- Nisi Shawl
- Sister Souljah
- Iceberg Slim
- Amanda Smith
- Danez Smith, poet
- Effie Waller Smith, poet
- William Gardner Smith, journalist, novelist, and editor
- Thomas Sowell, economist, social theorist, political philosopher
- A. B. Spellman
- Anne Spencer, poet
- Aurin Squire, producer, playwright, screenwriter and reporter
- Theophilus Gould Steward
- Maria W. Stewart, journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, women's rights activist
- Jeffrey C. Stewart, professor and Pulitzer prize winner
- Nic Stone
T
- Ellen Tarry, journalist and author
- Mildred D. Taylor
- Susie Taylor
- Mary Church Terrell
- Lucy Terry
- Michael Thelwell, novelist and essayist
- Angie Thomas, young adult author
- Clarence Thomas
- Joyce Carol Thomas, author, poet, playwright, and motivational speaker
- Lorenzo Thomas
- Piri Thomas, writer and poet
- Truth Thomas, poet
- Pamela Thomas-Graham
- Era Bell Thompson
- Howard Thurman
- Wallace Thurman
- Ruth D. Todd
- Lynn Toler
- Melvin B. Tolson
- Jean Toomer
- Touré, journalist
- Askia M. Touré, poet, essayist, leading voice of the Black Arts Movement
- Quincy Troupe
- Sojourner Truth
- Omar Tyree, novelist
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
V
- Henry Van Dyke, novelist, editor, teacher and musician
- Ivan Van Sertima, professor, author, historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University
- Bethany Veney, author of Aunt Betty's Story: The Narrative of Bethany Veney, A Slave Woman
- Olympia Vernon, novelist
W
- Alice Walker
- Frank X. Walker, founding member of Affrilachian poets
- Margaret Walker, novelist, poet and writer
- Michele Wallace
- Eric Walrond
- Mildred Pitts Walter
- Marilyn Nelson Waniek
- Douglas Turner Ward
- Jesmyn Ward, novelist
- Booker T. Washington
- Frank J. Webb, novelist, poet, essayist
- Ida B. Wells
- Richard Wesley, playwright, screenwriter
- Valerie Wilson Wesley
- Cornel West
- Dorothy West, novelist
- Phillis Wheatley, first published African-American poet
- Walter Francis White
- Colson Whitehead, novelist and journalist
- Steven Whitehurst, award-winning author
- Albery Allson Whitman, poet, minister and orator
- Anthony Whyte, writer of urban and hip-hop literature
- John Edgar Wideman
- Isabel Wilkerson, journalist and author
- Crystal Wilkinson
- Alicia D. Williams, children's novelist
- Chancellor Williams, historian and sociologist
- John Alfred Williams, author, journalist and academic
- Samm-Art Williams, playwright
- Sherley Anne Williams
- Walter E. Williams
- August Wilson, playwright
- Harriet E. Wilson, author of Our Nig and the first African-American novelist
- Kathy Y. Wilson, journalist, columnist, playwright, and commentator
- William Julius Wilson, author of When Work Disappears, The Truly Disadvantaged, and The Declining Significance of Race
- Oprah Winfrey, talk-show host, actress, author and media proprietor
- Carter G. Woodson, historian, author and journalist
- Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author of books for children and adolescents, including "Brown Girl Dreaming"
- David Wright
- Jay Wright, poet
- Kelly Wright, author of Outed Obsession and Fatal Fixation
- Richard Wright, writer of novels, short stories, poems and non-fiction
- Sarah E. Wright, novelist
- David F. Walker, comic book writer and novelist
X
Y
- Camille Yarbrough
- Frank Yerby, historical novelist
- Al Young, poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and professor
Z
- Zane, author of erotic fiction
- Ahmos Zu-Bolton, activist, poet and playwright