Bernard A. Drew

Here's a one stop resource, containing 100 profiles of your favorite contemporary African American writers, along with complete lists of their works. Focusing on writers who have made their mark in the past 25 years, this guide stresses African American writers of popular and genre literature-from Rochelle Alers and Octavia Butler, and Samuel Delaney to Walter Mosley, and Omar Tyree, with a few classic literary giants also included. Short profiles provide an overview of the author's life and summarize his or her writing accomplishments. Many are accompanied by black-and-white photos of the author. The biographies are followed by a complete list of the author's published works. Where can you find information about popular, contemporary African American authors? Web sites can be difficult to locate and unreliable, particularly for some of the newer authors, and their contents are inconsistent and often inaccurate. Although there are a number of reference works on African American writers, the emphasis tends to be on historical and literary authors. Here's a single volume containing 100 profiles of your favorite contemporary African American writers, along with lists of their works. Short profiles provide an overview of the author's life and summarize his or her writing accomplishments. Many are accompanied by black-and-white photos of the author. The biographies are followed by a complete list of the author's published works. Focusing on writers who have made their mark in the past 25 years, this guide covers African American writers of popular and genre literature—from Rochelle Alers, Octavia Butler, and Samuel Delaney to Walter Mosley, Omar Tyree, and Zane. A few classic literary giants who are popular with today's readers are also included—e.g., Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Richard Wright. Readers who want to know more about their favorite African American authors or find other books written by those authors, students researching AA authors for reports and papers, and educators seeking background information for classes in African American literature will find this guide invaluable. (High school and up.)

Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies

100 Most Popular African American Authors

The book focuses on individuals writing in the '90s, but also includes 12 classic authors (e.g., Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, J.R.R. Tolkien) who are still widely read by teens. It also covers some authors known primarily for adult literature (e.g., Stephen King) and some who write mainly for middle readers but are also popular among young adults (e.g., Betsy Byars). An affordable alternative to multivolume publications, this book makes a great collection development tool and resource for author studies. It will also help readers find other books by and about their favorite writers.

The 100 Most Popular Young Adult Authors

Even well-meaning fiction writers of the late Jim Crow era (1900–1955) perpetuated racial stereotypes in their depiction of black characters. From 1918 to 1952, Octavus Roy Cohen turned out a remarkable 360 short stories featuring Florian Slappey and the schemers, romancers and ditzes of Birmingham’s Darktown for The Saturday Evening Post and other publications. Cohen said, “I received a great deal of mail from Negroes and I have never found any resentment from a one of them.” The black readership had to be satisfied with any black presence in the popular literature of the day. The best known white writers of black characters included Booth Tarkington (Herman and Verman in the Penrod books), Irvin S. Cobb (Judge Priest’s houseman Jeff Poindexter), Roark Bradford (Widow Duck, the plantation matriarch), Hugh Wiley (Wildcat Marsden, the war veteran who traveled the country in the company of his goat) and Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden (radio’s Amos ’n’ Andy). These writers deservedly declined in the civil rights era, but left a curious legacy that deserves examination. This book, focusing on authors of series fiction and particularly of humorous stories, profiles 29 writers and their black characters in detail, with brief entries covering 72 others.

Jim Crow Era Authors and Their Characters

Black Stereotypes in Popular Series Fiction, 1851–1955

In 1989 alone, for example, there were some forty-five major motion pictures which were sequels or part of a series. The film series phenomenon crosses all genres and has been around since the silent film era. This reference guide, in alphabetical order, lists some 906 English Language motion pictures, from 1899 to 1990, when the book was initially published. A brief plot description is given for each series entry, followed by the individual film titles with corresponding years, directors and performers. Animated pictures, documentaries and concert films are not included but movies released direct to video are.

A Reference Guide

Motion Picture Series and Sequels

The literary history behind this beautiful mountain region. The Massachusetts Berkshires have long been a mecca for literary greats, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edith Wharton to Sinclair Lewis and Joan Ackermann. The Green River in Great Barrington inspired William Cullen Bryant’s poetry. Charles Pierce Burton’s childhood hometown, Adams, became the setting for his frolicking Boys of Bob’s Hill children’s books. During an interlude in Lenox, Patricia Highsmith consulted a local undertaker for details to use in The Talented Mr. Ripley. In this book, Bernard A. Drew brings together a fascinating chronicle of some 250 wordsmiths who took inspiration from the hills and valleys of the Berkshires.

From Herman Melville to Patricia Highsmith

Literary Luminaries of the Berkshires

During the winter of 1776, in one of the most amazing logistical feats of the Revolutionary War, Henry Knox and his teamsters transported cannons from Fort Ticonderoga through the sparsely populated Berkshires to Boston to help drive British forces from the city. This history documents Knox’s precise route—dubbed the Henry Knox Trail—and chronicles the evolution of an ordinary Indian path into a fur corridor, a settlement trail, and eventually a war road. By recounting the growth of this important but under appreciated thoroughfare, this study offers critical insight into a vital Revolutionary supply route.

Henry Knox and the Revolutionary War Trail in Western Massachusetts

This is an encyclopedic work, arranged by broad categories and then by original authors, of literary pastiches in which fictional characters have reappeared in new works after the deaths of the authors that created them. It includes book series that have continued under a deceased writer's real or pen name, undisguised offshoots issued under the new writer's name, posthumous collaborations in which a deceased author's unfinished manuscript is completed by another writer, unauthorized pastiches, and "biographies" of literary characters. The authors and works are entered under the following categories: Action and Adventure, Classics (18th Century and Earlier), Classics (19th Century), Classics (20th Century), Crime and Mystery, Espionage, Fantasy and Horror, Humor, Juveniles (19th Century), Juveniles (20th Century), Poets, Pulps, Romances, Science Fiction and Westerns. Each original author entry includes a short biography, a list of original works, and information on the pastiches based on the author's characters.

The Posthumous Continuations of 325 Authors' Fictional Characters

Literary Afterlife

Provide your mystery fans with background information on their favorite writers and series characters, and use this as a guide for adding contemporary titles to your collections. • Provides interesting and informative profiles of 100 popular, contemporary mystery and crime writers as well as overviews of their series characters • Contains over 60 author photographs • A bibliography lists information on each author's works as well as supporting source materials for the profiles

Bernard A. Drew

About

Books

Join the club