Book Companion:

Biographical Resources for African American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests

Edited by Alma Dawson and Connie Van Fleet

Introduction

African American writers, particularly well known authors, are regularly profiled in standard biographical references. However, finding biographical information on newer voices can be especially challenging. No single source exists for access to current profiles. Information on African American authors may appear in online databases, in biographical dictionaries or directories (both African American and non-African American), in specialized volumes produced by individual writers, on covers of book jackets, on personal, publisher, book clubs, or African American booksellers’ websites. In some instances, no published information is available. Approximately 30% of the authors featured in African American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests (at the time of preparation of this volume) had no accessible biographical information through standard reference sources available in libraries. Of the number featured, 24.1 percent of the authors had information available only on personal, publisher, or book club websites. Another four percent had biographical information on book jackets alone, and two percent had no published biographical information. Therefore, to assist users of African American Literature, we have included a listing of references to biographical information for African American authors.

This listing provides biographical resources for African American writers included in Part II of African American Literature. “Life Stories” (Chapter 8) contains autobiographies of key African American figures and therefore is excluded from this listing. References are to both formal and informal sources. The formal reference sources include databases, biographical dictionaries and directories and other works. The informal sources are personal, publishers, book club, and book jacket biographical information.