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Richard Wright Centenary

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This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of African American author Richard Wright, whose famous novels Black Boy and Native Son redefined race relations in the 20th century. Appropriate to the occasion, the press released a new paperback edition of the authoritative biographical account of Wright's tumultuous life and literary career, Richard Wright: The Life and Times by Hazel Rowley. An illuminating article in the June 11 edition of the Times Literary Supplement references Rowley's book as it delivers a short biography of Wright, describing his rise and fall as one of the "stars" in the early twentieth century's "literary firmament," his complicated relationship to the civil rights movement, and the "hazards of his expatriation to France in the late 1940's." You can read the full article by James Campbell at the TLS Online. And then navigate here to find out more about Rowley's biography.

Bookmark and Share   Posted by TXM on June 19, 2008 02:25 PM | | Archived in Biography | Black Studies | Literature | Reviews

Comments

The African American writer has finally begun to see a light at the end of the tunnel. And it is not just another train coming in the opposite direction! The technology leading the way to self publishing has been both a god-send, and a mixed blessing. We are flooded with books. Now the questions are: Which books about African American Life will forever remind us of who we are, and who we will become? Which books will become like the classics of the Harlem renaissance? Which will guide us? Which will uplift? Which will be passed on to the next generations? I know of one such recently published book, already being embraced even by non-African Americans: Finding Grace on a Less Traveled Road: A Cancer Doctor Reflects on Living and Dying. But this is just one book among many. What books do you think will uplift and inspire like this one? What books really matter to you, and us all?

Posted by: bookr794 [TypeKey Profile Page] | January 1, 2009 04:14 PM

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