African American Poetry (Poetry for Young People)

About the Author

Arnold Rampersad is the author of the widely acclaimed two-volume biography The Life of Langston Hughes as well as Days of Grace: A Memoir, co-authored with Arthur Ashe, and Jackie Robinson: A Biography. He has also edited several books, among them The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (with David Roessel). He is professor of English and Senior Associate Dean at Stanford University, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Philosophical Society, and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship. Marcellus Blount lives in New York City and is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He has published essays in PMLA, Callaloo, American Literary History, and Southern Review. He co-edited Representing Black Men with George Cunningham. His first study was entitled In a Broken Tongue: Rediscovering African-American Poetry, and his current project is entitled Listening for My Name: African-American Men and the Politics of Friendship. Karen Barbour has created illustrations for the New York Times and other magazines and newspapers. She has also written and illustrated several children's books, including Mr. Williams, which School Library Journal praised in a starred review: "The beauty of this book comes from the synergy of the spare narrative and rich artwork. The contrast makes each one more compelling; together they are powerful. [An] exquisite piece of oral history." Karen lives in Inverness, CA. See more of her work at karenbarbour.com.