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 (born 1957), historian, columnist, novelist, poet, artist and editor Mumia Abu-Jamal (born 1954), political activist and journalist Linda Addison (born 1952), author and poet Tomi Adeyemi (born 1993), author and creative writing coach Ai, aka Ai Ogawa, birth name Florence Anthony (1947–2010), poet, NBA for poetry, 1999 Rochelle Alers (born 1943), author and artist Elizabeth Alexander (born 1962), poet, essayist and playwright Kwame Alexander (born 1968), writer of poetry and children's fiction Larry D. Alexander (born 1953), author and artist Lewis Grandison Alexander (1898–1945), poet, actor and playwright Candace Allen (born 1950), novelist, cultural critic, and screenwriter Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen (1859–1941), author and educator Robert L. Allen (1942–2024), activist, writer and academic Garland Anderson (1886–1939), playwright Monroe Anderson (born 1947) journalist, author, was Chicago's press secretary for mayor Eugene Sawyer Maya Angelou (1928–2014), author and poet Tina McElroy Ansa (1949–2024), novelist, filmmaker, teacher and journalist Ray Aranha (1939–2011), actor, playwright and stage director Chalmers Archer (1928–2014), author, veteran and educator M. K. Asante Jr. (born 1982), author, poet, screenwriter, professor Jabari Asim (born 1962), poet, playwright, professor Russell Atkins (1926–2024), musician, playwright and poet William Attaway (1911–1986), novelist, short-story writer, essayist, songwriter, playwright and screenwriter
B
Calvin Baker (born 1972), novelist Nikki Baker, aka Jennifer Dowdell (born 1962), novelist James Baldwin (1924–1987), novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and activist Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995), author, filmmaker and activist Leslie Esdaile Banks (1959–2011) Amiri Baraka (1934–2014), writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism Aja Barber (living), fashion activist and writer Shauna Barbosa (born ), poet Steven Barnes (born 1952) Amy DuBois Barnett (born 1969) Lindon W. Barrett (1961–2008) Samuel Alfred Beadle (1857–1932) Paul Beatty (born 1962) Robert Beck (1918–1992) Christopher C. Bell (born 1933) Derrick Bell (1930–2011) Brit Bennett (living), novelist Gwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981) Hal Bennett (1936–2004), novelist Lerone Bennett Jr. (1928–2018) Bertice Berry (born 1960) Venise T. Berry (born 1955), novelist Henry Bibb (1815–1854) Uché Blackstock (born 1977 or 1978), physician, professor, and author Eleanor Taylor Bland (1944–2010), writer of crime fiction Marita Bonner (1899–1971), essayist and playwright Arna Bontemps (1902–1973), poet, novelist and librarian James Boggs (1919–1993) Hannah Crafts (born c. 1830s) Demico Boothe (living), writer on civil rights David Bradley (born 1950) William Stanley Braithwaite (1878–1962), poet and literary critic Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) Claude Brown (1937–2002) Hallie Quinn Brown (1849–1949) Roseanne A. Brown (born 1995), writer of fantasy, science fiction and young adult fiction Sterling A. Brown (1901–1989), poet, literary critic, professor, poet laureate of the District of Columbia William Wells Brown (1814–1884), wrote first novel published by an African American, Clotel (1853) Anatole Broyard (1920–1990) Ashley Bryan (1923–2022) Niobia Bryant (born 1972), author of romance and mainstream fiction novels Ed Bullins (1935–2021) Olivia Ward Bush (1869–1944) Octavia Butler (1947–2006) Roderick D. Bush (1945–2013), sociologist, activist and author
C George Cain (1943–2010), novelist Bebe Moore Campbell (1950–2006), author, journalist and teacher Clay Cane, journalist, author, political commentator, and radio host Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998) Ben Carson (born 1951) Jennie Carter (1830–1881), journalist and essayist Stephen L. Carter (born 1954), legal scholar Cyrus Cassells (born 1957), poet and professor Kashana Cauley (living), comedy writer and novelist Lady Chablis (1957–2016), actress, author, drag performer Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932), novelist and short-story writer Alice Childress (1916–1994), playwright and novelist Paulette Childress (born 1948), poet and short story writer P. Djèlí Clark, aka Dexter Gabriel or Phenderson Djèlí Clark (born 1971), author and historian Breena Clarke (living) Cheril N. Clarke (born 1980) Cheryl Clarke (born 1947) John Henrik Clarke (1915–1998) Stanley Bennett Clay (born 1950), writer, director, actor, publisher Troy CLE (living), fiction writer Pearl Cleage (born 1948), playwright, essayist, novelist, poet, and activist Eldridge Cleaver (1935–1998) Michelle Cliff (1946–2016), novelist Lucille Clifton (1936–2010), poet and educator Wendy Coakley-Thompson (born 1966) Ta-Nehisi Coates (born 1975), author, journalist, and activist Wanda Coleman (1946–2013), poet Marvel Cooke (1903–2000), journalist, writer and civil rights activist Anna J. Cooper (1858–1964) Clarence Cooper Jr. (1934–1978), novelist J. California Cooper (1931–2014), playwright and author James Corrothers (1869–1917), poet and journalist Jayne Cortez (1934–2012), poet and activist Bill Cosby (born 1937) S.A. Cosby (born 1973), author Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr. (1861–1949) Donald Crews (born 1938), children's book author Stanley Crouch (1945–2020), poet, critic, columnist, novelist and biographer Harold Cruse (1916–2005), academic and social critic Countee Cullen (1903–1946), poet, novelist, children's writer and playwright Waring Cuney (1906–1976), poet Christopher Paul Curtis (born 1953), children's book author
D
Jeffrey Daniels (living), poet Meri Nana-Ama Danquah (born 1967) Christopher Darden (born 1956) Angela Davis (born 1944) political activist, writer, and professor Frank Marshall Davis (1905–1987) Milton Davis (living) George Dawson (1898–2001) Samuel R. Delany, novelist, author, editor, professor, and literary critic Tracy Deonn Eric Jerome Dickey (1961–2021) Anita Doreen Diggs (born 1966) Nahshon Dion (born 1978) creative non-fiction writer Lonnie Dixon (1932–2011) Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) Rita Dove (born 1952), 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 (born 1948) W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) writer, sociologist, and activist, who was a founding member of the NAACP His most notable work is The Souls of Black Folk. Tananarive Due (born 1966) writer specializing in Black speculative fiction, and professor of Black Horror and Afrofuturism Henry Dumas (1934–1968) Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), poet Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935) David Anthony Durham (born 1969) Richard Durham, (1917–1984), wrote radio series Destination Freedom Michael Eric Dyson (born 1958)
E
Cornelius Eady (born 1954) Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825–1907), educator, activist and author Junius Edwards (1929–2008) Ralph Ellison (1913–1994), novelist, best known as author of Invisible Man Olaudah Equiano (–1797) Don Evans (1938–2003), playwright Mari Evans (1919–2017), poet Percival Everett (born 1956), novelist Eve Ewing (born 1986), author, educator, poet, and sociologist
F Sarah Webster Fabio (1928–1979) Ronald Fair (1932–2018) Sarah Farro, 19th-century novelist John M. Faucette (1943–2003), science-fiction author Arthur Huff Fauset (1899–1983) Jessie Fauset (1882–1961), editor, poet, essayist and novelist London R. Ferebee (1849–1883), preacher and author Lolita Files (living), author, screenwriter and producer Antwone Fisher (born 1959) Rudolph Fisher (1897–1934), novelist, short story writer and dramatist Sharon G. Flake (born 1955), writer of young adult literature Robert Fleming (living), journalist and writer of erotic fiction and horror fiction Angela Flournoy, author Mary Weston Fordham (–1905), poet Namina Forna (born 1987), author and screenwriter Leon Forrest (1937–1997), novelist Tonya Foster (born 1966), poet, essayist and educator J. E. Franklin (born 1937), playwright John Hope Franklin (1915–2009), historian, sociologist, memoirist Hoyt W. Fuller (1923–1981) Nina Foxx (living), novelist, playwright and screenwriter
G Ernest Gaines (1933–2019), fiction writer Ruth Gaines-Shelton (1872–1938), educator and playwright Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) Tony Gaskins (born 1984), motivational, inspirational, self-help writer Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born 1950) Roxane Gay (born 1974) Nikki Giovanni (1943–2024) Roy Glenn (1914–1971), fiction writer, Is It A Crime, Payback Donald Goines (1936–1974) Marita Golden (born 1950) Edythe Mae Gordon (–1980), poet, fiction writer Eugene Gordon (1891–1972), journalist Charles Gordone (1925–1995), playwright Amanda Gorman (born 1998), poet Lawrence Otis Graham (born 1962) Moses Grandy (born ) Ayana Gray (born 1993) Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), travel writer Eloise Greenfield (1929–2021), children's book author Sam Greenlee (1930–2014), novelist, poet, best known as author of The Spook Who Sat by the Door Bonnie Greer (1948–2026), novelist, playwright, critic Deborah Gregory, author of The Cheetah Girls book series Dick Gregory (1932–2017) Sutton E. Griggs (1872–1933) Nikki Grimes (born 1950), children's book author and poetNikki Grimes at Scholastic. Angelina Weld Grimke (1880–1958) Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837–1914) Rosa Guy (1922–2012) John Langston Gwaltney (1928–1998), anthropologist, author of Drylongso Yaa Gyasi (born 1989), Ghanaian-American novelist, author of Homegoing.
H
Alex Haley (1921–1992), author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family Virginia Hamilton (1934–2002), author of children's books Henry Hampton (1940–1998) Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965), playwright Joyce Hansen (born 1942), author of children's books Vincent Harding (1931–2014), historian and social activist Edward W. Hardy (born 1992), playwright Nathan Hare (1933–2024), sociologist, activist, academic and psychologist Frances Harper (1825–1911), poet and abolitionist E. Lynn Harris (1955–2009) Juanita Harrison (1891–?) Saidiya Hartman (born 1961) writer and academic, known for her seminal work Scenes of Subjection Robert Hayden (1913–1980), poet, essayist, educator Cheryl A. Head, author and organizer Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), poet and activist David Henderson (poet) (born 1942) Safiya Henderson-Holmes (1950–2001), poet Donna Hill Chester Himes (1909–1984), novelist Kameisha Jerae Hodge (born 1989), poet and publisher Corey J. Hodges (born 1970) Karla F. C. Holloway (born 1949) bell hooks (1952–2021), feminist, and social activist Pauline Hopkins (1859–1930), novelist, journalist, playwright, historian and editor Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960), Jamaican Canadian, currently based in California George Moses Horton (1798–after 1867) Roberta Hoskie, real-estate broker, writer, and media personality Tracie Howard, fiction writer Detrick Hughes (born 1966), poet Langston Hughes (1901–1967), poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960), folklorist, anthropologist, author of novels short stories, plays and essays
I Jordan Ifueko (born 1993) Rashidah Ismaili (born 1941), poet, fiction writer, essayist and playwright
J Brenda Jackson (born 1953) Jesse C. Jackson (1908–1983), young-adult novelist Mae Jackson (born 1946), poet Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815–1897), author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) T. D. Jakes (born 1957) Ayize Jama-Everett (born 1974), science fiction and speculative fiction writer John Jea (1773–after 1817) N. K. Jemisin (born 1972), writer of speculative fiction. First person to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel.