Literature is a form of communication and a tool for sharing knowledge. At its best, literature leaves its mark on us as readers; we get swept up in the beauty of an author\u2019s words or we find ourselves struggling with the pain a character feels. \u00a0We see ourselves in texts, and we see new worlds in the stories we read. Culture and context, language and experience are deeply embedded in the literature that we read and teach in schools. These texts communicate much about what is important and valued in our contemporary society. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
An absence of diverse literature and diverse authors sends a powerful message to readers about what and who is important. Because our society is diverse so, too, should be the literature that we read. The richness of the stories and poems by the authors on this list highlight the contributions that diverse authors have made to literature, providing insights into language, culture, and experiences that may be different from what we usually read in schools. \u00a0The lushness of the language in Zora Neale Hurston\u2019s Their Eyes Were Watching God pulls the reader into Janie\u2019s compelling story of finding who she is. The stark reality of Paul Dunbar\u2019s We Wear the Mask holds a mirror up to society. The works on this list are engaging and powerful and provide readers with windows into other worlds. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
We encourage students preparing to describe works of literary merit to consider the texts listed here, and we encourage readers of all kinds- teachers, students and others- to help contribute to it by emailing your suggestions to e.pendergrass@vanderbilt.edu<\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Essays:<\/strong><\/p>\n Angela Davis’s \u201cWomen, Race, and Class\u201d<\/p>\n Alice Walker\u2019s essays, \u201cIn Search of Zora Neale Hurston\u201d or \u201cI Love Myself When I am Laughing and Then Again When I am Looking Mean and Impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n Novelists:<\/strong><\/p>\n Chinua Achebe [e.g.,Things Fall Apart]<\/i><\/p>\n Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [e.g., Half of a Yellow Sun<\/i>]<\/p>\n Aravind Adiga<\/p>\n Isabel Allende<\/p>\n Maya Angelou [e.g., I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings]<\/i><\/p>\n James Baldwin [e.g., Go Tell it on the Mountain<\/i>]<\/p>\n Benyamin<\/p>\n Octavia Butler<\/p>\n Zitkala-Sa Ceremony<\/p>\n Sandra Cisneros [e.g., House on Mango Street]<\/i><\/p>\n Michelle de Kretser<\/p>\n Junot Diaz<\/p>\n Ralph Ellison [e.g., Invisible Man<\/i>]<\/p>\n Bi Feiyu<\/p>\n Gish Jen<\/p>\n Reyna Grande [e.g., The Distance Between Us<\/em>]<\/p>\n Lorraine Hansberry<\/p>\n Khaled Housseini<\/p>\n Zora Neale Hurston [e.g.Their Eyes Were Watching God]<\/i><\/p>\n Hanna Jansen [e.g., Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You]<\/i><\/p>\n Jamaica Kincaid<\/p>\n Maxine Hong Kingston {e.g., Woman Warrior]<\/i><\/p>\n Jhumpa Lahiri<\/p>\n Carmen Maria Machado [e.g., Her Body and Other Parties<\/em>]<\/p>\n Gabriel Garcia Marquez [e.g., One Hundred Years of Solitude; Love in the Time of Cholera<\/em>]<\/p>\n Toni Morrison [e.g.,Beloved<\/i> ]<\/p>\n Neel Mukherjee<\/p>\n Haruki Murakami<\/p>\n Celeste Ng<\/p>\n Viet Tahn Nyuyen<\/p>\n John Okada<\/p>\n Michael Ondaatje<\/p>\n Chang Re<\/p>\n Jiang Rong<\/p>\n Michelle Syjuco<\/p>\n Amy Tan<\/p>\n Richard Wright [e.g., Native Son<\/i>]<\/p>\n Poets & Poetry Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n Kwame Alexander “Out of Wonder\u201d<\/p>\n Amiri Baraka “Also Drama, and More”<\/p>\n Gwendolyn Brooks<\/p>\n Lucille Clifton “Hips\u201d<\/p>\n Countee Cullen<\/p>\n Edwidge Danticat “This Side of the Water”<\/p>\n Rita Dove<\/p>\n Paul Dunbar “We Wear the Mask\u201d<\/p>\n Nikky Finney \u201cHead Off & Split\u201d<\/p>\n Nikki Giovanni<\/p>\n Ada Limon<\/p>\n Audre Lorde<\/p>\n Julian Randall<\/p>\n Jason Reynolds<\/p>\n Jimmy Santiago-Bacca<\/p>\n Kettly Mars “Saisons Sauvages”<\/p>\n Drama<\/strong><\/p>\n Lorainne Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun<\/i><\/p>\n August Wilson Fences<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Literature is a form of communication and a tool for sharing knowledge. At its best, literature leaves its mark on us as readers; we get swept up in the beauty of an author\u2019s words or we find ourselves struggling with … Continue reading