Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry

by Barbour, Karen; Rampersad, Arnold; Blount, Marcellus

• ISBN13: 9781402716898
• ISBN10: 1402716893
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-01
• Publisher: Sterling Children's Books

Summary

The newest addition to the acclaimed Poetry for Young Peopleseries shines a light on the power and beauty of African-American verse. Co-editors Arnold Rampersad and Marcellus Blount--both towering figures in literary criticism--have put together an impressive anthology that will open up a world of wonderful word images for children. The classic poems come from some of the most influential and celebrated African-American writers in history, including Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, Lucille Clifton, and James Baldwin. Helpful and generous annotations, a lively introduction, and beautiful illustrations by Karen Barbour make this the ideal book to introduce young readers to the marvels of poetry.

Author Biography

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's paintings have been shown at Jack Hanley Gallery in San Francisco and galleries in New York, Rome, Milan, Venice, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and elsewhere. She has an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and lives in Inverness, CA.