Literature

See also: Journalism

This includes writers of novels, plays, poetry, short stories, and children's literature.

Agbabi, Patience

Agbabi was born in London to Nigerian parents but fostered from birth by a white family, while maintaining frequent contact with her birth family. She was brought up in Sussex and North Wal... [more]

Albee, Edward Franklin

Albee has won three Pulitzer Prizes. His 13 plays (including The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, Tiny Alice, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Three Tall Women) are among the most famous in 20th... [more]

Andal

In Tamil Nadu tradition, Andal was a girl (by some considered to be a manifestation of the goddess Bhoodevi) found under a tulsi bush in the flower garden of the temple of Vishnu at Srivill... [more]

Anderson, Edward Warrigal

Anderson was born in Victoria, Australia and named after a dingo that witnessed his birth. When he was 10 years old he ran away from Moonee Ponds to escape government agents in the area to ... [more]

Angelou, Maya

Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in California. Her parents divorced when she was a young child and she and her brother were sent by their father to live with his mother i... [more]

Baca, Jimmy Santiago

When their parents divorced and abandoned them, Baca, aged two, and his siblings were sent to live with grandparents. By the time he was five his mother had been murdered by her second husb... [more]

Bird, A. John

Bird is the founder of The Big Issue, the magazine produced and sold by the homeless in Britain. He was one of six sons of a poor London family. After his parents were evicted from their... [more]

Bishop, Elizabeth

Bishop's father died when she was a baby. When she was five her mother was permanently hospitalized for mental illness and she never saw her again. She was then raised by her grandparents i... [more]

Black, Pauline

Black's birth mother was a teenage secretary, Jewish, and her father was a Nigerian prince, Oladosu Adenle. She was born Belinda Magnus and because her parents were unmarried her mother was... [more]

Brodkey, Harold

Brodkey was born Aaron Weintraub. His mother died when he was two years old and he was adopted by his father's cousin's family, but his new parents also soon died. He was sexually abused by... [more]