Ishmael Reed is an acclaimed multifaceted writer whose work often engages with overlooked aspects of the American experience. He has published ten novels, including Flight to Canada and Mumbo Jumbo, as well as plays and collections of essays and poetry. He was nominated for a National Book Award in both poetry and prose in 1972. Conjure (1972), a volume of poetry, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and his New and Collected Poems: 1964–2006 (2007) received a Gold Medal from the Commonwealth Club of California. Reed has also received a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Blues Song Writer of the Year award from the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame, a Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the National Institute for Arts and Letters, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Reed taught at the University of California, Berkeley, for thirty-five years and currently lives in Oakland, California.
Novels
The Freelance Pallbearers (1967)
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (1969)
Mumbo Jumbo (1972)
The Last Days of Louisiana Red (1974)
A Secretary to the Spirits (1978)
The Terrible Twos (1982)
Reckless Eyeballing (1986)
Flight to Canada (1989)
The Terrible Threes (1989)
Japanese by Spring (1993)
Juice! (2011)
Conjugating Hindi (2018)
The Terrible Fours (2021)
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (1969)
Mumbo Jumbo (1972)
The Last Days of Louisiana Red (1974)
A Secretary to the Spirits (1978)
The Terrible Twos (1982)
Reckless Eyeballing (1986)
Flight to Canada (1989)
The Terrible Threes (1989)
Japanese by Spring (1993)
Juice! (2011)
Conjugating Hindi (2018)
The Terrible Fours (2021)
Collections
Conjure (poems) (1972)
New and Collected Poems (poems) (1988)
The Reed Reader (2000)
New and Collected Poems, 1966-2006 (poems) (2006)
Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues (poems) (2020)
New and Collected Poems (poems) (1988)
The Reed Reader (2000)
New and Collected Poems, 1966-2006 (poems) (2006)
Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues (poems) (2020)
Chapbooks
Plays
Anthologies edited
Calafia, the California Poetry (1979)
Quilt One (1981)
Quilt Three (1982)
Quilt 4 (1984)
Quilt, No. 5 (1987)
Hispanic-American Literature (1995) (with Nicolas Kanellos)
African-American Literature (1995) (with Al Young)
Asian American Literature (1995) (with Shawn Wong)
From Totems to Hip Hop (2002)
Quilt One (1981)
Quilt Three (1982)
Quilt 4 (1984)
Quilt, No. 5 (1987)
Hispanic-American Literature (1995) (with Nicolas Kanellos)
African-American Literature (1995) (with Al Young)
Asian American Literature (1995) (with Shawn Wong)
From Totems to Hip Hop (2002)
Non fiction
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Ishmael Reed recommends

The Sound of Blue (2004)
Holly Payne
"Here is a courageous, compassionate new voice filled with elegant and assured prose. Payne is a masterful storyteller who proves again to tackle ambitious subject matter with great delicacy."
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