Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Latina poet and prolific writer, born in Puerto Rico in 1952 and now residing in Athens, Georgia. She married Charles John Cofer in 1971, and has one daughter, Tanya. She immigrated to the United States with her parents in 1956, and they settled in New Jersey, where she had...

A Few Words with Gordon Parks Q: What inspired you to compose music? A: Well, it is quite strange really; you're going to think I'm crazy. One summer when I was about seven, I was hunting June bugs in our cornfield when I heard something in the cornstalks. The noise got louder and tu...

There are few female authors that have had an impact on literature as great as that of Willa Cather. Not only was she an exquisite author, but she broke through into writing during a time when few female authors were successful. Her life, which was directly influential to her writing, was of a s...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut has been called a genius, a fraud, a psychotic, and even a guru throughout his achievement filled life by many different people from all different walks of life. His works have been discussed, read, praised, and criticized throughout the natural world. While some peopl...

Self Evaluation Writing is one of the things in life I've considered myself good at. Growing up I always excelled at it. I became known as "the writer" of the family. I was constantly drafted by my extended family to head certain projects, such as creating a written family history and ...

Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was the first important African American Poet in American Literature and the first poet to write of both a black and white audience in a time when efforts were being made to re-establish slavery. He was also "the first African-American poet to garner national critical...

Gwendolyn Brooks The late Lorraine Williams Bolton once said, speaking of Gwendolyn Brooks, "the pattern of her rearing was similar to...that of many Chicagoans. It tended to encourage inwardness and withdrawal into imaginative resources." (Kent 4) Brooks's childhood and upbrin...