Ishmael Reed is the author of novels, plays, poetry, and non-fiction. He has received prizes in every category. The Terrible Fours, the third novel in Reed’s “Terribles” series was published by Baraka Books of Montreal in June 2021. His newest poetry collection, Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues: Poems 2007-2020, (Dalkey Archive Press) was released in November 2020, and includes his poem, “Just Rollin’ Along,” about the 1934 encounter between Bonnie and Clyde and Oakland Blues artists L.C. Good Rockin’ Robinson, which was chosen for The Best American Poetry. 2019. His second audio book, a short story titled The Fool Who Thought Too Much was released by Audible in November 2020; he is narrator of his first audio book, the memoir Malcolm and Me, also a 2020 Audible release.
His tenth and newest play, The Slave Who Loved Caviar, received a virtual reading in March 2021 and will be produced at Off Broadway’s Theater for the New City in December 2021. His ninth play, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, which premiered at the Nuyorican Poets Café in May 2019, was published by Archway Editions in October 2020. The University of California at Berkeley’s Distinguished Emeritus Awardee for the year 2020, his novel Mumbo Jumbo has been cited by Harold Bloom as one of 500 great books of the Western Canon.
He has received the Otto and AUDELCO awards for theater. In 1998, he received the John D. MacArthur “Genius” award. Reed is one of a handful of authors to be nominated for two National Book Awards within the same year. He is also a songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Gregory Porter, Cassandra Wilson, Macy Gray, Taj Mahal, and Bobby Womack. In addition, as a musician whose piano playing was cited by Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, he accompanied a 2019 fashion show, featuring the work of fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner. His online literary magazine, Konch, can be found at www.ishmaelreedpub.com; his author’s website at www.ishmaelreed.org.