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This page will guide you to resources on contemporary American authors, including several noteworthy young writers. Included are fiction writers, poets, and selected playwrights. You will find indexes and directories of authors and their works, anthologies of poetry and prose, databases indexing articles on contemporary literature issues, and a list of literary journals owned by Kresge Library. At the end is a fairly comprehensive list of contemporary fiction writers and poets.
ANTHOLOGIES
Call numbers are given for books owned by Kresge Library. For others, search in WorldCat and request through Interlibrary Loan. The ISBN is given for books not owned by OU.
Fiction
Chabon, Michael and Katrina Kenison, eds. Best American Short Stories 2005. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2005. (PS 658 .B4)
Note: Search the library catalog for the library’s holdings of volumes in this series.Furman, Laura, ed. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005. New York: Vintage Anchor, 2005. (PS 659 .P7)
Note: The library owns all volumes of this series from 1919 to present. Through 2002, however, the title was Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards.Updike, John and Katrina Kenison, eds. Best American Short Stories of the Century. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. (PS 648 .S5 B45 1999)
Marcus, Ben, ed. The Anchor Books of New American Short Stories. New York: Anchor, 2004. (ISBN: 140-0003-4825)
Note: Contains stories by George Saunders, Jhumpa Lahiri, Deborah Eisenberg, David Foster Wallace, and others.Moore, Lorrie, ed. I Know Some Things; Stories About Childhood By Contemporary Writers. Boston: Faber, 1992. (ISBN: 0571129455)
Note: Contributors include Charles Baxter, Jamaica Kincaid, Leonard Michaels, Alice Monroe, Margaret Atwood.
Poetry
McClatchey, J.D., ed. The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry. New York: Vintage, 2003. (ISBN: 140-0003-0935)
Nelson, Cary. Anthology of Modern American Poetry. Oxford University Press, 2000. (ISBN: 019-5122-712)
Hoover , Paul, ed. Postmodern American Poetry: a Norton Anthology. New York: Norton, 1994. (PS 615 .P669 1994)
Reed, Ishmael, ed. From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas , 1900-2002. New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 2003. (ISBN: 156-0255-005)
Note: Contributors include Ai, Gertrude Stein, Garrett Hongo, Tupac Shakur.
Multi-Genre
Henderson, Bill, ed. Pushcart XXIX: Best of the Small Presses. New York: Norton, 2004. (ISBN: 188-8888-939)
Eggers, Dave, ed. The Best American Non-Required Reading 2005. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. (ISBN: 061-8570-489)
Note: Compiled by Eggers and various high school students in the San Fransisco Bay Area. Contains a short story by Aimee Bender, a news feature by Jeff Gordiner, an account of a USO tour in Iraq by Al Franken, and others.
REFERENCE BOOKS
Watson, Noelle, ed. Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James, 1994. (Ref. PN 3373 .R36 1994)
Greenfieldt, John. Short Story Index. New York: H.W. Wilson, 2004. (Ref. PN 3373 .A1 C62)
Twenty-first Century American Novelists. Detroit: Gale, 2004. (Ref. PS 380 .T89 2004
Nelson, Emmanuel S. Contemporary African American Novelists. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999. (Ref. PS 374 .N4 A1 C658 1999.)
CRITICISM
Blythe, Will, ed. Why I Write: Thoughts on the Practice of Fiction. Boston: Little, Brown, 1998.
Note: Includes twenty five essays. Contributors include Richard Ford, Pat Conroy, Allan Gurganus, David Foster Wallace, and Robert Stone. (PN 165 .W485 1998.)Ch’ien, Evelyn Nien-Ming. Weird English. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. (PR 888 .L35 C47 2004)
Mengham, Rod, ed. An Introduction to Contemporary Fiction. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999. (PR 883 .I68 1999)
Note: Includes information on non-American authors.Niall, Lucy, ed. Postmodern Literary Theory: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000. (PN 98 .P67 P67 2000)
Note: Includes essays by Jean-Francois Lyotard, Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, and Michel Foucault.Raval, Suresh. Grounds of Literary Criticism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. (PN 81 .R325 1998)
INTERNET REFERENCE GUIDES
Voice of the Shuttle, Contemporary Literature This large site contains links to many resources, biographies, lists and guides.
Modern American Poetry, a site created by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Includes entries for a very vast list of contemporary poets, with links to interviews, critical articles, and full-text of the authors’ work.
Poets & Writers Directory of American Poets and Writers. A list, with contact information, of up-and-coming authors.
PoemHunter Gives full-text poems of many contemporary poets; also includes many poets from the past.
MostlyFiction.com Provides book reviews of literary and genre fiction.
AALBC.com's Complete* Author Listing A list of African American authors.
Native American Writers from VoiceNation A reference site for Native American authors.Contemporary American Literature A Colorado University site on contemporary authors.
DATABASES
These databases are the best places to search for critical articles concerning or interviews with contemporary authors, and other issues in contemporary American literature.
Project Muse A collection of 110 full-text Humanities journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
MLA Bibliography Literature, languages, linguistics, folklore.
Humanities Abstracts Indexes 529 journals on the Humanities, and includes some original works of fiction, drama and poetry.
Contemporary Authors A Gale database giving biographical information on many contemporary authors.
LITERARY JOURNALS
These are literary journals that Kresge library owns, or that OU students can access electronically through the library’s databases. They publish the original fiction and poetry of new and established authors. The print versions of these journals can be found on the 4th floor of Kresge library under the call number listed. For a comprehensive list of journals, see http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/ohenry/0900/litmags.html.
Antioch Review - Per. AP 2 .A562
Callaloo - full-text, Project Muse
Michigan Quarterly Review - Per. AS 30 .M48
Missouri Review - full-text, Project Muse
Ohio Review - Per. AS 30 .O43
Prairie Schooner - full-text, Project Muse
Red Cedar Review - full-text, Project Muse
Southern Review - Per. AP 2 .S8555
THE LIST OF AUTHORS
Here’s a list of critically-acclaimed, accomplished contemporary American authors, both young and old. Listed under some of the most prominent authors is a select bibliography of works of criticism of the writer’s work, a biography of the writer, or a link to solid Internet resources. In cases of authors no longer living, the dates of birth and death are given. Where appropriate, the following awards won are listed next to the author’s name: Pulitzer (Pul), Nobel Prize for Literature, National Book Critics’ Circle Award (NBCC), National Book Award (NBA). There is one list for fiction writers and another for poets. Please note that selected playwrights and writers of miscellaneous prose are listed in the “fiction writers” category.
You may find information on authors with no citations or links by typing their name into the Contemporary Authors database listed above.
Fiction Writers
A
Lee K. Abbott
Alice Adams
Edward Albee (Pul. '67, ’75, ’94)
Sherman Alexie - The author’s official homepage: http://www.fallsapart.com/
Paul Auster
B
Nicholson Baker
Russell Banks
Andrea Barrett (NBA '96)
John Barth (NBA '73)
Bowen, Zack R. A Reader’s Guide to John Barth. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1994. (PS 3552 .A75 Z56 1994)
Harris, Charles B. Passionate Virtuosity: the Fiction of John Barth. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1983. (PS 3553 .A75 Z68 1993)
Rick Bass
Richard Bausch
Charles Baxter - Author’s official homepage: www.charlesbaxter.com
Ann Beattie
An interview from Folio, a journal published by American University.
Madison Smartt Bell
Saul Bellow (1915-2005) (NBA '54)
Bach, Gerhard and Gloria L. Cronin. Small Planets: Saul Bellow and the art of Short Fiction. E. Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2000. (PS 3503 .E4488 Z859 2000)
Miller, Ruth. Saul Bellow: A Biography of the Imagination. New York: St. Martin’s, 1991. (PS 3503 .E4488 Z7945 1991)
Elizabeth Berg
Robert Boswell
T.C. Boyle
T. Coraghessan Boyle - www.tcboyle.com
Judy Budnitz
Robert Olen Butler (Pul. ‘93)
Michael Byers
C
Ron Carlson
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
Bethea, Arthur F. Technique and Sensibility in the Fiction and Poetry of Raymond Carver. New York: Routledge, 2001. (PS 3553 .A7894 Z54 2001)
Saltzman, Arthur M. Understanding Raymond Carver. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2001. (PS 3553 .A7894 Z88 1988)
Michael Chabon
Alan Cheuse
Robert Coover
Michael Cunningham (Pul. '99)
D
Edwidge Danticatt
Guy Davenport
Kiana Davenport
Peter Ho Davies
Joan Didion
Don Delillo
Carmichael, Thomas. “Lee Harvey Oswald and the Postmodern Subject: History and Intertextuality in Don DeLillo’s Libra, The Names, and Mao II. Contemporary Literature, v.34, no. 2 (Summer 1993), pgs.204-218. (Per. PN 2. W55 - 4th floor, non-circulating; also available full-text in ProjectMuse)
Cowart, David. Don DeLillo: The Physics of Language. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2002. (PS 3554 .E4425 Z59 2002)
Don DeLillo’s America. A website with a good bibliography and links to many interviews with DeLillo.
Stephen Dixon
E.L. Doctorow (NBA '86)
Siegel, Ben, ed. Critical Essays on E.L. Doctorow. New York: G.K. Hall, 2000. (PS 3554 .O3 Z6 2000)
Andre Dubus (1936-1999)
Stuart Dybek
E
Clyde Edgerton
Dave Eggers
Deborah Eisenberg
A complete bibliography on Eisenberg’s University of Virginia faculty homepage: http://www.engl.virginia.edu/faculty/eisenber.html
Louise Erdrich
Geoffrey Eugenides (Pul. '03)
F
Richard Ford
Walker, Elinor. Richard Ford. New York: Twayne, 2000. (PS 3556 .O713 Z95 2000)
MWP ( Mississippi Writers Page): Richard Ford A web page with a good bibliography and links to reviews with and criticism on Ford.
Jonathan Franzen
Bruce Jay Friedman
G
William Gaddis (NBA '76, '94)
Comnes, Gregory. Ethics of Indeterminacy in the Novels of William Gaddis. Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 1994. (PS 3557. A 28 Z 64 1994)
Mary Gaitskill
George Garrett
William H. Gass
Hix, H.L. Understanding William H. Gass. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002. (ISBN: 1570034729)
Kaye Gibbons
Gail Godwin
Mary Gordon
New York Writer’s Institute: Mary Gordon. A good bio, with links to a variety of information.
Elizabeth Graver
Doris Grumbach
H
Jane Hamilton
Barry Hannah
Jim Harrison
Mark Helprin - Author’s official homepage: http://www.markhelprin.com/
Oscar Hijuelos
A.M. Homes
I
John Irving
A Very Unofficial John Irving Page Contains an excellent bibliography listing many special editions.
J
Ha Jin
Denis Johnson
Charles Johnson (NBA '90)
Erica Jong
Edward P. Jones (Pul. '03, NBCC '03)
Thom Jones
K
William Kennedy (Pul. '84)
Jesse Lee Kercheval
Ken Kesey
Maxine Hong Kingston
Tony Kushner
L
Jhumpa Lahiri (Pul. '00)
David Leavitt
Ursula K. Le Guin
John L' Heureux
Ralph Lombreglia
Alison Lurie (Pul. '85)
M
Ian MacMillan
Norman Mailer (Pul. '80)
Glenday, Michael K. Norman Mailer. New York: St. Martin’s, 1995. (PS 3525 .A4125 Z655 1995)
Leeds, Barry H. The Enduring Vision of Norman Mailer. Bainbridge Island, WA: Pleasure Boat Studio, 2002. (PS 3525 .A4125 Z727 2002)
David Mamet (Pul. '84)
Bobbie Ann Mason
Jill McCorkle
Alice McDermott
Ian McEwan (NBCC '02)
Reginald McKnight
James McPherson (Pul. '78)
Peter Meinke
Maile Meloy
Leonard Michaels
Jane Miller
Sue Miller
Sue Miller: Includes full bibliography.
Steven Millhauser (Pul. '97)
Susan Minot
Lorrie Moore
Seattle Arts and Lectures, Lorrie Moore A great bio, with links and excerpts of Moore ’s work.
Toni Morrison (Pul. '88, Nobel '93)
Kobitschek, Missey Dehn. Toni Morrison, a Critical Companion. Wesport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. (PS 3563 .O8749 Z75 1998)
Middleton, David L. Toni Morrison: an Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1987. (Ref. PS 3563 .O8749 M53 1987)
Samuels, Wilfred D. Toni Morrison. Boston: Twayne, 1990. (PS 3563 .O8749 Z85 1990)
Brian Morton
N
O
Joyce Carol Oates (NBA '70)
Academy of Achievement Page: Joyce Carol Oates
Johnson, Greg. Joyce Carol Oates: a Study of the Short Fiction. New York : Twayne, 1994. (PS 3565 .A8 Z69 1994)
Tim O'Brien (NBA '79) - Author’s official homepage: http://www.illyria.com/tob/tobbio.html
Robert Olmstead
Cynthia Ozick
P
Grace Paley
Ann Patchett
Chaim Potok
Sternlicht, Sanford V. Chaim Potok: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. ISBN: 031-3311-811
Richard Powers
Francine Prose
E. Annie Proulx (Pul. '94)
Thomas Pynchon (NBA '74)
Madsen, Deborah L. Postmodernist Allegories of Thomas Pynchon. New York: 1991. (PS 3566 .Y55 Z695)
Seed, David. Fictional Labyrinths of Thomas Pynchon. Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, 1988. (PS 3566 .Y55 Z874 1988)
Q
R
Ishmael Reed
Tom Robbins
Marilynne Robinson (Pul. '05)
Philip Roth (NBA '60, Pul. '98)
Milowitz, Steven. Philip Roth Considered: the Concentrationary Universe of the American Writer. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999. (PS 153 .N5 N48 1999)
Shostak, Debra. Philip Roth—Countertexts, Counterlives. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004. (PS 3568 .O855 Z895 2004)
Richard Russo (Pul. '02)
S
George Saunders
Alice Sebold
David Sedaris
Sam Shepard (Pul. '79)
Carol Shields (Pul. '95)
Carol Shields - A brief biography with a full bibliography.
Leslie Marmon Silko
Joan Silber
Mona Simpson
Floyd Skloot
Jane Smiley (Pul. '92)
Lee Smith
Gary Soto
Wallace Stegner
Benson, Jackson J. Wallace Stegner: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York : Twayne, 1998. (PS 3537 .T316 Z59 1998)
Rankin, Charles E., ed. Wallace Stegner: Man and Writer. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1996. (PS 3537 .T316 Z95 1996)
Daniel Stern
Robert Stone (NBA '75)
William Styron (Pul '68)
Maxine Swann
T
Amy Tan
Paul Theroux
Richard Tillinghast
Anne Tyler
U
John Updike (Pul. '82, '91 NBA '63)
De Bellis, Jack. The John Updike Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood, 2000. (Ref. PS 3571 .P4 Z459)
Miller, Quentin D. John Updike and the Cold War: Drawing the Iron Curtain. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. (PS 3571 .Z783 2001)
V
Kurt Vonnegut
Martin, Thomas F. Kurt Vonnegut: A Critical Companion. Westport : Greenwood , 2002. (PS 3572 .O5 Z766)
Morse, Donald E. Novels of Kurt Vonnegut: Imagining Being an American. (PS 3572 . O5 Z786 2003)
W
Alice Walker (Pul. '82)
Bloom, Harold, ed. Alice Walker. (electronic book). Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. (Available only to OU faculty, staff, students. Access through the library's online catalog, Voyager.)
White, Evelyn C. Alice Walker: A Life. New York: Norton, 2004. (PS 3573 .A425 Z93 2004)
David Foster Wallace
Peter Weltner
Eudora Welty (Pul. '73)
Montgomery, Marion . Eudora Welty and Walker Percy: The Concept of Home in their Lives and Literature. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004. (PS 3545 .E6 Z777)
John Edgar Wideman
Joy Williams
Tom Wolfe
Geoffrey Wolff
Tobias Wolff
X
Y
Al Young
Poets
A
A.R. Ammons (NBA '73)
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou From AALBC.com
John Ashbery (Pul. '76, NBA '76)
B
Robert Bly - Author’s official homepage: http://www.robertbly.com/
Charles Bukowski
Janet Burroway
C
Billy Collins
Gregory Corso (1930-2001)
Morgan, Bill, ed. Accidental Autobiography: the Selected Letters of Gregory Corso. New York: New Directions, 2003. (PS 3505 .O763 Z48 2003)
D
Stephen Dobyns
Mark Doty (NBCC '93)
Rita Dove (Pul. '87)
Comprehensive Biography of Rita Dove. Created by the University of Virginia.
Stephen Dunn (Pul. '01)
E
F
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Carolyn Forche
Alice Fulton
G
Amy Gerstler
Louise Gluck (Pul. '93)
Diehl, Joanne F. On Louise Gluck: Change What You See. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. (PS 3562 .E9 Z475 2002)
Louise Gluck An American poems page with a bio and many poems by Gluck. Worth putting up with the advertising.
Albert Goldbarth (NBCC '91, '01)
Jorie Graham (Pul. '76)
Linda Gregerson
Thom Gunn
H
Donald Hall
Joy Harjo
Robert Hass
Jane Hirshfield
Paul Hoover
T.R. Hummer
I
J
Mark Jarman
June Jordan (1936-2002)
Donald Justice (Pul. '80)
K
Galway Kinnell
Carolyn Kizer (Pul. '85)
Yusef Komunyakaa (Pul. '94)
Ted Kooser (Pul. '05) - Author’s homepage http://www.tedkooser.com/
Maxine Kumin
L
Denise Levertov
Philip Levine
Thomas Lux
PoemHunter: Thomas Lux - Contains sixteen of Lux’s poems.
M
Leslie Mueller (Pul. '97)
N
O
Sharon Olds
Mary Oliver (Pul. '84, '93)
P
Carl Phillips
Robert Pinsky
Q
R
Adrienne Rich
Michael Ryan
S
Alan Shapiro
Charles Simic (Pul. '90)
Elizabeth Spires
Gerald Stern
Susan Stewart (NBCC '93)
Mark Strand (Bollington '93, Pul. '99)
Mark Strand: Wikipedia.org A good entry, including links with awards won and a list of all winners.
T
James Tate (Pul. '92)
James Tate Entry from Americanpoems.com, a site that is not very aesthetically appealing, but which includes a lot of information, including several poems.
U
V
Mona Van Duyn (Pul. '91)
W
David Wagoner
Derek Walcott
C.K. Williams (Pul. ‘00)
C.K. Williams from Blue Flower Arts
Richard Wilbur
Charles Wright (Pul. '98)
Franz Wright (Pul. '04)
Franz Wright from Blue Flower Arts
James Wright
Smith, Dave, ed. The Pure Clear Word: Essays on the Poetry of James Wright. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982. (PS 3573 .R5358 Z8 1982.
Stein, Kevin. The Poetry of a Grown Man: Constancy and Transition in the Work of James Wright. Athens, OH: University of Ohio Press, 1989. (PS 3573 .R5358 Z88 1989)
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