John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
The slave narrative is a type of literary genre involving the (written) autobiographical accounts of enslaved Africans, particularly in the Americas. Over six thousand such narratives are estimated to exist; about 150 narratives were published as separate books or pamphlets. In the United States during the Great Depression (1930s), more than 2,300 additional oral histories on life during slavery were collected by writers sponsored and published by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program. Most of the 26 audio-recorded interviews are held by the Library of Congress.
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name and the 2021 television series of the same name.
American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also includes literature of other traditions produced in the United States and in other immigrant languages. Furthermore, a rich tradition of oral storytelling exists amongst Native Americans.
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the so-called "African Trilogy"; later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.
Postcolonial literature is the literature by people from formerly colonized countries. It exists on all continents except Antarctica. Postcolonial literature often addresses the problems and consequences of the decolonization of a country, especially questions relating to the political and cultural independence of formerly subjugated people, and themes such as racialism and colonialism. A range of literary theory has evolved around the subject. It addresses the role of literature in perpetuating and challenging what postcolonial critic Edward Said refers to as cultural imperialism.
Ernest James Gaines was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works were made into television movies.
The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.
African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of enslaved people narratives, African-American literature was dominated by autobiographical spiritual narratives. The genre known as slave narratives in the 19th century were accounts by people who had generally escaped from slavery, about their journeys to freedom and ways they claimed their lives. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was a great period of flowering in literature and the arts, influenced both by writers who came North in the Great Migration and those who were immigrants from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. African American writers have been recognized by the highest awards, including the Nobel Prize given to Toni Morrison in 1993. Among the themes and issues explored in this literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American culture, racism, slavery, and social equality. African-American writing has tended to incorporate oral forms, such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues, or rap.
A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying detail and historical and cultural information are often included. Different kinds of guide books exist, focusing on different aspects of travel, from adventure travel to relaxation, or aimed at travelers with different incomes, or focusing on sexual orientation or types of diet.
John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo was a Nigerian poet and playwright, who also published as J. P. Clark and John Pepper Clark.
Caribbean literature is the literature of the various territories of the Caribbean region. Literature in English from the former British West Indies may be referred to as Anglo-Caribbean or, in historical contexts, as West Indian literature. Most of these territories have become independent nations since the 1960s, though some retain colonial ties to the United Kingdom. They share, apart from the English language, a number of political, cultural, and social ties which make it useful to consider their literary output in a single category. The more wide-ranging term "Caribbean literature" generally refers to the literature of all Caribbean territories regardless of language—whether written in English, Spanish, French, Hindustani, or Dutch, or one of numerous creoles.
Alma A. Hromic, known by her pen name Alma Alexander, is a fantasy writer whose novels include the "Worldweavers" young adult series, The Secrets of Jin-Shei and its sequel The Embers of Heaven, The Hidden Queen, and Changer of Days. She is a native of Yugoslavia and grew up in various African countries, including Zambia, Eswatini, and South Africa, also spending time in England and New Zealand before moving to the United States. She lives in Bellingham, Washington with her husband.
A Turn in the South is a travelogue of the American South written by Nobel Prize-winning writer V. S. Naipaul. The book was published in 1989 and is based upon the author's travels in the southern states of the United States.
Texas literature is literature about the history and culture of Texas. It ranges broadly in literary genres and dates from the time of the first European contact. Representative authors include Mary Austin Holley and Katherine Anne Porter.
Tatapuram Sukumaran was a Malayalam writer, born in Kaloor, Kochi, Kerala, India.
Varthamanappusthakam is a Malayalam travelogue written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar, a Nasrani Mappila kathanar of the modern-day Syro-Malabar Church. It is the first ever travelogue written in an Indian Language. It was written in the 18th century (1790) but then forgotten, being re-discovered in 1935 and first printed in 1936 by Luka Mathai Plathottam at Athirampuzha St Marys Press in the year 1936.
Margaret Jewett Smith Bailey (1812?–1882) was an American pioneer, missionary, and author from Oregon.
One-storied America is a 1937 book based on a published travelogue across the United States by two Soviet authors, Ilf and Petrov. The book, divided into eleven chapters and in the uninhibited humorous style typical of Ilf and Petrov, paints a multi-faceted picture of the US. America's entrepreneurial skills and economic achievements are praised, the oppression of the Black Americans, the life of the Native Americans in the reservations and the oppression of workers are denounced. The title of the book refers to their impression that the cities of America consist mainly of one- and two-story buildings, in complete contrast to the popular image of America as the land of skyscrapers. Based on this sentence:
America is primarily a one- and two-story country. The majority of the American population lives in small towns of three thousand, maybe five, nine, or fifteen thousand inhabitants.
