I was thinking. Who hands down is the best writer of color to you. Mind you, i was going to just do fiction writers, but that genre is too vast, by narrowing it down to folks who write about the black diaspora/ african story we can have a much more vibrant discussion discussion.

My pic: Toni Morrison. Poetic. Honest. True to real life. Honestly, i hate how she weaves stories in & out of themselves, but honestly that's how people tell stories in real life, so it has a bit of nostalgia to it. Just read song of solomon... amazing!

My long running favorite has been Alice Walker. I used to hunt down and read all of her books. I used to get lost in her stories. I believe a good fiction writer should have the ability to do that... transport you with their words.

i agree with what you said about being able to transport you. I read 'temple of my familiar'... and that had me on another planet for some time lol. The only issue i have with Alice Walker is that she has tons of books, but for some reason most libraries don't even carry half of them, so i haven't been able to be exposed to her as much as i want.

There are SO many.

Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man) is my pick...next to Octavia Butler and Toni Morrison

maya- her books read like poetry. as if each word was hand selected sentence by sentence. its got to be a painstaking process. unless your gifted (like she must be). plus i can hear her voice when i read her work- one of the benefits of sharing time and space with her vs. an author i never met or heard. what can i say?. i'm an audible type of reader.