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The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed

Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. Reed is a well known African-American writer of his generation, and along with Amiri Baraka, is controversial....
, Victor Hernández Cruz
Victor Hernández Cruz

Victor Hern?ndez Cruz is a Puerto Rican poet, who was born in 1949 in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, moved to New York in 1954, began writing at fifteen, and published his first collections of poetry in the late 1960s....
, Shawn Wong
Shawn Wong

Shawn Hsu Wong is an author and English Professor and former Director of the Honors Program at the University of Washington. He is Chinese American and a pioneer of Asian American studies....
 and Rudolfo Anaya
Rudolfo Anaya

Rudolfo Anaya is a Mexican American author....
 to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," especially through the promotion of multicultural writers.

One of its best-known activities is the awarding of the American Book Award
American Book Award

The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American literature, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre....
, which differs from other awards in having no first and second-place awards, but honoring everyone the Foundation finds worthy of acknowledgment.






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The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed

Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. Reed is a well known African-American writer of his generation, and along with Amiri Baraka, is controversial....
, Victor Hernández Cruz
Victor Hernández Cruz

Victor Hern?ndez Cruz is a Puerto Rican poet, who was born in 1949 in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, moved to New York in 1954, began writing at fifteen, and published his first collections of poetry in the late 1960s....
, Shawn Wong
Shawn Wong

Shawn Hsu Wong is an author and English Professor and former Director of the Honors Program at the University of Washington. He is Chinese American and a pioneer of Asian American studies....
 and Rudolfo Anaya
Rudolfo Anaya

Rudolfo Anaya is a Mexican American author....
 to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," especially through the promotion of multicultural writers.

One of its best-known activities is the awarding of the American Book Award
American Book Award

The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American literature, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre....
, which differs from other awards in having no first and second-place awards, but honoring everyone the Foundation finds worthy of acknowledgment. Similarly, there are no categories of fiction, poetry, drama, etc.; the only category distinctions are for Lifetime Achievement, Editor, Children's Book, Journalism and Special Publishing awards. The Foundation and the Awards were created partly in response to perceived racism, sexism and elitism in other major literary awards.

In 1992, the Foundation published two anthologies of award winning selections (one poetry and one fiction) as textbooks through W. W. Norton & Company, thus helping to make multicultural literature more available in the classroom. It also publishes a catalog of multicultural literature. The Foundation also hosts educational activities promoting the reading and teaching of multicultural literature.

See also

  • List of African American writers
  • List of Arab American writers
    List of Arab American writers

    This article is a list of Arab American writers.*Edward Abboud, political writer, author of Invisible Enemy: Israel, Politics, Media, and American Culture...
  • List of Asian American writers
    List of Asian American Writers

    In the fields of Ethnic Studies and Literary criticism, the term Asian American is a bit vague. In practice, it usually includes writers from East Asia and South Asia, but not from West Asia ....
  • List of Cuban American writers
    List of Cuban American writers

    This is a list of the most notable Cuban American writers.*Iv?n Acosta, playwright, works include El Super and Un cubiche en la luna *Mercedes de Acosta, poet, playwright...
  • List of Jewish American authors
    List of Jewish American authors

    This is a list of famous Jewish Americans authors. See separate lists for List of Jewish American playwrights and List of Jewish American poets. For other famous Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews....
  • List of Mexican American writers
  • List of Native American writers
    List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas

    This is a list of Indigenous peoples of the Americas and First Nations writers from North America and South America.It includes people who self-identify as Alaskan Native, Native Americans in the United States, First Nations, Inuit, M?tis, Native Hawaiian, and Indigenous Central and South American writers....
  • List of Indonesian authors
  • PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award
    PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award

    According to its website, PEN Oakland was founded in 1989 by Ishmael Reed, who came up with the idea, and co-founders Floyd Salas, Reginald Lockett and Claire Ortalda, in order to ?promote works of excellence by writers of all cultural and racial backgrounds and to educate both the public and the media as to the nature of multi-cultural work.? It a...