These two volumes run to a total of 684 pages, detailing the lives and work of 168 writers. Volume one starts with Elizabeth Laura Adams and ends with Jamaica Kincaid; volume two starts with Pinkie Gordon Lane and concludes with Shay Youngblood. The rubric is inclusiveness: publications date from 1746 to the present. Caribbean authors, Michelle Cliff, Edwidge Danticat and Jamaica Kincaid, among others, are included for their close association with the African American literary tradition. Each volume includes a Preface, List of Authors by Genre, and Chronological List of Authors, followed by the author entries. Volume two also contains an Appendix, List of Awards and Authors, which lists major literary awards and their winners (although without the years these were awarded), four pages of a general Bibliography of Works detailing a selection of largely academic criticism, and an Index of main entries and references of author names, book titles and a few key concepts. The volume concludes with a substantial About the Editor and the Contributors. Most of the contributors are based in American universities, although there are some exceptions. It might perhaps also be noted that not all the contributors are women.
Each author entry presents a Biographical Narrative, the Major Works, discussion of her Critical Reception, a Bibliography of works by the author and some Studies of her work. The Preface describes this encyclopedia as “genre inclusive” and this aim has been achieved, enabling the survey to include authors who might fall outside the scope of a more conventional gathering of “literary” writers. Autobiography, cultural and literary theory and writing for children and young adults are represented, as well as drama, essay, fiction and poetry. Entries range from the most famous to the little studied. Alice Walker, Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison of course have substantial entries. The inclusive scope of the encyclopedia allows for their foremothers and contemporaries to also feature, as Julie Ellam's entry about Rosa Guy states: “Considering Guy's prolific output, relatively little has been written about her” (p. 236). This is more surprising for learning that Guy was a “founding member of the Harlem Writers Guild in the late 1940s, along with Maya Angelou” (p. 235). A similar story can be found for other writers represented in these volumes.
As a librarian it is heartening to note that several librarians have contributed author entries. Interestingly, of these entries many of the authors are predominantly children's writers: Candy Dawson Boyd, Joyce Carol Thomas and Patricia McKissack have all written for children. The heroine in the latter's novel Goin' Someplace Special (2001) is described as having to “run a gauntlet of dangers to reach her Someplace Special, the Public Library” (p. 397).
The range of authors represented in this encyclopedia is what ensures this work stands out, making it a significant contribution to the literature about African American writers. Aimed at advanced school level upward it would be a useful addition to school and public libraries.
