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Sherwood Anderson was born on 13th September 1876 in Camden, Ohio. When his father’s business failed the family was forced to move on a regular basis before finally settling in Clyde, Ohio....

Leviathans stride the poetic stage, known to us all and revered by many. Their verse is at once familiar and yet constantly reveals new layers and depths, new ways of thinking and assembling words to reveal new truths, new feelings and above all new poetry.

Amelia married in the spring of 1798 to the artist John Opie at the Church of St Marylebone, in Westminster, and together they lived in Berners Street where Amelia was already living. Her next novel in 1801 'Father and Daughter', was very popular even though it dealt with such themes as illegitimacy, a socially difficult subject for its times. From this point on published works were far more regular. The following year her volume 'Poems' appeared and was again very popular.

The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors. From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure. Among them is the talented but neglected poet James Monroe Whitfield.

Sherwood Anderson was born on 13th September 1876 in Camden, Ohio. That same year his first book ‘Windy McPherson’s Son’ was released and in 1919, his most famous book, ‘Winesburg, Ohio’, a collection of short stories about life in an Ohio town was released. Anderson continued to write short stories, novels and non-fiction but his only true bestseller came with ‘Dark Laughter’. His influence on writers that followed, from Faulkner to Hemingway, was immense. He also married a further two times.

In this volume we collect together poets who, by the difference in the colour of their skin, were treated with such disdain and racism that it is difficult to believe that poetry of such tenderness, beauty and authority could exist.

David Walker (1796-1830) was an abolitionist and anti-slavery activist. In 1829, he published An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, a call for black unity and resistance against slavery. Walker challenged the racism of his time, specifically targeting the American Colonization Society, an organization which sought to deport all free and freed Blacks from the United States to a colony in Africa.

James Morris Webb (1874-1940) was a Christian minister associated with The African Methodist Episcopal Church who was involved with Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. In 1919, he published the book The Black Man, The Father of Civilization, Proven by Biblical History. The work deals with the ancient history of Israel, Egypt, and the Kingdom of Cush south of Egypt.

The Rev. Calvin Dill Wilson (1857-1946) was a Presbyterian minister and author. His book Black Masters, first published in 1904, explores the history of wealthy free African Americans who became slave-owners. According to Wilson’s research, there were around 6,200 Black slave-holders in the years before the Civil War who owned some 18,000 slaves. By owning their families, free colored men and women could protect them against oppressive local laws.

Josiah Henson (1789-1883) was an author, abolitionist, and minister. He was born into slavery in Maryland, and escaped to Canada in 1830, where he founded a settlement for fugitive slaves in Ontario. Henson's autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself (1849), is thought to have inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The autobiography was written down by the abolitionist Samuel Atkins Eliot, a former mayor of Boston and state legislator.

Dr. William Lucius Hunter, MD (1850-1915) was a physician and a clergyman of the African Methodist-Episcopal Church. For his 1901 book Jesus Christ Had Negro Blood in His Veins, he researched Scripture in order to combat racial discrimination and abuse. He identifies the biblical Canaanites as having been Black and argues that several important Jewish figures and ancestors of Jesus had children by this group of people. Showing that David and Solomon married Black women, he contends that Jesus had Black ancestry dating back to Ham, the son of Noah.

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. A decade of monumental change and slaughter. Many of society’s telling questions are cast aside in times of that speak of greater needs, greater priorities. For these talented authors their ideas and words keep these magnificent stories at the forefront of our literary lives.

Festus Claudius McKay was born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica on the 15th September 1890, He was the youngest son to parents who had gathered enough assets to secure them the right to vote. As a boy he was fascinated by English Poetry and literature, although at 17 he took on work as an apprentice woodcutter for two years before becoming a police constable in the capital, Kingston. In this mainly white and affluent town racism was rife and its nature awakened his political instincts and pursuit of social justice. He soon returned home and published his first two poetry collections in 1912.