World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Ishmael Scott Reed

イシュメール・スコット・リード

Ishumēru Sukotto Rīdo

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1938-02-22 （Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Buffalo, New York → Lower East Side, New York City → Oakland, California

Career

Occupations
poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, songwriter, composer, editor, publisher, professor
Active Years
1960-2025
Affiliations
University of California, Berkeley, California College of the Arts, Before Columbus Foundation, Ishmael Reed Publishing Company
Influenced By
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Beat poets, James Baldwin, Nathanael West, Musicians such as Sun Ra
Influenced
Terry McMillan (workshop alumnus), Mona Simpson (workshop alumnus), A generation of multicultural writers and editors

Education

University at Buffalo
Period: 1958–1960
Country: United States
Withdrew in junior year; left to pursue writing and music.

Awards

National Book Awards (Finalist)
1973
Work: Conjure / Mumbo Jumbo
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Nominated
Pulitzer Prize (Nominated)
1973
Work: Conjure
Organization: Pulitzer Prize
Result: Nominated
Guggenheim Fellowship
1975
Category: Writing Fellowship
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: Honored
Honorary Doctorate
1995
Organization: University at Buffalo
Result: Honored
Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award
1997
Organization: Lila Wallace Association
Result: Honored
MacArthur Fellowship
1997
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: Honored
Fred Cody Award
1999
Organization: Bay Area Book Reviewers Association
Result: Honored
Otto René Castillo Political Theatre Award
2002
Category: Theatre
Organization: Otto René Castillo
Result: Honored
Barbary Coast Award
2011
Organization: San Francisco literary festival (Litquake)
Result: Honored
Literary Legacy Award
2014
Organization: Just Buffalo Literary Center
Result: Honored
Alberto Dubito International Prize
2016
Category: International prize
Organization: Premio Alberto Dubito
Result: Honored
AUDELCO Pioneer Award
2017
Category: Theatre
Organization: AUDELCO
Result: Honored
Distinguished Emeritus Awardee
2020
Organization: The University of California
Result: Honored
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (Lifetime Achievement)
2022
Category: Lifetime Achievement
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
Result: Honored
Hurston/Wright Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award
2023
Category: Lifetime Achievement
Organization: Hurston/Wright Foundation
Result: Honored

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Mumbo Jumbo

1972 Novel (postmodern, satirical)

A sprawling, experimental novel set in 1920s New York that reimagines American history from African and African-American perspectives, blending satire, myth, and ritual.

revisionist historyAfrican-American culturetrickster and spiritual motifs

Conjure: Selected Poems, 1963–1970

1972 Poetry

A selected collection of poems from the 1960s showcasing experimental forms and folkloric, ritualistic language.

hoodoo/folk spiritualitymusic and rhythm

Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down

1969 Novel (satire, postmodern)

An early major work parodying Southern myths and popular culture, using linguistic play and satire to critique American history.

deconstruction of American mythslanguage play

Flight to Canada

1976 Novel (neo-slave narrative)

A parody/history novel dealing with slavery and its memory; associated with discussions of the 'neo-slave narrative'.

retelling of slaverymixing history and fiction

Conjugating Hindi

2018 Novel (political satire)

An experimental novel exploring intersections between African-American and South Asian American cultures through political satire.

multiculturalismpolitical satire

Bibliography

  • The Freelance Pallbearers, 1967
  • Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down, 1969
  • Mumbo Jumbo, 1972
  • The Last Days of Louisiana Red, 1974
  • Flight to Canada, 1976
  • The Terrible Twos, 1982
  • Reckless Eyeballing, 1986
  • Japanese by Spring, 1993
  • Juice!, 2011
  • Conjugating Hindi, 2018
  • The Terrible Fours, 2021
  • The Man Who Haunted Himself, 2022

Adaptations

  • Appearances in documentaries (as himself) and theatrical productions

Style & Themes

Literary Style
satiricalexperimental/postmodernNeo-HooDoo / multicultural
Recurring Motifs
revisionist historytrickster figuresmusic (especially jazz) and rhythmAfrican diasporic religion/ritual

Legacy

Ishmael Reed is known as an experimental and satirical voice in American letters who linked multiculturalism and African-American perspectives across literature, theater, and music. Founder of the Before Columbus Foundation, he has promoted cultural diversity, supported younger writers, and received numerous honors including lifetime achievement awards.

Museums

  • Ishmael Reed: An Exhibition (University of Delaware Library) Newark, Delaware — University of Delaware Library Opened in 2007

Academic Societies

  • PEN Oakland (regional writers' organization)

Archives

  • University of Delaware Special Collections (Ishmael Reed papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Poem 'When I Die I Will Go to Jazz' installed at SFJAZZ Center North Gate
  • 'Just Rollin' Along' included in The Best American Poetry 2019

Quotes

  • My work holds up the mirror to hypocrisy, which puts me in a tradition of American writing that reaches back to Nathaniel Hawthorne.
    Source: Interview with Parul Sehgal (2011) (2011)
  • So this is what we want: to sabotage history. They won't know whether we're serious or whether we are writing fiction ... Always keep them guessing.
    Source: Interview (various sources)

Trivia

  • Founded the Before Columbus Foundation and has been involved in running the American Book Awards.
  • Served as editor/publisher of small presses and journals since the 1970s (e.g., Yardbird Reader).
  • Used the term 'Neo-Slave narrative' in discussions of his work.