Before Columbus Foundation

The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, Victor Hernández Cruz, Shawn Wong and Rudolfo AnayaDarryl Dickson-Carr, "Before Columbus Foundation," The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction p.44, accessed through Google Book Search] to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," [ [http://californiawriter.blogspot.com/2006/03/ishmael-reeds-black-gods.html online bio of Reed] ] especially through the promotion of multicultural writers. [http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/IEW/BeforeColumbus/index2002.html "The American Book Awards"] ]

One of its best-known activities is the awarding of the American Book Award, 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 Yardbird Reader and the Multi-Ethnic Spirit", by William J. Harris. MELUS 8:2, Ethnic Literature and Cultural Nationalism. (Summer, 1981), pp. 72-75.] The Foundation also hosts educational activities promoting the reading and teaching of multicultural literature. [ [http://www.preservationpark.com/tenants/index.html Preservation Park, Oakland website] ]

References

See also

*List of African American writers
*List of Arab American writers
*List of Asian American writers
*List of Cuban American writers
*List of Jewish American authors
*List of Mexican American writers
*List of Native American writers
*List of Indonesian authors
*PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award