Tag Archives: Black Boy

Thy Will Be Done on Earth

By Robin Bates | Published: May 28, 2022

Lucille Clifton’s final book of poems call out some of the blindnesses of Christian fundamentalists.

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How Literature Saved Richard Wright

By Robin Bates | Published: February 10, 2020

In his memoir, Richard Wright describes how literature gave him a framework and spurred him to action in the segregated south.

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Reading as a Subversive Act

By Robin Bates | Published: October 17, 2013

Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” testifies to the liberating power of literature.

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Reading to Feel Accepted in a Strange Land

By Robin Bates | Published: January 11, 2013

Last year, when the book discussion group that I moderate was participating in America’s Big Read program, I was referred to this essay written for the occasion by the Indian-American literary critic Parul Sehgal, an editor at The New York Times Book Review. I particularly like how she describes feeling accepted by books, even though she […]

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