Richard Wright

Author profile

born

in Adams County, Mississippi, The United States

September 04, 1908

died

November 28, 1960

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction, Short Stories, Nonfiction

About this author

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Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

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Richard Wright's Books

Average rating: 3.90 · 60,672 ratings · 3,008 reviews · 82 distinct works · Similar authors

	Native Son 3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 35,973 ratings — published 1940 — 58 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Black Boy by Richard Wright, Jerry W. Ward Jr. (Introduction) 3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 19,979 ratings — published 1945 — 52 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Uncle Tom's Children by Richard Wright, Richard Yarborough (Introduction) 3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 1,048 ratings — published 1936 — 19 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Outsider 4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 867 ratings — published 1953 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Eight Men: Short Stories by Richard Wright, Paul Gilroy (Introduction) 3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 266 ratings — published 2 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rite of Passage by Richard Wright, David Diaz (Illustrator) 3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 avg rating — 214 ratings — published 1993 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Haiku by Richard Wright, Yoshinobu Hakutani (Editor), Robert L. Tener (Editor) 3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 152 ratings — published 1998 — 7 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright, Noel Ignatiev (Foreword by), David Bradley (Introduction) 3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 114 ratings — published 1988 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lawd Today! by Richard Wright, Arnold Rampersad 3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 1963 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Long Dream by Richard Wright, Keneth Kinnamon 4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 1958 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Richard Wright…

Quotes by Richard Wright

“Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books...”
― Richard Wright, Black Boy

2,070 people liked it

“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all.”
― Richard Wright, Black Boy

tags: echo, words

1,087 people liked it

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.”
― Richard Wright, Native Son

tags: self-realization

554 people liked it

See all Richard Wright's quotes »

Polls

What frequently challenged or banned adult-themed book should we read in April and May?

[Note: if you want to see different books in the polls, suggest some!]

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

28 votes, 21.5%

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

25 votes, 19.2%

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

14 votes, 10.8%

Carrie by Stephen King

13 votes, 10.0%

Maurice by E.M. Forster

11 votes, 8.5%

The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire

11 votes, 8.5%

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, John

10 votes, 7.7%

Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, John

8 votes, 6.2%

Native Son by Richard Wright

5 votes, 3.8%

My House by Nikki Giovanni

5 votes, 3.8%

130 total votes

5 comments

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