Ishmael Scott Reed is an African American poet, essayist, playwright, and editor best known for works, Mumbo Jumbo, Flight to Canada, and Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down. Reed's work foregrounds themes within the African American experience, is politically-charged, and critiques many societal inequities. His work has a satirical tone and his writing style has been characterized as unorthodox "edutainments--forms of surprise, revelation, and frequent hilarity." He is a National Book Award nominee and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient.
Born in 1938 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Reed spent much of his childhood in Buffalo, New York, where he attended the University of Buffalo, later receiving an...
