Books by Manuel Zapata Olivella

Manuel Zapata Olivella (1920 2004), hailed by critic Richard Jackson as the dean of Black Hispanic writers, was the author of more than a dozen novels as well as numerous essays and short stories, including A Saint Is Born in Chima and Chambacu, Black Slum. One of six children in a Colombian literary family, Zapata Olivella initially pursued medical training at the National University of Bogota but interrupted his studies to write and travel. From the 1940s through the 1990s he explored not only the folklore and ethnography of his native country but an expansive range of international social and political themes. His work garnered prestigious literary awards worldwide, including the Simon Bolivar Prize, the Casa de las Americas Prize, and the Parisian Human Rights Prize.Jonathan Tittler, professor of Hispanic studies at Rutgers University Camden, holds the Ph.D. in Hispanic literature from Cornell University. He is the author of four books, including the political-literary biography El verbo y el mando: Vida y milagros de Gustavo Alvarez Gardeazabal (Language and Power: The Life and Times of Gustavo Alvarez Gardeazabal) and numerous articles in the field of contemporary Latin American literature. He has previously translated two Afro-Hispanic novels into English: Juyungo, by Adalberto Ortiz, and Chambacu, Black Slum.William Luis, Chancellor s Professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University and editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review, is the author and editor of several scholarly books on Latino Caribbean, Afro-Hispanic, and Latin American literature."