Program about a Writer Associated with the Federal Writers’ Project
“Soul of a People: Voices from the Writers’ Project” Online Site Support Notebook
Some points for discussion
- How did the Federal Writers’ Project affect opportunities for African-American writers? For all writers?
- How did the material they wrote for the Writers’ Project affect the later work of some of these authors? In subject? Sensibility?
- Did the Writers’ Project help revitalize American writing?
A selection of authors associated with the Federal Writers’ Project
- Conrad Aiken
- Nelson Algren
- Saul Bellow
- Arna Bontemps
- Ben Botkin
- John Cheever
- August Derleth
- Loren Eiseley
- Ralph Ellison
- Vardis Fisher
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Weldon Kees
- Stetson Kennedy
- Meridel LeSueur
- D’Arcy McNickle
- Kenneth Rexroth
- Sam Ross
- May Swenson
- Studs Terkel
- Jim Thompson
- Margaret Walker
- Eudora Welty
- Dorothy West
- Jessamyn West
- Richard Wright
- Frank Yerby
- Anzia Yezierska
Discussion guides
- Saul Bellow.
The Adventures of Augie March - Zora Neale Hurston.
Their Eyes Were Watching God - D’Arcy McNickle.
The Surrounded - Dorothy West.
The Living Is Easy - Richard Wright.
Native Son
Other online discussion guides for books by FWP authors:
- John Cheever.
The Wapshot Chronicle and
The Wapshot Scandal - Ralph Ellison.
Invisible Man and
Juneteenth - Zora Neale Hurston.
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Jim Thompson.
The Killer Inside Me - Dorothy West.
The Wedding - Richard Wright.
Black Boy and
Native Son
Books about FWP authors
- Atlas, James.
Bellow: A Biography. Random House, 2000. - Boyd, Valerie.
Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. Scribner, 2003. - Donaldson, Scott.
John Cheever: A Biography. Random House, 1987. - Drew, Bettina.
Nelson Algren: A Life on the Wild Side. Putnam, 1989. - Henriksen, Louise L.
Anzia Yezierska: A Writer’s Life. Rutgers University Press, 1988. - Jackson, Lawrence.
Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius. Wiley, 2002. - O’Gara, Geoffrey.
A Long Road Home: In the Footsteps of the WPA Writers. Houghton Mifflin, 1989. - Walker, Margaret.
Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius. Warner Books, 1988. - Walker, Margaret, with Maryemma Graham.
Conversations with Margaret Walker. University Press of Mississippi, 2002. - Yezierska, Anzia.
Red Ribbon on a White Horse: My Story. Henriksen, 1987.
Websites
- “
Unmasking Writers of the W.P.A.,” by historian Douglas Brinkley, from the
New York Times - “
Conversations with America” is an extensive collection of interviews conducted by Studs Terkel for his books and radio programs. Uses RealPlayer.
