Before Columbus Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression.Reed has been described as one of the most controversial...

, Victor Hernández Cruz
Victor Hernández Cruz
Victor Hernández Cruz is a Puerto Rican poet.-Life:He moved to New York in 1954. He began writing at fifteen, and published his first collections of poetry in the late 1960s....

, Shawn Wong
Shawn Wong
Shawn Hsu Wong is an author and Professor of English and former Director of the University Honors Program , Chair of the Department of English , and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Washington where he has been on the faculty since 1984...

 and Rudolfo Anaya
Rudolfo Anaya
Rudolfo Anaya is an Mexican-American author. Best known for his 1972 novel Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya is considered one of the founders of the canon of contemporary Chicano literature.- Biography :...

 to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," especially through the promotion of multicultural writers.

One of its best-known activities is the awarding of the American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

, which differs from other awards in having no first and second-place awards, but honoring everyone the Foundation finds worthy of acknowledgment. Similarly, there are no categories of fiction, poetry, drama, etc.; the only category distinctions are for Lifetime Achievement, Editor, Children's Book, Journalism and Special Publishing awards. The Foundation and the Awards were created partly in response to perceived racism, sexism and elitism in other major literary awards.

In 1992, the Foundation published two anthologies of award winning selections (one poetry and one fiction) as textbooks through W. W. Norton & Company, thus helping to make multicultural literature more available in the classroom. It also publishes a catalog of multicultural literature. The Foundation also hosts educational activities promoting the reading and teaching of multicultural literature.

See also

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