The Readers' Advisory Interest Group

Multicultural Authors

The dictionary defines multicultural as “having or blending of many distinct cultures”. Nowhere is this more apparent than in recent years when American literature reflected the voices of diverse American ethnic groups who began telling their own stories. The recent issue of “What do I read next? Multicultural Literature” guides the reader to both current and classic recommendations in four cultural groups: African American, Asian American, Latino and Native American literature. In this classification, only the writings of authors who come from the four cultural groups could represent their respective cultures. Opinions vary in interpreting this classification and how strictly one should adhere to the racial origin of the author or to the racial make-up of the characters in the story. As American literature develops and broadens its scope, these differences in opinion may diminish and perhaps make the classification obsolete.

	Isabel Allende. Daughter of Fortune. 1999. Imagine a girl raised by a single mother in an English speaking household that clings to English customs in a prosperous city of Spanish Aristocracy in Chile. Her first love is a poor clerk who leaves her for the California gold rush of 1849. She follows him to "save" her honor and quell the fever of her love but much changes during her travels to find him. Through a combination of descriptive and sensual language, Allende brings her characters alive. Although Eliza is the protagonist, Miss Rose, Captain John, and the sage Tao Chi'en are vividly portrayed so the life and adventures of Eliza Sommers are lived by you.
	Julia Alverez. In the Name of Salomé. 2000. Profesora Camila Ureña lives in the shadow of her deceased mother’s notoriety. In the latter part of the 19th Century during constant political strife and revolution, Camilaâs mother, Salomé Ureña, becomes a poet and the “national icon” in her native Dominican Republic at the age of seventeen. Salomé dies of consumption while Camila is quite young and is raised by her politically powerful father “Pancho” and strong-willed brothers and half-brothers. Years later as she prepares to retire from teaching in America, Camila sorts through her mother’s papers and discovers the reality of her mother’s life.
	Joanne Harris. Chocolat: A Novel. 1999. The inhabitants of a small French village, Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, are all astir upon the arrival of Vianne Rocher and her 6-year-old daughter, Anouk, in February, during the carnival. Within three days, Vianne opens a luscious chocolate shop filled with delectable confections and sumptuous hot chocolate drinks. However, it is Lent and the shop is located opposite the village church and Father Francis Reynaud is incensed. The residents slowly partake of the delights found within the chocolate shop and their loves are skillfully interwoven into a beautiful tapestry. The tension builds until the Grand Festival of Chocolate on Easter Sunday when good and evil clash in a pivotal outcome. Written in beautiful prose, Ms. Harris, who was born in her grandparents' candy shop in France, uses her French-English background to an advantage.
	Ha Jin. Waiting. 1999. For 18 years , every summer Lin Kong would go home to Goose Village and ask his wife Shuyu for a divorce so he can marry Manna –a nurse in the city. This is China where tradition and family still hold sway and where adultery if discovered by the party could ruin lives and careers forever. The nuances and intricacies of the human heart made light by subtle humor amidst the political drama made this book transcends borders and time.
	Penny Mickelbury. The Step Between. 2000. This novel is the third in a series about black lawyer turned detective Carole Ann (C.A.) Gibson, who, together with her black, ex-homicide cop friend, Jake Graham, runs the investigation and security firm of Gibson, Graham International (GGI). Their newest case, based in the Washington, D.C. area, involves the sudden disappearance of multimillionaire Richard Islington's daughter, Annabelle. The other current case, that of checking on a company threatening to take over their client, OnShore Manufacturing Company, is centered in California, and involves a warehouse fire and three corpses. How these seemingly disparate cases connect, while putting GGI and all its people in deadly peril, makes for many unexpected plot twists and turns. Although facing persecution, prosecution, life-threatening danger, and the overwhelming responsibility for others' lives, C.A. shows intellect, stamina, and extreme personal courage in resolving both cases.
	Arturo Perez-Reverte. Fencing Master. 2000. During the fall of 1868, everyone in Madrid is discussing political plots and revolution except Don Jaime. He is a fencing master who has worked for years to perfect an unstoppable fencing technique. One day Don Jaime is approached by a beautiful and mysterious woman who asks the maestro to teach her the renowned technique. When Don Jaime declines her request, he finds himself embroiled in a plot that includes seduction, politics, secret documents, and murder.
	Sister Souljah. Coldest Winter Ever. 1999. In this coming-of-age story a drug lord's daughter goes from the projects of Brooklyn to a mansion on Long Island. But when her mother becomes a crackhead, after being shot in the face, and her father gets imprisoned for life; she has to fend for herself without the protection and easy money she has grown accustom to.