Ishmael Reed in conversation with Justin Desmangles (joined by Sean Wong)
Baraka Books, the Before Columbus Foundation, and City Lights celebrate the publication of
BLIND PERSISTENCE: The History of the Before Columbus Foundation
Edited by Ishmael Reed and Justin Desmangles (with Carla Blank and Tennessee Reed)
Published by Baraka Books
The Before Columbus Foundation, founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed and others, remains “dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature.” It operates on the premise that storytelling traditions existed thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, which counters the myth that storytelling begins with the Puritan settlement. The foundation established the American Book Awards in 1978, which has recognized hundreds of writers who otherwise would have been ignored. Its board of directors includes three MacArthur Fellows, three former U.S. Poet Laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, a winner of the Booker Prize, and a recipient of a Presidential medal.
BLIND PERSISTENCE is the Before Columbus story as told by a host of leading American poets, novelists, public intellectuals. Contributors include Wajahat Ali, Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Nancy Mercado, Margaret Porter Troupe, Shawn Wong and more.
Ishmael Reed has authored fifty works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, plays and librettos, and edited numerous anthologies. He has received prizes in every category. The fourth novel in his “Terribles” series, The Terrible Fives, is forthcoming from Baraka Books in 2026. Other recent works include Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues (2022), and The Shine Challenge 2025, premiered at NYC’s Theater for the New City on January 30, 2025. Reed is also a cartoonist, songwriter, musician and composer, public media commentator and publisher. Books published by Baraka Books include Bigotry on Broadway (with Carla Blank), The Complete Muhammad Ali, The Terrible Fours, and Why No Confederate Statues in Mexico. He lives in Oakland.
Justin Desmangles is chairman of the Before Columbus Foundation, administrator of the American Book Awards, and creator of the radio broadcast New Day Jazz. A member of the board of directors of the Oakland Book Festival, Mr. Desmangles is also a program producer at the African-American Center of the San Francisco Public Library. His poetry and journalism has appeared in Amerarcana, Black Renaissance Noire, Drumvoices Revue, Konch, and Musiqology.
Shawn Wong is the author of two prize-winning novels, Homebase and American Knees, and editor/co-editor of six Asian American and American multicultural literary anthologies including the pioneering anthology Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers. His second novel, American Knees was made into an award-winning film. He is currently Professor of English and the Byron and Alice Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.
To learn more about the Before Columbus Foundation visit their website.
This event made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation