Overview

The award-winning first novel by the legendary Harlem Renaissance poet In small-town Kansas at the turn of the twentieth century, Sandy Rogers is a young Black boy growing up surrounded by family. His mother, Annjee, works as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family while his father, Jimboy, comes in and out of town, bringing his guitar with him, and his grandmother, Hager, tries to keep the whole family right in the eyes of God. Amid the many hardships of these years of great change, Sandy learns what it means to be a member of the complex society he’s inherited. First published in 1930, Langston Hughes's award-winning debut novel draws from the author’s childhood in the rural Midwest to paint a moving account of the trials and joys of life in Black communities that, until the novel’s publication, had not seen themselves reflected in American literature. A groundbreaking work, Not Without Laughter established Langston Hughes as a gifted novelist as well as a beloved poet.

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Reviews

“Langston Hughes is a titanic figure in 20th-century American literature . . . A powerful interpreter of the American experience.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “[Hughes] is sumptuous and sharp, playful and sparse, grounded in an earthy music.” —The Boston Globe “[Hughes’s] poetry has a pulse, a beauty and familiar kindness. . . . Much of it delights, even dazzles. His best work sticks with you—forever.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer ""A lyrical, charming, and moving story of a black Midwestern boy."" —Arnold Rampersad on Not Without Laughter

Author Information

LANGSTON HUGHES (1901–1967), one of the great poets of the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Joplin, Missouri, and spent much of his childhood in Kansas before moving to Harlem. Among his numerous awards and honors were a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935, a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1940, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Grant in 1947. Bryan Washington is the author of Palaver, Family Meal, Memorial, and Lot. He’s also a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 winner, a New York Public Library Young Lions Award recipient, an Ernest J. Gaines Award recipient, an International Dylan Thomas Prize recipient, a two-time Lambda Literary Award recipient, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Fiction award, the James Tait Black Prize, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize finalist, a National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize finalist, the Goodreads Choice Awards, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award, and was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30. The New York Times referred to his writing as among the 25 Most Influential Works of Postwar Queer Literature, and he was a columnist for the New York Times Magazine.

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