Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an American poet, novelist, short-story writer, dramatist, and lyricist who reached an international readership around 1900. The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar represents the verse for which he first became widely known, though his range extended far beyond poetry. The Uncalled and The Sport of the Gods are novels, while The Heart of Happy Hollow and The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories collect short fiction. Together they show a writer working across standard English and dialect, prose and verse, and varied representations of Black life in the United States. His writing also included essays, songs, and lyrics created for stage works. Dunbar published his first collection, Oak and Ivy, at his own expense in 1893. He later worked at the Library of Congress, toured Britain as a reader, and collaborated with composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The Library of Congress recognizes him as the first Black American poet to gain an international audience.