Ishmael Reed's importance to contemporary literary studies stems in part from his ability to channel his encyclopedic historical, political, and cultural knowledge into syncretic poetry and prose that resonate with the voices of diverse ethnicities, locations, and eras. As an editor and a publisher, he has worked to create forums for writers from any and all ethnic groups. In his introduction to The Before Columbus Foundation Fiction Anthology (1992) Reed states, "We ... hope that the reader ... will discover that American literature in the last decade of this century is more than a mainstream. American literature is an ocean."

Reed is the author of nine novels, five volumes of poetry, and four collections of essays, as well as many articles on sociopolitics, literature, and multicultural aesthetics. He sees himself, as he said in a 1973 interview, as a "real writer," one who "spends twenty-four hours writing." His profession has often led...